Living in france

[loubie]

We are planning to rent a house in France for 12 months as a relocation exercise-do we need to be aware of any legal issues? eg registering/carte de sejour/health care etc.  We will not be working nor planning to do so. Any help woul dbe very useful

[Steve c.]

Loubie

I think you might find most rental contracts are for 3 years, and because of the tenants rights being very strong in France, most landlords are extra extra jumpy about taking on anything out of the ordinary, you will need some very good references in French by French to get a look in, of course you could go to an agency but I think even here it could be challenging, maybe you could rent off Brits and pay them in pounds, good luck

[Panda]

Whilst contracts are indeed for three years tenants can give 3 months notice and leave at any time so no problem with a 12 month rent, the references will be more an issue.

[jilly]

What sort of references would you need? When we've moved around in England the agencies ask for refernces from previous landlord./ agency. Is this what you mean?

[suein56]

[quote user="jilly"]What sort of references would you need? When we've moved around in England the agencies ask for refernces from previous landlord./ agency. Is this what you mean? [/quote]

Yes, more or less; it is more to do with you being able to prove you are of  'serious' character and also your ability to pay the rent. We had no references of any kind when we arrived, not having rented since our student days aeons before. No one here was at all interested in anything to do with the UK ie bank statements, BS accounts, solicitor's letter. We found a private rent from looking in the local newspaper. Our landlady was not concerned about references - she drew her own conclusions as to the 'seriousness' of our characters using her personal judgement.

If you are in a similar situation there is a way to rent through an agency by paying the whole year's rent up front; this is then placed in a secure account and is paid out to the landlord on a monthly basis - there is usually a premium to be paid aswell each month using this method. There is yet another alternative whereby you pay a 'guarantee' - usually a large amount of money which again is held in a secure account until you leave and you just pay the rental to the agent each month as normal. There will normally be a set-up fee charged by the agent if you rent through them; this is eithre paid in one lump sum upfront or in instalments each month with the rental.

Sue