We are looking to open our guest wing (gite) next year, but are very worried by the new court case, reported in the Connexion newspaper, which was successfully brought by a consumer group extending the right of long term tenants to holiday lets and which now seems to say that we cannot refuse to have pets in our gite.
I am asthmatic and some cats can trigger my symptoms. This means that I may not be able to go into part of my own house if somebody turns up with a cat in a basket!
Also, we are installing oak parquet flooring which we don’t weant destroying by dog’s claws.
Is anybody aware of how this law is progressing?
There seemed to be a thought that Gites de France would pursue this.
Also, if we invite selected people to stay in our guest wing as paying guests, would this still constitute a gite under french law?
I see! I doubt in that case you even need to register as an autoantrepreneur to do that as it won’t be a gite or any sort of holiday let in the usual sense of the word.
We would be using our friends who have agreed to help us with their contacts in the US, Paris, the City and Munich and we will be using the “wing” for our own friends and family and also ,hopefully, on exchange visits, we do not need it to be our main breadwinner.
We will make a PDF file which we can attach to an e-mail and send it to our friends to distribute, so it will not appear on any public site.
Had another slow moving thought Jane - if it is a wing of your house as opposed to a separate building then surely your asthma would be a valid reason for being to explain that you CAN’T welcome pets?
on that i don’t have a clue! Common sense would say there should be but… Then again, if you were registering the business, what would u register it as? I have to say, I started off with the idea of letting 1/2 our place as a gite, mainly because that part of it cuts off from the rest so nicely, but now, once we have the rooms ready, I’m going 2 do chambres d’hote - for which u don’t have 2 register as an auto-entrepreneur depending on the no of rooms. I know what u mean re sheet changing tho.
Doesn’t look like things are going to change unless someone successfully challenges it. Could u not stress your asthma while welcoming pets? We have a dog and 3 cats and when you have animals you do note the wording on ads for gites etc - e.g pets welcome but only in the kitchen area - I simply wouldn’t stay somewhere like that.
The personal invitation thing sounds interesting. How would u envisage that working?
I think this boils down to is there a legal difference in France between a gite and property which is let by personal invitation only, where you can set out your own terms and woud I still be able to register as an auto-entrepreneur?.
I think then, because it IS a ruling handed down by the cour de cassation, it’s either animals or sheets! Of course, being sneaky, it’s q. reasonable to ask people enquiring about availability (via whatever medium you use e.g online enquiry form) to stipulate re pets, then u could simply be fully booked to those who have them…
This would mean operating under a different regime entirely and taking shorter bookings and more work, ie.changing sheets, which I don’t want to take on.
I would imagine that if you advertised it as chambres d’hotes you’d get round it - but that would mean supplying them with breakfast!