Room to let.

[Jaydeez]

We have a house in France which has a large attic for conversion, approx 38 feet long x 18 feet wide. The roof slopes from 12 feet down to 5 feet across.

When we retire in 5 years or so we intend to do it up. It would take a bathroom, bedroom, living area and small kitchen. It has its own stairs from a barn area and would be entirely self contained.

We do not wish to run as a business for income as we would be retired so it would be solely for a small interest, but if we chose to let it out as a self contained room or we chose to offer bed and breakfast, what regulations would this encounter. Would we have to be registered and would there be any cost to us etc etc.

[Quillan]

Thank you for your PM but after reading your post I thought I might answer in open forum as it may be of interest to others.

To be honest I would make this area in to a large bedroom with perhaps a bed settee small table or coffee table, big bed (king size) and a full en-suite (bath, toilet, shower washbasin - no bidet). You might consider putting tea and coffee in the room as well. Part of the enjoyment in running a B&B, even one room, is the mingling with the guests but by having a private entrance it means you won't be disturbed by their comings and goings plus it also gives them a sense of freedom. Adding a kitchen area with everything that goes with it would (as it's a old building) detract from it's charm. It would also be expensive; you will need capital items like cooker, fridge etc not to mention plate, knives and forks, tea towels etc but more importantly it will take up space. Whilst initially your measuments see quite big by the time you get everything in there won't be that much space. You might consider putting a small fire and chimney in for winter accommodation and a nice bit of ambiance. I have even seen small old box type metal stove with a red lamp bulb inside to a 'warming' effect.

As you will be doing this occasionally for friends etc I doubt that you will be open more than a total of 6 months of the year so it's not worth registering with the Chambres de Commerce or joining a special tax regime in fact I am sure they would not be interested. Just declare it as income on your French tax return at the end of the year and you should be OK.

There are no other regulations really that will effect you other than getting a licence to serve breakfast (well tea, coffee and juice) but they are free in some areas or a small admin charge is made in others. It's a one off application, takes five minutes at the Duanes (thats Customs and Excise French style), you might consider also getting a bigger licence to enable you to serve evening meals with 'free' wine which again is free or perhaps a small admin charge may be made. It will include the breakfast bit as well and worth having even if you think that you won't be doing evening meals at this point in time.

The only other thing is actual size of the accomodation in square metres should you want to register with either Gite de France or Clévacances. They won't except a bedroom under 10 square metres and at that size you would probably only get the minimum rating which is not really worth the trouble based on what you want to do.

Hope this helps and if you have any further questions you can always PM me.