Rental guarantee?

[Berlioz]

We  found a house yesterday we want to rent, probably for 2/3 years. A new build close to the schools our girls will attend.  We are now back in the UK trying to sort out the paperwork. 

The agent has requested that we obtain a bank guarantee for 2 years rent as my OH does not have the simplicity of a french salary.  He has his own UK consultancy business which has been going for 4 years and has accounts showing good turnover but small profits and salaries. He will commute to London 5-10 days per month.  He also has substantial rental income which will continue.  However we presently only have a non-residents' account at Credit Agricole, though which only spending money has passed so far.

The chances of getting a bank guarantee from Credit Agricole we're guessing are minimal, unless we held the advanced rent in an account with them that we couldn't touch, which is highly impractical but not impossible.  Also a good (French) friend ought to be willing and able to act as guarantor if needed. 

If we had three months' payslips from the local big employer, or from a UK one, it wouldn't be a problem, but...

Does anyone have any experience of this or can suggest another route forward?

Thanks,

Donna

 

 

[booboo]

Hi Donna,

Have you asked your Credit Agricole then?? They're current musical TV ad's advertise a new rental caution, and without freezing assets. I've just tried to look if there's any info in english on their paris website that i was looking at earlier today whilst bank hunting, but haven't found any info (perhaps you could send them an email... they've a contact email online), but there's also link to the main website, and it mentions it on the welcome page; it's called "Good Loc" - seems a bit of a franglais word they've come up with there!!. So it's worth a chat with your bank manager by the looks of things. Best of luck, and let us know how u get on!

[suein56]

 ***He has his own UK consultancy business which has been going for 4 years and has accounts showing good turnover but small profits and salaries. He will commute to London 5-10 days per month.  He also has substantial rental income which will continue. ***

Perhaps a letter from your UK bank authenticating your OH's business situation, ditto an equivalent re the rental income - based on the premise that seals, signatures and official looking letters go down a bomb in France.

Sue

[chessfou]

Based on our own experience (income poor-ish but asset rich-ish):

- UK bank guarantee or letter - forget it - not worth the paper it's written on - wrong legal system.

- CA guarantee - perfectly possible (assuming you can stash away with them the relevant rent - for the whole period - it won't reduce month by month as you pay the rent) and that's what we did. The rental agency were insisting on 2 years, CA negotiated it down to 1 year.

- a guarantor - ideal if you can/will go that route (we could have done but weren't prepared to do so - why the hell should we ask someone much poorer than us to stand as guarantor? - simply unfair; maybe your circumstances are more equal). It will almost certainly be seen as the ideal from p.o.v. of the agent and will cost you a great deal less than setting up the guarantee.

[Berlioz]

Thank you all,

We have spoken to Credit Agricole Brit line about 'Good Loc' and managed to get a (not 08) phone number for our branch. The person we need to speak to was not there on Saturday so we will speak to him tomorrow hopefully.  We are in the process of selling/letting our house  in the UK so will have either capital or rental income but neither by the end of the week!

[Berlioz]

An Update:

We have just produced, in person, all the wage slips, contract of employment, Tax return, inside leg measurment, promise of first born child, you name it.... etc for 'Good Loc' but been turned down at our branch with no satisfactory reason given other than it was for 'a lot'. 

The irony is that we could have got a mortgage but wanted to take the v good advice and rent first before buying.

There is a shortage of the type of property we want to rent so the agent can afford to say 'non'. 

 

[suein56]

Hi

Is there any possibility of renting privately where you want to be? We would have been in exactly the same situation as you as regards lack of wage-slips etc etc if we had looked to rent through an agent, so I found our house through the small ads. Our landlady did not require any financial paperwork from us; just the usual 2 months caution and the first month's rental in advance. Perhaps we were just amazingly fortunate.

Sue

[Berlioz]

We found our little flat through a small agent and had no problems at all with the French lady owner, we are using this as a base during our visits.

We spent an entire week visiting every agent, getting the papers etc and only found 3 properties of the right size in the right area (near the 2 schools), 2 of them belong to the same owner and the other was like something out of the Adams Family, complete with french wallpaper syndrome, classy 'built in' brick seating in the sitting room, a musty smelling 'apartment' in the cellar/garage, a pool that is obviously now a wildlife haven and a kitchen that Wilma Flintstone would have been proud of! Due to the schooling issues we cannot look in a very large area.  

The President of the ex pats assoc we have joined runs a relocation agency and confirms that there is a huge shortage of family 4/5 bed housing in the area, demand far exceeds supply. 

So I'm trawling through the internet again and I'll get Himself to get a local paper later on today.

 

 

[suein56]

Gosh, it sounds as though you will have quite a task ahead of you. We too are in a very desirable area and annual rental properties are in very short supply - most [rental] owners seem to prefer to keep their houses empty nearly all year then let them out for extortionate amounts in July and August. It is said there is less hassle and more income that way!

Anyway - Good Luck - I will keep my fingers crossed for you.

Sue

[Berlioz]

Thanks Spg,

Something will work out and if it not then I am doomed to be cold for ever............. !

[Cerise]

Donna

Don't know the area you are looking in - but round here little rental seems to be done through agencies.  Try the Mairie, the school your children are going to attend, the maison de la presse and the boulangerie.  Also put up notice of your own looking for house to rent in local supermarkets etc.  It may not work, but that seems to be the norm here rather than passing through the agents who take commission.  Just because it is not through agency does not mean people will not do things properly with proper contract etc, but they may be less fussy about the guarantees - particularly if you give them a decent advance on rent.  Hope you find something soon.

 

Maggi

[Berlioz]

Hi Maggi

We will be over again in a couple of weeks and will certainly try putting up some 'wanted' notices and asking around.  The area is NW Toulouse and a lot of moves are company re-locations.