Jump to content

Petit Romarin

Members
  • Posts

    9
  • Joined

  • Last visited

    Never

Everything posted by Petit Romarin

  1. Hi Penofmyaunt here. Bizarrely, although I am getting updates on this thread sent to my e-mail address, when I tried to log in, it told me that there was no such address registered so I've had to set up a new account. In response to Garonne, you are partly right. I don't agree that no French landlord would take anyone without 3 years avis d'impots as we managed to rent quite easily without. Most letting agents wouldn't consider you without them but it mainly because up until recently, that was the requirement for getting insurance for non-payment of rental. We tried to get it but were turned down because our tenants had recently arrived in France so didn't have them. This has now changed and this organisation will insure landlords providing their tenants meet their pay-to-rental conditions. Unfortunately it was too late for us but I would urge anyone considering long term letting to take it out. http://www.assurance-grl.info/grl-detail.php That said though, , three years of avis d'impots will not stop a tenant trashing your house. To be honest, a reference from a previous landlord is more important than any avis d'impot as that covers far more than just ability to pay. Sub-letting is permitted, providing it is written into the rental agreement, however, we did subsequently discover that a tenant cannot sub let a property for more than the amount of the principal rent so using that criteria, the contact is probably nul and void but that's for the Greffier to decide. We did, of course, contact CAF as soon as they stopped paying. I have to be honest and say there weren't that interested. They sent us a form for the tenants to fill in a plan d'apurement, which of course they didn't do, but apart from that there was little interest in questioning why a family with such a large income needed allocation de loyer. The allocation was always paid directly to them rather than us anyway so either way, we didn't see any of it. On a slightly positive note, neither the ex-tenant nor her solicitor showed up for the convocation so our lawyers believe that the juge will now uphold the original order but then of course, we still have to get the money out of them. Looking back, I think we did everything we could have done in the circumstances. We had a proper French agreement that was checked out by a solicitor. The agreement covered everything, including non-payment of the rent and damages, outlining what we could do in the case of either, interest that could be charged, etc. We weren't to know that when it came down to it, the agreement wasn't worth the paper it was written on. I seemed to spend a ridiculous amount of time saying to our lawyer 'but the agreement says...' and each time he said it was unenforceable. Whatever happens though, we have lost our house, my childrens' inheritance and most likely the chance of ever owning our own property again because of these people. It's a high price to pay for falling foul of such a flawed system. Meanwhile, they are still moving from rental property to rental property across two different departements with ease because none of their French landlords have ever asked for a reference.
  2. I'm not sure your child will become 'French' anyway, bearing in mind that outside of school he will be living in a 'British' environment. I was at a party yesterday which was half French children and half British, including a number who have been in France most of their lives. The British kids stuck to one end of the pool, the French to the other, with one or two flitting in between. It was quite clear that despite a lifetime in France, most of the British kids still identify more with those of their own nationality. Interestingly, few of the British kids, despite being bilingual spoke a word of French the whole afternoon. I'm no fan of the French education system either and we too are returning to the UK in a few weeks. I feel that France offers limited opportunities for non-French children, in fact, even for French children.
  3. I assumed that when we rent out our house the utilities would be put in the name of the tenants but on reading some French forums there is talk about tenants reimbursing landlords for the cost of utilities. Can someone advise whether or not we need to change them into the names of the tenants Thanks in advance
  4. Can anyone tell me what the following are: tax recuperable and une provision sur charges initiales Many thanks in advance
  5. Once again I think it comes down to location and whether or not the school wants to acknowledge a problem and deal with it. A local college (not my son's) failed to do anything about a pupil with known behavioural difficulties who forced another boy to perform a serious sex act on him. The school turned a blind eye and even refused to help with the police investigation. The French government produces a 'league table' of violent acts per establishment so you can look up your own school and see what has gone on. Lycees professionels were by far the worst as I remember. In 2006 there were over 80,000 violent incidents in French schools. Unfortunately I can't remember the web address but if I do, I'll post it. It made interesting reading.  
  6. This may be something that people have to answer by PM and it may also be a 'how long is a piece of string' question. We have a 2 bed gite which rents for 650-700 euros in the summer.  The gite is on the same electricity circuit and same central heating system as our house so we can't ask renters to pay their own utility bills. I've been letting it over the winter for the past two years but bearing in mind the enormous cost of gas central heating and also the electricity I'm not sure whether we haven't been charging too little in the past. What would people charge or expect to pay for a 2 bed property, central heating, WIFI connection, own garden and pool (not that you'd use it in the winter) including all utilties? Grateful for any feedback.  
×
×
  • Create New...