AnnW

Hi, My daughter is moving to Paris to study for a year. We have at last found flatshares and will be viewing them next week. This is a whole new territory for me and I am unsure what we should be asking/doing! Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Cheers AnnW

dmu

Hi
As a mother with two daughters sharing flats (in Paris and in Berlin), I can warn you that you have a lot of paperwork to gather together! As your daughter is a student, you will be called upon to be a Guarantor, which involves giving your last year's Tax Declaration (to prove that your income is sufficient to cover the whole monthly rent several times over ) and all manner of documents to prove your existence and relationship with the tenant. The scariest part is that, if the other flatmates don't pay their rent, you (and their guarantors if their income isn't high enough) are obliged to pay and the wording of the Agreement says that you will pay the whole rent if no one else pays, for the duration of the lease!
Be really SURE of the future flatmates - don't hesitate to ask to see their proof of income and/or their Guarantor Agreements. So far, we haven't had problems as, apart from the German flat, we have always known the other flatmates. It's a question of trust, and with unknown flat-sharers, there's always a risk....
It might even be advisable to take a studio for your daughter, on her own. She'll make friends soon enough at the Fac!
Whether she decides on flat-share or independence, be prepared to accompany her to Paris with all the above documents (I can give you a more detailed list if you like) - even for a studio, the landlord will want you to sign the Guarantor Agreement....
Good luck!

Ka Ora!

Welcome to the Forum Sorry cant help with Paris Rentals, Should you get any issues give myself Mitzyboy or Sue a shout.

Once again welcome, We have a merry bunch here...

cyrian

And welcome to the merry-go-round of student property rental in France.
For official rentals thro' an agent, in addition to those mentioned by dmu before she can rent, she will need a french bank account. You can't get a bank account unless you have a french address (with some exceptions) and you also can't rent unless you have insurance.
We got a letter from the letting agent which the bank accepted then we could get the insurance required and then we could return to the agent to sign the lease proper.
We were also required to provide some details in support of our daughter's bank account application.
The details of the lease will be in french and although my OH is fluent in french - there were words she had never come across - in fact she didn't know what they were in english
Read this thread regarding landlords and deposits http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=677142
You will get there eventually - just be prepared for a lot of frustration and wear good walking shoes
It will be worth it in the end.

AnnW

Hi dmu, Thank you so much for this advice, I thought (naiively) that a guarantor was only needed if you were renting from a landlord! I will take on board what you've said. Would hubby's salary slips suffice as proof of income? And are there any questions we should ask when visiting these flats? We did think of a studio for her but the prices are too silly! The list you spoke of sounds great and anything else you can think of. Thanks dmu. Ann

cyrian

I am not sure if this still applies - perhaps dmu is aware of the up to date procedure but students are/were able to claim back half of the rental from the french government. If so then this might make a difference to you.
Hopefully someone else knows the answer.

dmu

Hi, first time I've heard of this, but Paris daughter isn't a student any more, so if it's true, we can't benefit from it. Her income is still too low to be accepted by any one (landlord or agents) which is why we are still guarantors.
To AnnW, your OH's payslips should be OK but the landlord will want to ensure that there'd be no problem transferring funds if necessary.
For the "dossier" that you have to submit to the landlord/agents, I'm repeating the list of documents that we had to provide a few years ago: payslips for the last 3 months, every one's IDs, your marriage certificate, daughter's birth certificate, an RIB (Bank Identification slip obtained after having opened an Account in France), proof of daughter's last domicile (in your case a declaration signed by you), your latest (French) Tax Notification/Tax Declaration (don't know how expat tenants get around this, but they certify the tenant/guarantor's financial status for the year before), and the original of a "Multi-risk" insurance for the future flat.
Hope I'm not putting you off, but fore-warned is fore-armed. Just remind yourself that the French adore paperwork!
Good luck with the hunt!

dmu

I was too late to edit my first paragraph last night, but I had realized that you must be talking about the Allocations Logement. I don't know what the percentage of the rent allowance is, but students and low-income tenants are eligible for this housing allowance. You apply to your local CAF (Caisse d'Allocations Familiales = Family Allowance Office) and, after accepting the inevitable dossier, they eventually pay the percentage directly to the landlord. (There's nothing to reclaim back from the government, which is what confused me!) My Paris daughter gets some Allocations Logement, but not as much as a non-earning student would...
Hope this helps!

cyrian

Thanks - that was what I meant.
Try here http://www.caf.fr/wps/portal/!ut/p/c...RVkpTQjAwRzc!/
You can see how much you can expect by running thro' the calculator.
They offered me about 30% assistance on a monthly rental of 560 euros.
More interestingly, by using this calculator then you can see what information you will need to provide for your application to CAF.
My understanding is that EU nationals studying in France are eligible to apply.
The problem with the french is that they don't have a word for bureaucracy

AnnW

Hi DMU and Cyrian,

First of all I want to thank you both for the invaluable information you gave me, this was extremely helpful for our trip to Paris.

My daughter and I have been and are now back in the UK. And I'm pleased to say the trip was a success!

After many viewings we found a flat that we are both happy with. She will be sharing with a lovely French female student of the same age, the flat is in the centre of Paris and very close to her University. She has her own room, tv, dvd, bed and desk. She even has her own little Pariseinne balcony! She loves it! I met the girl's mother too and she only lives 10 minutes away. They even took us to the bank and helped us open a French Bank account. We honestly could not have met nicer people and I feel happy knowing who she is living with and where.

However we only found this after many hours of searching on the net and many viewings. At one pount we were beginning to think we wouldn't get anything at all.

As they say forewarned is forearmed ( or something like that) so thanks to the list of things I was sent I was able to fulfill all that was required of us.

I will be going back out again in a few weeks time to help get my daughter settled in for the start of her new term in Paris. But this time I will be a lot more relaxed ( I think)
Anyway - once again - a BIG THANK YOU to you both.

Regards AnnW

dmu

You're welcome!

cyrian

Glad it worked out for you.
Next trip you will have to think about mobile phone and internet access

aquaagua

My daughter will hopefully doing her year abroad in Paris next year. Where is your daughter studying. I would be very interested to have any information

dmu

Hi again!
Unless your daughter gets a room in a Cité Universitaire, please note what I said above concerning renting and flat-sharing!

AnnW

Hi there,

First of all I am so sorry for not replying earlier, I have been abroad and had no internet access. My daughter is studying at Sciences-Po, this is in the Saint Germaine area and she managed to get a flat that was 20 minutes walk away. This has turned out to be very fortunate for her, as at the moment - as you know - France is going on strike on average about one day a week. My daughter is managing to get to University but a lot of her friends who live further away and have to rely on public transport are not so lucky. So something to bear in mind for the future. If you have any questions you want to ask - please don't hesitate. I am now in the UK so will be checking my emails and will try to reply to you asap.
AnnW