Gite rental - English or French law ??

[joidevie]

Hi everyone..

I'm renting my French property out

for the first time. I'm resident in the UK and it is a "residence

secondaire" and I will be doing all the admin/deposit taking etc from

the UK. I'm currently compiling some terms & conditions / contract

and have looked around at how others have worded these.

There seems to be a clause along the lines of :

Applicable law

This contract shall be governed by English law in

every particular including formation and

interpretation, and shall be deemed to have been

made in England. Any proceedings arising out of or

in connection with this contract may be brought in

any court of competent jurisdiction in England.

I have however seen this also worded as "French Law" and not English.. What is the right 'jurisdiction' to use ?

Many thanks !

[toni]

We also use one similar to the one you quote above, but as we have never had any legal problems to date we haven't had to test it out. Would be interested in hearing other peoples views on this.

[Albert the InfoGipsy]

My guess is that if you chose English law then it would work fine for non-French customers. I have a nasty feeling that, whatever you put, a French one would go through the French courts and be fully supported by them in doing so.

[joidevie]

It's a tricky one.. In it's worst scenario, if renters squatted the house, the UK courts would have no jurisdiction. Alternatively, if there were any financial dispute etc during the signing of contracts etc outside of France, the French system may have no say either?

Does anyone have any experience in this field ?

Thanks

[breizh]

The question of jurisdiction in respect of T&Cs is resolved by where the business is registered for tax purposes, England, Scotland, France, Outer Mongolia, etc. The term "business" is extended out to any organisation, company, partnership or sole trader. One of the benefits of paying tax is deemed to be the use of the country's legal system to resolve disputes, the fees paid to the Courts in no way reflect the true cost of maintaining the civil judicial system!

Hope that helps.

[Nick Trollope]

But this is a Gite. Not "registered for tax" anywhere and, being immovable property has its own set of laws (in France) anyway. English (civil) law can have no bearing on a property outside the jurisdiction of an English (civil) court.

So, French law would apply, no? Regardless of where the contract was made (I also suspect that this is different to just about every cross-border contract one could make).

IANAL, if the OP wants to include statements of law, then they should check with one (experienced in French property law)!

[suein56]

[quote user="Nick Trollope"]But this is a Gite. Not "registered for tax" anywhere and, being immovable property has its own set of laws (in France) anyway.
[/quote]

Quite so. Surely as the property is in France the income from renting it out should be declared in France. I say this as the taxe d'hab and the taxe foncière are due in France and paid in France so it is a French property, albeit rented out in the short term to whoever.

Sue [blink]

[Cendrillon]

[quote user="spg"]

[quote user="Nick Trollope"]But this is a Gite. Not "registered for tax" anywhere and, being immovable property has its own set of laws (in France) anyway.
[/quote]

Quite so. Surely as the property is in France the income from renting it out should be declared in France. I say this as the taxe d'hab and the taxe foncière are due in France and paid in France so it is a French property, albeit rented out in the short term to whoever.

Sue [blink]

[/quote]

 

Yes, quite right Sue, they should declare it in both countries for tax purposes. Probably the OP knows this and (s)he is after all asking about the legal position for T and Cs.

[suein56]

[quote user="Cendrillon"]

Yes, quite right Sue, they should declare it in both countries for tax purposes. Probably the OP knows this and (s)he is after all asking about the legal position for T and Cs.[/quote]

My point was the house is in France, covered by French tax ie taxe d'hab, taxe fonc and house insurance so if there was an incident of whatever description UK based T&Cs would probably not be of much use.

Sue

[Jo Taylor]

All income from property letting MUST be declared and paid in France; there are no exceptions. Contracts must also be in accordance with French law:

The booking is made by signing a contract or by a simple exchange of letters. Two copies of the contract or letter must be signed when the deposit is paid. One copy must be given to the client, who must agree to the clauses contained in it. A description of the accommodation must be included if it doesn’t have an official grading. The contract or letter must also detail the following:

l The duration of the rental.

l The price (which must not vary with the number of occupants).

l The responsibilities of the owner and tenant, which can be anything you choose, e.g. that the owner should provide x, y and z and tenants should leave the accommodation as they found it, not invite friends and family who aren’t listed as guests to stay, and supervise their children while swimming.

l The deposits and guarantee, if applicable. The deposit paid when reserving the holiday is the booking deposit (dépôt de réservation); in French law there are two types: arrhes and acompte. If the client pays an arrhes, he loses it if he cancels at any time. If the owner cancels, he must pay the client twice the amount of the deposit. If the client pays an acompte and he cancels, he must pay the whole amount due; if the owner cancels, he can simply return the deposit, but the client may claim damages. If the type of deposit isn’t specified, it’s assumed to be an arrhes, so it may be to your advantage to specify that it’s an acompte. If your contract is in English and simply uses the word ‘deposit’, you should stipulate the conditions under which it may be returned in full or in part. You should also take a security or guarantee deposit (dépôt de garantie), in case anything is damaged or broken. The contract must specify the time for the deposit to be returned. You may choose to send it back within, say, a week of the holiday’s end if there is no opportunity to inspect the property until after the guests have departed but this condition must be made clear on the contract.

l The cancellation conditions.

l Details of the taxe de séjour, if applicable.

You'll find a lot more useful info in the Gites section of the forum

[Tony F Dordogne]

And as a gite (with the exceptions as noted elsewhere) if it's a maison secondaire it would be registered for taxe professionale with the Mairie so if that part of the (French) law applies, the T & C would probably be applicable under French law.

[Nick Trollope]

[quote user="Jo Taylor"]All income from property letting MUST be declared and paid in France; there are no exceptions. Contracts must also be in accordance with French law:

[/quote]

Interesting stuff. So, the OP is bound to use "French" law in her contract, no?