PERMANENT RENTING?

[Philouis]

We are in the process of selliing our property here in France and as we are getting rather aged, we do not wish to go through the process of renovating another one!  It would come to that, as we are not able to buy too expensively and still have enough capital to see us through! Therefore, we are toying with idea of a permanent rental!

We understand that the majority of the French people rent, rather than own their own house so where do we look to find a nice unfurnished property to rent for about €500 pm. I have tried trolling through many web sites, but all I seem to find are winter lets! Maybe I will have to look at adverts in the local newspapers.

Has anyone reading this posting have had experience of permanent renting? I would appreciate to hear of their experience, good or bad!

[Clair]

Notaires and estated agents handle rentals.

You're in the right section of the forum for info and I would suggest looking a few pages back.

[chessfou]

[quote]We understand that the majority of the French people

rent, rather than own their own house so where do we look to find a

nice unfurnished property to rent for about €500 pm. I have tried

trolling through many web sites, but all I seem to find are winter

lets! Maybe I will have to look at adverts in the local newspapers.[/quote]

Yes, your local newspaper will have a few/some/many ads. You don't say where you're looking (€500 won't get you much in Paris but in most of France it'll get you something at least acceptable).

Here are the "big five" (there are loads of others but these are the ones the French mainly use -  Le Monde):

http://www.seloger.com/

http://www.logic-immo.com/

http://www.pap.fr/

http://www.explorimmo.com/

http://www.agences-immobilieres.com/reseau-immobilier/fnaim.htm

[quote]Has anyone reading this posting have had experience of

permanent renting? I would appreciate to hear of their experience, good

or bad! [/quote]

How long's a piece of string? We rented for a while in the UK and now in our second year here. Generally all good experiences but it certainly helps to find a good landlord/agent (the former not too difficult, the latter much harder).

[Tourangelle]

I agree with the list of site, having just found a new flat those were exactly the ones I used.  Personally, and it does depend on what you mean by "nice" I am not sure that 500 euros gets you a great deal.  We currently pay 625 for a 55m one bedroom flat, in very good condition in the nicest area of Lyon. Lyon is expensive. French friends think we have a good deal.  But this is just the rental, nothing included, no balcony, no parking space. We are moving, and when we chose where to go, we looked at various medium sized towns, Amiens, Orleans, Bourges, Rouen, Caen... and we looked at the prices.  Even in these places, I think, 500 euros would get us just about a one bedroom flat. This time, our budget was a maximum of 700 euros, and we were looking at 2 bedroom flats with balconies and car parking for that sort of price.  However, if you are looking at country living, it may be cheaper, my husband has previously been posted in rural areas and has found cheap rental accommodation.

In terms of the rental experience, I have lived here for nearly 10 years, all the time in rental accommodation.  The tenant is extremly well protected, and the only problem I had was with one unscrupulous landlord who did not give back the deposit, quite illegally, because he should have given me a bill for work done, but he just kept it, knowing I was moving a long way away. I could have pursued it, but as I was moving to another area of France, it seemed an expensive option, as I would have had to make a claim in the town where the property was.  My best advice, is to avoid like the plague anywhere that suggests that you pay to look at their list of properties.  There may be charges with good agencies, but these are not paid in advance.  Not that those who sell the lists in advance are doing anything illegal, they aren't, the method is fine, but it costs the landlords nothing, so it is the unscrupulous ones who do that, see above!

[chessfou]

Yes, Lyon is expensive. However, for example, SeLoger have 200 places in Bordeaux at under €520 and 68 in Carcassonne, so no problem with quantity. As for quality, maybe the OP will need to look around the country a bit. In our experience (admittedly at the upper end, which may be a bit different) we found about twice the space/quality here as in the UK to be the general rule of thumb.

[Tourangelle]

I'm sure you could find similar statistics for Lyon, but it is also a question of area, especially in bigger cities. I think if the OP is looking outside towns, and as you say, is quite flexible, he may find something for less than 500 euros.

[Philouis]

Thank you posters for all the information. I am now going through the web sites and hopefully might find answers.

[zeb]

I've just glanced through the local paper and there are several T3/T4 properties to rent in villages around Ruffec and Confolens 16 for around 470 euros. Prices go up a bit for properties in town (and they are mostly apartments).

We are interested as we intend to rent in 64 or 65 for a while (so that we can househunt leisurely) when our property here in 16 is sold. We may be able to rent a much nicer property using the interest on capital than we could afford to buy. Just need to sell.............

[kim]

Hi

Are you still looking for permanent rental

Kim

[mainthreadmartin]

Can I ask if anyone has had a problem when trying to rent with them not working? i.e do you have to show proof of work, bank account details, references etc etc.

I also noticed on the adverts for rentals that as well as the deposit there is another figure - Honoraires TTC en sus : 605 €  or is that the deposit?

Martin Head

[Frenchie2]

I think they mean " honoraires" for the estate agency..

 

[Busy Bee]

Hi Martin,

The 'honoraires' would be the fee you have to pay the estate agent for finding you a property.  The deposit is usually equal to 2 months rental.  As for renting while not working, the same rules aply to rental as to mortgages - you are not allowed to have a rental that is more than one third of your disposable income.  Salary slips and employment contracts are usually required to prove your income and guarantors are frequently asked for.

Tracy