Uncle Fester

Thanks everyone. This will be the first year that a student exhange will have taken place between the two Universities. As a result there is no accomodation for him to take over. Nor is there any experience to draw upon from the Universities. We have been told to sort it out ourselves. There is a list of accredited housing. Basicaly this means its been checked and comes up to a standard. Uni's here do the same. His uni is sorting out some French lessons and I have leant him my CD's, not that I ever managed to learn from them. So, I am taking him out to Lille soon to see what I can find out. Are there any common pitfalls to avoid in renting a flat for a year? I don't know what lease terms are normal in France. I spoke to a French friend. She advised to try and get a flat share with French girls as they would be easier to get along with than boys.

Hello everyone, my first post. My Son has been offered the chance to take a year in France to study politics at Lille university. This will be as a student exchange. He is currently a 2nd year politics student at Nottingham Trent university. After the year he will return to Nottingham to complete his degree. I understand one other student will go too. My son and I speak very little French. We have no experience of renting property or living in France. I understand he will have to rent a flat privately. As such we don't really know what questions to ask. What we want to know is everything we need know to avoid problems and make his stay as smooth as possible. What advice can you give us?