Is it viable to run a low budget holiday house to at least cover costs?

[AussieGuy]

The advice I see over and over is to be in town and have a very highly spec'd house for rent....but surely there are tiers of tennants affordability. When we travelled through France we took cheaper farmhouses ....and I mean cheap, ...they were low spec but clean and had a great time. it matched our budget. My question is whether you think it worthwhile to purchase a 2nd home in Brittany that was under 100,000 pound and have it available for rent when not in use by us (most of the time) and whther it would then appeal to budget family holiday makers and still turn a profit given the mow upfront cost.

[EuroTrash]

Taxe foncière

Taxe d'habitation (no reduction on holiday homes)

Rubbish collection, in most communes payable year-round even if nobody is there

Utilities standing charges for elec and water

Insurance

Garden/property maintenance, ongoing repairs

Keyholder/changeovers

Advertising

Bank charges

How low can you go?

Could be wrong but I imagine that most low-budget accommodation is property that has passed down the family to people who live nearby and can look after it themselves to keep running costs very low. It changes the equation if you live the other side of the world and have to pay other people to run your business. The place won't clean itself and the grass will need cutting even in weeks when there is nobody there paying the rent.

Having said that I'm all for affordable basic accommodation, I like to be out exploring the area if the weather is good, just go back to the house to eat and sleep so I rather resent having to pay for lots of hi-tech stuff that I never play with. But not sure the business model would work for a non resident.

[Hoddy]

I suppose AussieGuy that you are looking for an actual figure.

If it helps our house costs between E1700 and E1900 a year to run. We live here ourselves from April/May to September and have family to stay.

Paying guests might be more wasteful than we are with water and electricity. Someone else has pointed out you would need to pay for cleaning and changeovers and, depending on your garden, gardening.

Hoddy

[Loiseau]

If you can market the house to people (birdwatchers? Hikers?) who can cope with Nature in all its manifestations you may be OK? When I was still letting out a holiday home in 2000 I felt that people's standards were becoming higher and higher. I had an angry phone call from a newly arrived tenant complaining that he had found spiders' nests, when I had myself done a thorough clean a couple of days earlier.

Vermin of all kinds can be a problem in older houses that are less well sealed.. In our first, decidedly primitive, holiday home we frequently had mice, and not infrequently rats (i remember watching a big one cross the beam above the bed!). This involves lots of hole-filling etc once you have tracked down where they come from, and scrupulous attention to not leaving food in bags, but having metal or rigid plastic containers for everything. Would your tenants be as scrupulous? And who would leap nto action to track down the culprits and block up their latest access route?

You would probably have to provide your guests with heating, and again you have no control over how wantonly they might use it. Expensive if it's electric.

There would be a taxe de séjour payable to the Mairie. Ours was not very much, a nominal amount per person per day during the periods it was let.

And you have to declare the income in France for tax too. In the days when I did so, it worked out that there was very little to pay on that, but then I was not letting it much. Others onhere will have more up to date figures on this, but I seem to recall that in my day it worked out that they discounted 50% of the earnings, and then wanted a third of the remainder. I also had to declare the income in the UK, but was not further taxed on it as France and the UK have a double-taxation agreement.

This is not all said to dissuade you, but just to alert you to things you may have to consider. Te most important thing, as has already been said, being a responsible person on the spot to clean, mow, and sort out crises.

Angela

[YCCMB]

[quote user="Loiseau"] Te most important thing, as has already been said, being a responsible person on the spot to clean, mow, and sort out crises. [/quote]

And that, in itself, may not come cheap. There was a thread on here by Clair recently, asking about charges for this....

[AussieGuy]

Yes it does help. I had read similar figures on a site that was giving generalised figures and wondered how accurate they were. I guess you could hope that that sort of money would be well covered by several weeks rent over the summer break. And that's all I was really hoping would be achievable if I ever get to do it. I have to work out if its a sensible idea or not. I eventually want to end up spending bulk retirement time between France and the UK and would be keen to buy now while the jump between the 2 economies is affordable. Who knows what the fututre holds. But I am still in my 40's so retirement is a way off and would still be able to come over annually for a couple of weeks or so. So it seems as though it could at least break even . Thanks for your thoughts!

[AussieGuy]

Sorry, I meant to thank all the respondants for your thoughts as they have given me much to think on, on I really only want to listen to those who are doing it, rather than real estate agents etc.

[osie]

The problem with a low budget accommodation is that it will take more of your time to recuperate the ~3000euros to break even.  So, you will end up being tied to the job for a long season.  And so the big question would be 'was it all worth it'.

With all the figures, the one that makes or breaks is the 'was it all worth it' factor in the equation.

[Aly]

I would check out your prospective competition. .Have a look at the local Tourist office website and GDF. Rents for Gite accomodation are comparitively low in France.

Also as mentioned you would be taxed on the your French rental income as a non resident this would probably be a fixed percentage.

Fuel costs are high as stated - you can factor this in but it may not make you as cheap Older houses are harder to heat. .

If things do not work out again you may struggle to sell. The internet is full of people trying to sell gites and guesthouses in all areas. The housing market

is pretty depressed and this looks unlikely to change