Hello everyone reading on this discussion.
Thank you SFN for a great webisite and knowledgeable community.
I joined SFN in the first place having been recommended to it by Finn - this was after I contacted him initially for some advice re french landlord housing problem in October 2012.
So having moved from the last problem rental last year, we find ourselves yet again with problems renting in France. I am posting this in the hope that some of you may have some idea or advice as to what to do in this situation.
At end of December 2012 we moved from last problem house to another house with a different but sadly and somehow similarly dishonest french landlady and again had problems. So we moved from there six weeks later in February 2013 into the house we currently inhabit.
We have been here for eight months. This time the landlord is absent living in the uk and is english. We moved in and gave the agent acting for the landlord our cheques for first months rent plus one months deposit. She, the agent, was supposed to come around with a regular french contract for us to sign. However, once we had moved in, the english landlord then said that they wouldn't sign a french contract but wanted us to sign their self created typed out contract which was in english. For a further two months this went on with us asking for a proper french contract and they refusing. Finally in April, two months after we had taken possession, now stressed out as we still had no rental contract, we felt we had no choice but to agree to sign a contract dictated by them but which was in english and now, at our request, also translated into french. It was for 12 months tenure which ends next february 2014. It stated that we had to pay the electric bills and the rent each month and that the contract could be terminated with one months notice by either side. We didn't want to sign this but felt blackmailed into signing it seeing as we had already been living in the house for two months. We also noted that the contract omitted the landlords address in the UK and they refused to give it to us in spite of us requesting it. We had the contract countersigned and dated by the french lady who was the acting agent for the uk resident landlord. The contract was apparantly sent to the UK, counter signed by the landlord/lady and then sent back to us. We have this with original signatures. The agent continued to collect our rental cheque each month. Each month she told us how clean the house is and how good the garden looked and how well we were looking after the property.
All was fine until people suddenly started to arrive to view the property. Turns out that the house was up for sale at the local agencies.We were not told that they were coming - they just turned up. We think that the estate agents were not told that there were tenants but were told that we were there as holiday visitors and weren't staying long term. We let people into view as we didn't want to cause any trouble. When we discussed all of this on the phone with the landlady (its an english couple) she told us that the house wouldn't sell in this dreadful housing market and that the house had been up for sale for the previous 3 years and had had only 2 viewings. I pointed out to her that, if the house did sell, it could take several months for us to find another suitable house. She said of course and that she would give us several months notice to quit in the event of a buyer being found. She promised that she would never ever tell us that we had to go within a month. So we had signed their contract, paid the rent each month by cheque to her agent here in france, took good care of the property and the garden and all was quietish.
For some reason, back in the summer, the landlords agent changed from the very nice french lady living up the road to an english chap living 2kms away. He has been collecting the rent cheque etc.. each month and letting us know when people are coming to view the property. He continually told us that the house wouldn't sell, it required too much work etc.. etc.. He also told us that the landlord is in deep financial doo-doo and that if the house didn't sell by next March 2014 then the landlord would lose it - to someone who made a bridging loan in england to stop the bank in france repossessing the house! We don't know how much, if any of this, is true.
Two days after yet another chat with afore said landlords agent telling us how the house will never sell, we suddenly received a letter sent lettre recommandee which had been sent from our local village. It was apparently from the UK but had no address of sender on it, nor had it been posted out in the UK. We received it on 16 september even though it was dated august 29th. It said that we had to vacate the premises by the 15th October (so in effect 29 days notice). We were to continue to pay the rent (which we already had done on the 5th of September) and that our deposit would be returned unless deductions were made for any damages (there aren't any damages). It said that if we didn't vacate by October 15th, that they the landlord would take all legal action to get us evicted.
Since then, the landlords agent who lives in the nearby village from where the letter was posted, has admitted that he himself posted the letter to us. He says that the landlord emailed a copy to him. I then asked him if he printed it out, signed it for the landlord and then posted it to us? He insisted that he had not signed it but it was a genuine signature by the landlord and he had merely posted it locally. We however have good reason and potential evidence which leads us to believe that the agent has been signing for everything all along including our original rental contract and rental receipts and that it is not the genuine signature of the landlord even though the signature is in the name of the landlord.
Also, since receiving the letter, we have discovered that there is an offer on the house and that this is the reason for the letter asking us to leave. This is not mentioned in the letter in which there is no stated reason for asking us to vacate. Nor is there any mention of the house being up for sale on our rental contract.
We have requested the landlords address from the agent. There has been no address forthcoming. We cannot reply to the landlord by registered letter as we have no address to reply to. We only have the landlords landline number in the UK and his email address.
We have read comments on another discussion which says that normal mail can be sent online. First question I think is, if anyone can advise us please, can we send an online registered letter by email to the landlord?
Since we received the letter from the landlord and/or his agent, we have been looking for another suitable house to rent but have so far been unsuccessful. I should add here that this is our primary house and that we do not have a house in the UK or anywhere else or any other accomodation. My OH is currently on sick leave as he is undergoing treatment for a serious works injury and had another operation just the day after we received the letter to vacate. We have called the landlord's agent here in france several times - to ask him to collect the rent for October - but he has not come round nor returned our calls. We have not received our receipts for the last two months rent from the landlord but have taken receipts from the agent who collected our cheques. The agent promised me that he would ask for the receipts from the landlord as well as giving us their address but nothing so far. We are pretty sure that the landlord and wife are not declaring our rental income in france. We think that potentially they don't want to give their address in the UK due to things like french tax avoidance or due to owing money maybe to a french bank here. We can only summise as we have no absolute knowledge.
We can prove we have paid our rent every month until now as we have always paid monthly by cheque made out to the landlords name. Our bank can produce the copies of our cheques having been cashed and also state who cashed them.
The landlord insisted on the electric and water staying in their name. We have paid the bills (agent gave us receipt for payment of water and electric) and asked in the past few months by email whether it would be easier, simpler and better to put the bills into our names. We received no reply to our email.
So next question is: what do we do?!!
We have no way to pay the rent for October 5 to November 5. The agent doesn't come to collect and we have no address to send it to.... and anyhow are loath to pay a cheque without receiving some kind of receipt for our cheque. Will the landlord be able to try to claim that we are not paying the rent and therefore can evict us? But we cannot pay the rent for the aforementioned reasons.
We are again left stressed, upset and in limbo.
Finn, can you give us any advice please? Does anyone have any idea as to what we can do in this position. We are living in terror that if we go out one day we may return to find that the landlord or his agent had turned up whilst we were out, break into the house, put all our belongings outside......it is just horrible. We don't trust the french police to assist us in that event as we are english and don't think the french police will bother as we are not french.
Yet again we have problems with renting in france and we have come to the conclusion that it is impossible to rent peacefully and happily in this country......Back in the UK before coming to france, rented a house for 10 years, never had a problem and became firm friends with the landlord who was always decent. He wasn't french by the way...
For those who are experiencing difficulties with their french rental whether now or have done in the past, please know that it seems to be a normal course of events for tenants to beware in france. Probably why the french stop paying their rent and live rent free for ages before they leave. After our experiences we now don't blame them for withholding their rent. We have been advised by a friend who has lived and rented in france for over 12 years that we should just stop paying the rent and then we shall be in the winter time when a tenant cannot be evicted. We however want to pay our rent, we want to live here honourably and are happy to move once we find somewhere decent to move to. But we are here in this house with all our furniture and belongings and simply cannot just move out on 15 October (the letter gave us 29 days notice).
All we want is to rent a nice normal house which we can make into our home for the longterm time that we are there. We have moved three times in the past year and looks like we have to move again. It is simply making us unwell as well as being disruptive and very expensive for us each time we have to move. Are there no decent landlords out there?
Seems that the landlords are always asking for references from the tenants but we think that the landlords should provide references for themselves to the prospective tenants. We should be able to check up on the landlord just as much as the landlord wants to check out the tenant.
Any advice re our current predicament would be very much appreciated.
Thank you for reading this......