Can anyone provide me with some advice regarding my property in France.
The property used to be rented using an unofficial agent in France who arranged short term rentals for people looking for a place to stay while searching for a property to purchase.
At the end of our penultimate rental we got some work carried out by a local builder on the roof. The job wasn’t quite finished when I left so I asked him to return the key to the agent. This was never done.
We then visited about 3 weeks later, at the end of Dec 16, and found the builder living in the property (obviously using the non returned keys). We spoke to him and he said that he was intending to regularise the situation. At this stage I drew up a contract myself (stating it was subject to French law), for a 6 month rental, and asked him to sign it which he did. The agreement required him to give 1 months notice to cease the contract and me to provide 3 months notice. He also paid the deposit and the next 2 months rent. After this he was late with the rent, but was paying it. About 2.5 months ago he stopped responding to any phone calls or texts (he’s not on email), and stopped paying the rent.
Now I am not able to contact him. I have a concern about the validity of the Agreement that I produced. When I last visited the property c 2 months ago he was not there (working away), but had changed the locks. I have a concern about the property as there is woodworm in the bathroom which needs to dealt with. He said he would sort this, but I fear this has not been done. The woodworm issue still needs to be addressed before the whole property is infected.
We are going out to the area at the end of this month.
Ashley why would you allow the builder to live in the house once you had had found he was living there and not even returned the key?? Why would you trust him after his deceit? Not having seen your “contract” it is difficult to make any comment on it and its validity, surely the six months is up now if it was drawn up in December 2016. If I was you I’d ask a locksmith to drill the locks out and change them, he isn’t living there hasn’t paid rent and isn’t in contact with you. Alternatively serve the three months notice on him.
David, many thanks for your response.
Stupidly, I fell for his hardship story, quite liked him, and thought we had an agreement between us that we could move forward on.
The saving grace, I think is, that we can refer to the short term rental, as effectively a holiday rental for a furnished property.
He has moved back to the property and he is living there now.
The 6 months has expired now. He hasn’t paid any rent since the expiry.of the initial term. Do you think i need to serve him notice, or just ask him to move out?
I would also like to do a landlords inspection of the property, if he is not going to move out. In the UK you have the rights to one as long as you provide 24 hours notice. is there such a provision in France?
You can’t normally enter a property that you’ve let without the prior permission of the tenant.
I think the only way you’ll get him out is to serve notice and then if he doesn’t budge, you’ll have to go to a tribunal and then if you get a judgement, get a huissier onto it. They can’t actually evict him physically but if he refused to move, they can call the gendarmes to do it.
You’ll have to wait a fair bit to get him out as once it goes into the winter period you can’t evict him. You can start the proceedings though.
Hi Debra
Many thanks for your input. The other points I should add, he does own another property nearby (which his wife lives in), and he has changed the locks without permission. Does these points make any difference?
Debra Debra A Archer
October 10 |
You can’t normally enter a property that you’ve let without the prior permission of the tenant.
I think the only way you’ll get him out is to serve notice and then if he doesn’t budge, you’ll have to go to a tribunal and then if you get a judgement, get a huissier onto it. They can’t actually evict him physically but if he refused to move, they can call the gendarmes to do it.
You’ll have to wait a fair bit to get him out as once it goes into the winter period you can’t evict him. You can start the proceedings though.
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In Reply To
Ashley Clarke
October 5 |
David, many thanks for your response. Stupidly, I fell for his hardship story, quite liked him, and thought we had an agreement between us that we could move forward on. The saving grace, I think is, that we can refer to the short term rental, as effectively a holiday rental for a furnished proper…
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Not that I’m aware of. If he insists he’s resident in your house it doesn’t matter where his wife lives. Re the locks, he can do that as long as he changes them back before leaving or supplies you with all of the keys if you’re happy about keeping the new locks.