Hi,

Rather than risk buying a French property while we are in England. We are planning on renting initially, just wondered if there was anything we should be aware of that differs from renting in England.
Sorry if this has been covered previously, I have had a look in old threads but didn't find anything.

Thanks

for us the main difference was that most, if not all rentals are unfurnished; and that means really unfurnished as the word kitchen can describe just the sink!
aside from that no real diffs

Hi dennerleymum,

Thanks for that. I knew from research that houses for sale were generally kitchenless but had somehow not managed to transfer that info to rental properties! So I'm really glad you replied. I could have had a big shock when I came to put my stack of teabags and beans away!

So the rental scene is pretty similar to Britain then? 6 month tenancy, 1 months rent in advance, the sent of cat pee that is impossible to get rid of etc. Can't wait!

Thanks again

Hi Emmab2,

in our experience, we found it very difficult to rent a house in France when we first arrived.
If you chose to go down the Estate agents way, they will want your net salary to be at least 3 folds the rent amount.
In general, landlords are reluctant to let to people who haven't got permanent contracts and you need to provide all sorts of paperwork like pay slips, work contract etc...
If you haven't got a job in France, my bet is that you will find it hard to find somewhere to rent.

Best of luck.

Hi C moi,

Thanks for your reply, it's really good to get -ve's aswell!

We won't be moving unless we have a job, but obviously can't start work until we have somwhere to live.

How difficult is it going to be to get a rental property without payslips. I would be able to supply proof of employment and what my pay will be! I don't fancy spending 3 months living in a "mister bed" with 2kids!

Thanks again for the help.

Very difficult. I rent out furnished accommodation, and I'm not as demanding as some, but I couldn't take the risk of renting long-term to someone without a job, or who cannot pay a large sum, several months, up front.

Tenants are protected in France - you can't evict easily. You can't evict at all between November 1st and springtime, over which period French law forbades landlords from kicking non-paying tenants out into the cold.

For info most long-stay lease agreements are a year for furnished accommodation, and a statutory 3 years for unfurnished. That doesn't mean you can't give notice to leave before, but the landlord has to allow you to stay the full term unless there is good cause to ask you to leave before.

It is a viscious circle because if you're looking for a job in France, you will preferably need a French address and phonenumber on your CV but to have that French address, you need to find somewhere to live first which, like I said is almost impossible to find if you haven't got a job
It could be worth posting an ad on a forum like this one stating that you are looking for a 3 or 6 month rental accomodation. There are probably lots of Brits who can't sell their house in France but would be happy to have tenants in it instead of having it empty for months... just an idea!

a useable address includes the new appart villages that have sprung up all over france; not cheap but ok short term until a job arrives

Hi, Estate Agents in Paris, for example, give priority to potential tenants who can justify a monthly income of FOUR times the rent. Ever since they were students, we have been guarantors for our daughters' rents (involving a mountain of paperwork, of course). If your parents could act as guarantors for you (a lot of trust is involved here!), you should be able to find a place to rent.
But you have to know where you're going to work....
I agree it's a vicious circle and one solution would be first to find a job and stay in lodgings while you look for somewhere to live. It won't be ideal for your children and you'll also have the business of their care and/or schooling to sort out...
Is there a particular region that you're interested in? What line of work are you in? Age of children? How's your French? (Maybe I've missed all this info on another thread? In which case, sorry to ask for it all again...)
Good luck, whatever!

There might even be the odd one who has bought a house for future year-round use, but who, for the time being, can only live there in summer.

Me, for instance.

Hi, I nearly suggested doing this, but then they'd be limited geographically when job-seeking.

With 2 children to bring up, the OP would be advised to have savings to last them at least a year while job-seeking.

A friend of mine rented for 2 years. On vacating he had to pay tax habitation and tax fonciere. It turns out the the Landlord was wrong in charging tax fonciere but my friend has given up any hope of recovering this from the ex landlord.

Wow! I am totally overwhelmed by all the response. Thank you all so much!
Well I've got a lot to think about (not sure where to start). Except I don't think at 33 I can ask my mum to act as guarantor especially as I'm taking her only grandchildren out of the country!

We have wanted to move to France for a number of yrs now, but circumstances always got in the way. In other words there was always an excuse. Our dream is to have the space to extend our current veg plot and be less reliant on supermarkets and energy companies. And hopefully give our children (who are 6 and 4) a little bit longer as children. Yes very naive I know.

Having been to France a few times we really like the area between Saintes and Bordeaux. So our first choice is to be in this area. However, as always this depends on getting a job. Although not ideal, if we were able to secure a job elsewhere in the country we would take it.

Our difficulties in getting work are the same as others I guess. My husband and I are teachers. I know that it is nigh on impossible find work in a French school. And to be honest I am not up to teaching Science in French just yet. So at the moment we are looking at international schools (unfortuantly that brings up the issue of commuting). I have tried to register with the council of international schools but I can't be considered until I'm working full-time (that's a whole other story!)

I have other career options to look into. Before I trained to be a teacher I worked for united utilities (in waste water) and if all else fails I have considerable experience in retail so at the very least that would improve my French.

So as you can see everything is embarrassingly vague at the minute. But how I've managed to waffle on!

If you don't put your dreams down on paper they will never come true. I know so many people who 'nearly' bought a place in France; so throwing your little pebble into this forum pool may change the ripple of vague interest to a tsunami of decisions. Who knows?

Thanks for all your personal info! - This will help us to help you!
As far as I know, you still have to be French to teach in State schools, so an International School (Bordeaux?) seems to be your only option if you want to continue teaching. There are "Sections Internationales" in many Collèges and Lycées in a lot of Académies (strangely enough, not the Académie de Bordeaux), but the subjects taught in the "foreign" language seem to be limited to foreign languages and History/Geography. Make a forum search (top right-hand corner) for International Schools. I'm sure there have been threads on the subject in the past. Or Google the official French websites ("gouv.fr") for "Sections Internationales Collèges Lycées" and "Ecoles internationales" for info.
The good news is that your children will go to the local Maternelle and Primaire wherever you decide to live, no problem.
Hope this helps a bit!