Living in UK renting in France

[Prestonian]

We are in the very early stages of thinking about an eventual move to France. To get a foot over there we have been thinking about buying a small place which we can use ourselves, but also rent out for a bit of income. Advice on how to manage this from the UK would be much appreciated with regard to upkeep of the house, cleaning etc... Are there management companies that can deal with this? As you can see, this is all very embryonic at this stage!!!!

[Blanche Neige]

There are quite a few on here who do exactly this.

As you say, you will need some good support services but there are agencies in many areas who will provide this sort of management service, at a price of course.

If you can spend time at the property and get to know the local community especially close neighbours it all helps.

Income, well this depends on what you have to offer, where you advertise and probably the most important thing...............location. There is a lot of holiday rental property around and competition is stiff.

[Northender]

Sounds like you might be from our neck of the woods.We have had our little bolthole over in France for 15 years but only just starting renting it out the last couple of years.The problems managing this from the UK are many , depending on the size and age of the property , whether you have a pool , how often will you be able to travel over , are there people living locally you can trust , etc , etc.

If you decide to place it with a management company , remember its not cheap , and some decisions (Who carries out essential work for example ) may be taken away from you.

We have friends who have just had to sort out a large water bill (1500 euro) , because of a leaking pipe in one of their outbuildings because the supply was not turned off for the winter.The management company are saying they are not responsible.

If you would like a chat about our experiences , please e-mail us.