I would like to ask for some advice from anyone out there who has experience of renting out a second property. We have recently been lucky enough to manage to get a French mortgage and have bought a second property. Both our properties are in France, around 70 metres from each other. We have moved out of the smaller house, to the larger one (which needs lots of work BTW!) We would now like to rent out our little 2 bedroomed house. We are a little bewildered at the options in order to rent it. We have the following options:
1) Rent it out long-term unfurnished, either via an agent or by advertising it ourselves.
2) Rent it out long-term furnished, either via an agent or by advertising it ourselves.
3) Furnish the property and use it for holiday lets. The property is on a village which has quite a lot of holiday homes and they all seem to rent pretty well in the summer.
We do have most of the furniture to use for the house so furnishing it is not too much of a problem. We are French residents and pay Taxes in France.
I have heard that the landlord is more protected if renting long term unfurnished but I am not entirely sure of the ins and outs of this.
We have to get cracking on whichever route we choose so that the house can help us to pay the mortgage!
Thanks for any advice or experiences that anyone can share.
Zoe
once you're in, it's almost impossible to get you out! glad you've found a place ;-)
Thanks Andrew and Theo for your input. I am really confused as there are so many different things to consider. I may just put the house on the market instead! It seems safer to go for the holiday let for now until I work out all the ins and outs of long term and whether it's worth the risk.
there are some horror stories out there, Zoe, I rent at the moment and my landlord has insurance against people not paying etc. but the insurers wanted so much info about us, our business etc. previous pay statements, inside leg measurements...!
In short, furnished short term/holiday rentals are a better bet!
Bonne chance ;-)
Andrew has explained actually already everything.It is true in comparison to the rights of a tenant, your rights as landlord are rather limited to say the least. Would e.g. now in the winter your tenants not pay rent, you would not be able till 1 March the gentlemen to move out.When you then in March finally have access to your property it can easily look like "Hiroshima". We first tried this variant of the one-year rental (furbished) as I had to work in the UK. This was quite a circus with 3 times flying back and fourth, then notification of ending the contract by a bailiff, etc. ..
In your case, I think because of the distance of 70 meters, a rental only during the summer months is the best solution. The revenue covers always running costs for both properties. So it's more preserving then profit. What more do you want in these times? There are some websites in the UK to market for you the property. They collect about 25%, but have a good success in managing it as it is quite hassle-free. Even here on SFN are some who do this rental buzz. Just don't get into long term rental!!
Thanks Andrew, this is precisely what I was worried about as I know that tenants have a lot of rights in France. I have heard that between November and March tenants cant be evicted which means that some people just don't pay rent during these months but is this particularly common for tenants to do that? I will also join the other groups that you recommend and post there to see if anyone can help. Thanks again!
go for holiday lets, you'll be so much safer. go for rental à l'année and you'll be open to all the huge problems of the french rental market - tenants who don't pay and that you can't get out etc. the landlord isn't protected at all, the tenant is king (trêve hivernal etc.) Try posting in the rentings group for a more thorough reply ;-)
Myself and my husband are looking for unfurnished rental long term we intend to buy but need somewhere to live while renovating a property where do we start to look moving out from the uk in March 2017
Bit daunting when there is much negativity on long term renting I think if you find the right tenant and meet up with them and check there background it's making it hard for the good people that are looking to rent like myself and my husband we would be willing to pay rent up front surely that would put us both prospective tenants