Starting a 1 bedroom B&B from scratch

[CathyBrunet]

Has anyone a complete checklist they are willing to share for the legal and fiscal steps to start a B&B from scratch.

Thank you

[betise]

First step, are you French resident? If not, and you are UK resident, you will need to apply for a long stay visa.

[anotherbanana]

Brave, brave!

[alittlebitfrench]

1) Don't DO it.

[Catalpa]

To start off your research, I recommend talking to your local Office de Tourisme and, if you're in a very touristy area, your Mairie may also be aware of the process. You'll need to register at the Mairie anyway if you decide to go ahead. Do you intend this to be your main source of income - more than, say, pensions or other business ventures? You don't need to tell us but that will probably affect how you set up your business.

This forum might also be of help -

https://www.startbusinessinfrance.com/

You pay for services (it's her business) but they're realistic sums; Valerie has been around for years and seems to have plenty of satisfied customers. I don't know her, have never used her services personally, but I do know people who have and they've been happy with the advice and info she provided.

You could try asking your questions on the laymyhat forum - there's a b&b section there. It is pretty quiet nowadays, though. Which probably tells you there aren't a lot of new people starting up.

https://www.laymyhat.com/forum/

I don't think it's the worst time to be starting a b&b or gîte. A lot of people have stopped doing both during the past 2 years because it's often done to supplement a pension or other activity and fewer (older) people want to have possibly diseased strangers passing through their home on a regular basis if they don't have to. So there may be less competition now.

For some holidaymakers, the prospect of travelling long distances on metal tubes with recycled air is not as appealing as it might have been 2 years ago so they are looking for easier, closer options where they have control over their environment and who is in it. It's obvious but still worth saying: don't plan to rely on British visitors... to be successful, you need to appeal to the French market and, depending on where you are, probably Belgian and Dutch holidaymakers too. Perhaps Italian and German as well.

Hope that starts you off with a few ideas.