Long Term Letting

[dfgibbs]

Hi, I hope someone can provide some advice. My wife and I are considering purchasing a 'town house' in a medium sized town (40,000 inhabitants) in the South of France. Our plan was to rent it, long term, unfurnished, until we are in a position to live there, perhaps 10 or 12 years. We found our house, had it surveyed and agreed a price etc. All was going fine until we met with our English based, French qualified solicitor. He advised us that it can be very difficult to evict tenants, even if they stop paying the rent.

I am sure this is good advice but I wonder how common a problem this is? I realise people can probably only give anecdotal evidence, but what experiences do people have?

Many thanks, Dave.

[Alexis]

You cannot evict someone for non-payment of rent in the winter months between October and March.  Against the law.  By the time you can evict them, the law is so slow you are back to winter again...

I rented out to people on six month contracts whilst they worked at the local factory and that was fine because they left after six months.  Any longer lets I had all paid on the dot.

A friend of mine rented out his house and they paid the caution and the first months rent and that was it for the three years they stayed there.  These people weren't French.  Their car number plate was yellow with three lots of two numbers or letters.

People don't pay their rent in the UK.  It is not just a French thing.

[Val_2]

Very dicey here especially with all the protection the tenants have. A friend owns, along with several other relatives, a piece of land outside Paris and has had squatters on it for the past 22 years with no hope now of ever getting rid of them due to all the protection they have. I certainly wouldn't let property if I didn't live nearby even with all the legal paperwork which is supposed to protect the landlord. Every week the papers are full of cases like this.

[cypruslady]

Well I'm a responsible tenant & hope (desperately hope!!) to move to France in December or January. I'll need to rent until I decide where to buy--I do have pets but they are house trained and well behaved.

I'd love to rent a house in the Toulouse area (rural and remote no problem) and would pay rent in advance, of course.

Any replies/ suggestions gratfully received

Pauline

[Anyone for Cricket?]

Hi

It's not all doom and gloom, we renovated a town house and made 4 appartments, all let fairly quickly.  We have an agent who deals with contracts etc. we took all the insurances possible, i.e. we get paid if it stays empty, we get paid if the renter doesn't pay, recovery fees are covered etc. etc.  We did have someone who didn't pay and the agent set about the legal actions required, a bailiff was sent in and they paid up.  They have also been evicted and in winter.  It can be frustrating sometimes not knowing what the agent is doing about something but we have found that they do sort things out eventually.  We are going to do the same again as the property has a 15% return on investement and has doubled in value,  it's a risk but not bad at this rate of retrun! 

My advice, get a good agent who will vet all applicants, take all the insurances and be patient.

Regards

 

[cypruslady]

Thank you Kira for your message. Unfortunately the link to reply to you won't work..

Could you email me further details at [email protected]. ?

 

Many thanks

Pauline

[riberac]

We live in rented accomadation and our landlady has an insurance that covers her for non payment of rent.

[Chancer]

The (very expensive) insurances offered to me by the (very expensive!) letting agents were about as much use as a chocolate teapot, the only purpose that they served were to line the agents pockets even further.

They would not pay out if  "in the insurers opinion" there was little hope of them being able to succesfully recover the lost rent from the tenant through the courts, i.e if the tenant had no money or could not be contacted.

I had to ask myself if a tenant didn't pay his rent would he/she leave a forwarding address? and would it be that perhaps he/she didn't have the money to pay???

Sure these insurances may give you a feeling of security but those offered to me were as much use as most insurances when you really need them.

Edited: The above information was only found in each case by scrutinising the lengthy legalese small print.

[Anyone for Cricket?]

Hi

Our insurances and general agents charges are cheap when compared to the same situation in the UK, we pay 2% for the extra insurances and have already had to use them, as I said they took legal action sent  in the bailiffs and recovered the money all at no cost to us.  The insurance covers this legal action and if the agency vets every applicant they are responsible for them being in a positon to pay further down the line.  Our agents are honest if slow and what can I say we have had a good experience of the buy to let business in france.  Like everything else here people see things differently, we live near a busy town where renters are plentiful, the agent can pick the best candidate not just the only one that comes along.  I think positiion is the biggest thing, the french like to live in town and our appartments are right in the centre of a popular town with lots of work.  We will do the same thing again as it brings in 3 times the amount of our gite which cost us a whole lot more to renovate and needs constant attention in the summer.

Regards

 

 

[Chancer]

J.P.E.

That's very encouraging to hear, I am afraid that I have a lifetime of experiences and pre-conceived notions to reassess whilst in France.

What insurer do you use and could you let me know the name or type of policy?

Many thanks

Edited - I am in the process of creating rental apartments well located in a very good employment area, that is unless Airbus close the factory here whereupon I would be living alone in an industrial wasteland!

Your comments re returns have reconfirmed my belief that I am doing the right thing.

[Alexis]

Airbus are believed to be closing seven factories.....!

[Chancer]

Alexis

Thanks for the cheery start to my day! I didn't think that they had seven in France to start with.

They are to my knowledge:

Toulouse

Meaulte

Nantes

Saint Nazaire

Paris (I think)

Any more?

Oh well as one door closes usually another opens, I could be in a worse place than beside the new 2.2km runway of what I believe will be the new third Paris airport.

[caitlin]

We certainly opted for short-term lets to our beach apartment even though we live in a house in the same village. The cast-iron security surrounding long-term occupancy in France (perhaps put in place for very good reason?) put us right off & we pulled out of negotiations with a long-term person. It's much better now; we can also make use of the apartment for family/friends when not rented and can access it in quiet times to stay on top of maintenance. The agent does a good job as well and is invaluable if only for navigating the joys of foreign paperwork, insurance etc.!

 

 

Just our experience however.

[8-|]