No smoking Gite

Good morning
I was wondering if anyone could advise on what the rules related to smoking are within a gite?
We have advertised our gite as no smoking. The latest guests have been smoking outside, the gite - when asked not to. When we called gite de france, they said that smoking was within their rights, as they are able to treat the place as they would their own home.
Does this sound right?
Thanks in advance.

Sadly yes Warren, unless you specify that the property is entirely non-smoking (including outside) then people have the right to do as they wish whilst outside.

I agree with Tim. The law only forbids smoking in public areas like bars and, for example with hotels, people can legally smoke within private rooms. UNLESS it forms part of your contract with the client, and somewhere in the gite you have a noice about ‘ règlement intérieur’. Outside is more complicated, as if they step outside the front door are they on public road? You would probably be better to stipulate somewhere people can smoke outside - preferably somewhere sheltered.

But the gîte de france person whilst accurate, was not being helpful. You can stipulate all sorts of things in your contract and that’s what they should have told you.

We offer people an ashtray, and a place to huddle outdoors, and this is respected. My problem is always having to wash the pillows after heavy smokers have stayed as they stink!

Many thanks - I have just looked on the site and it says no smoking cottage, gite non fumeur.
Is it acceptable to change it to no smoking property and land?
The gite is within a large grounds, so they would need to go at least 500m before they are in a public area.
I will contact gite de france again, regarding the contract - personally I would prefer to close it down, rather than having to put up with smokers.
Do the same rules apply for the English sites that advertise gites?

If you have that much land I think you would be better to define a smoking area in a location which is tolerable to you.

Many thanks
It is funny, but this is our second season and our first smoker.
Within the gite there are some rules asking people not to smoke anywhere on the property - as it is a fire hazard.

The gîte is in france, so french law prevails! Whether you advertise on english or french portals makes no difference.

I think you might find if you spoke to Gîte de France again you would get a different answer. Most GdF that we’ve stayed in have been non smoking! Explain that you want the whole of your property to be non-smoking, and that if that’s not possible then you will go elsewhere and see what they say. Be aware that even if they accept it it may affect your bookings as a few people will be put off.

However it it is such a large property I think more of a fire risk not to have a designated smoking area with a proper sand bucket. No matter what you say people will stroll off for a cigarette and put it out on the ground.

Warren, we have been managing gites for 12 years and have seen incredible abuses of properties, if the only issue for you so far is a few cigarette butts outside the gite then you’ve done well, wait until you get dogs in the pool, the pool turned into a ‘water park’ with the garden slide used as a ‘chute’ causing several ‘margelles’ to loosen, pool steps ripping the pool liner, the arm of a motored canopy bending in half after catching on a shutter, a glass panelled entrance door being smashed by two 8 year olds being allowed to sword fight with one either side of the door and our most recent act by drunk people on holiday the emptying of a spa after pulling out the drain plug and not knowing how to put it back.

Wow that sounds absolutely awful.
We only have a small one bed place that we rent out, with no animals and children - and because of its quiet location, it so far has brought in just middle aged couples, which generally have been very decent to deal with. We have had a few that were quite messy, but that is as bad as it has been. For us it is only to try and bring in a little extra income, but not a must.
I know that if we had any issues like you have faced, we would shut it up immediately.

The point I was trying to make Warren is that perhaps you are viewing things differently from most gite owners who see renting as a business and are not put off by the tiny minority of guests who abuse their properties. I reckon that we have dealt with 500+ bookings to date and we only remember the bad ones such as those I mentioned.

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Thanks for the feedback Timothy. There is certainly a difference between running it as a business rather than for pocket money. I guess we need to figure out if the extra income makes up for the inconvenience for us.
Funny how such a niggling thing can be so grating - for me it is not so much that someone smokes, but the fact that the ad says no smoking, the notes in the gite, the signs, but they still are ignored.

Think of all the people who routinely drive over the speed limit, park where they shouldn’t etc. It is the same mindset you are dealing with: ‘Oh but it doesn’t apply to ME because I am [insert spurious bit of justification here] and therefore the rules don’t count’.

With the pound in freefall that little bit of extra income might prove invaluable!

We’ve been running our gite 5 years now, and rental apartment for 10. We have had few problems with the gîte apart from pure accidents, just a new years’ party which meant I spent the next two months trying to get rid of glitter!

What we’ve found is that people are respectful if things are explained. One of the doors has a beautiful, but very old and very fragile catch on it. So as part of my welcome patter I always point it out, and explain its history and ask that people take care. So far they all do. So perhaps when people arrive you need to say that the whole place is no smoking as you/your wife/whoever are an asthmatic and even small bits of smoke can be very upsetting…

But I still think you’d have less problems if you provided a designated area.

(Oh, and we have absolutely no signs up about anything apart the the legal requirements which are inside a cupboard - people don’t read them and they look ugly)

Vero is spot on Warren, the people who cause problems for us and our clients simply don’t give a s**t and no doubt they live their lives like that, not too much anyone can do about it so my advice to you would be to not let the tiny minority ruin what so far has been a positive experience for you.

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I thought that smoking was banned inside all short term rental properties (gites, chambre d’hôtes, hôtels etc) in france

As far as I know the law only covers public places, corridors, bars, lifts etc and areas for collective use like offices. Not hotel bedrooms, or gîtes rented by individuals.

See here…
https://www.service-public.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/F160

No smoking within/inside a property - can be prohibited. Unless you state that there is to be no-smoking in the surrounding area, you cannot complain if folk do.

However, folk who smoke inside a non-smoking gîte - should be dealt with swiftly and with style… by whatever means are at your disposal - guillotine et al

I would never allow smoking inside but honestly outside, I’m not sure that it should be a problem, I’d never smoke in a gite but would find it very odd to be asked not to smoke outside. I had a problem with one of the gites I was managing last year where the terrace was covered in butts and the garden off the terrace. I was appalled and asked what the clients had done with the ashtrays that they would do that and was told they didn’t supply ashtrays as they would rather people didn’t smoke. Sorry the reality is that people do smoke and really how can you enforce outside non smoking if you are not there. I feel the best situation as others have said is provide ashtrays / sand buckets and possibly a smoking area (with seating etc) away from the house if you are worried about smoke going in etc.

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After 22 yrs of holiday letting no smoking means for most people no smoking inside. One client comes for 4 weeks and his wife makes him smoke his cigars a huge distance away from the building. He takes his chair his book an ashtray and smokes his cigar and why not. I think if you don’t want people to smoke anywhere outside it’s quite unusual and you would need to specify.