Morning all,
I’m working on a feature about renting in France and just wondered if anyone had any top tips / anecdotes / horror stories / funny stories that I can include to make it a bit more interesting ?
They can be anonymous or using your first name only.
Post here or DM me if you prefer. Thanks!
Hello, we are looking to rent a property in France and move in hopefully by October latest. We stayed in a gite earlier this year in the hope of looking for a long-term rental but COVID-19 happened and we had to retun to the UK before we even had a chance of looking for somewhere to rent. The owners of the gite we stayed in said we could rent the gite to us for s short term ie 3 months. Would this class us as being legally resident in France so as we can apply for a residency permit? The gite owner has said the rental of 700euros would include all utilities so there would be no bills to pay. So would just a rental contract be enough to show the authorities that we are now permnentaly living in France? Any help, suggestions would be really appreciated. Man thanks.
We rented a furnished place for a while. The bedding provided was full of ancient feathers. My wife is moderately asthmatic and this proved to be way too much. She went to the local doctor who appeared to be familiar with the problem and wrote a prescription for an impressive looking smoke bomb. We lit the touch paper and left the bedroom door closed for a couple of hours. To our horror, when we opened the door, the cat strolled out. Happily, she appeared unharmed.
We stuffed the bedding in bin bags and dumped it in the ancient armoire and went out and bought our own. No idea what was in the smoke, but it appeared to kill dust mites, while being harmless to animals. The only time I have, albeit involuntarily, tested a product on an animal!
Where would you live at the end of the three months? The gîte contract would be fine to show that you have been here for 3 months, so you could then apply for your residency but you would have to have an address to apply from. And gîtes are not legally allowed to give people contracts for more than 3 months (and shouldn’t really give you one at all unless you have another home elsewhere).
Whilst staying at the gite I would look for a normal unfurnished let through agents, newpaper or notaire.