nik2014

Hi all
looking to move across to France, hopfully to run a bed and breakfast / gite holiday business ( I know so many have tried)

Any advice re:
English speakers in Le Ferre Britanny ?
Wheres best to be accepted and welcomed into the community ?
Things to avoid ?
Where is affordable, near the sea and ports ?

Touraine

The only place in France worth opening a Gîte is right next to the Eiffel Tower in Paris as you could rent it out 52 weeks of the year at lets say 3000 euros per week to rich Americans. Apparently, xmas week you can rent it out at 9000 euros per week.

Thing is, if you had a place big enough next to the Eiffel Tower to have a gîte you would be actually better off selling it at 3 million euros and retiring.

A gîte in France....... ummmmmm.........NO !

Just out of interest, why next to the ports ?

audio

Hello and Welcome to the forum.
Hopefully, you will receive a more helpful reply soon from someone more knowledgeable.

Touraine

That advice (what I wrote) was given to me by a director of a French bank many years ago.

audio

That doesn’t mean to say it was helpful to the OP.

EuroTrash

Welcome to the forum.
There are no 'one size fits all' answers.
All communities are a bit different but if you look around and choose one that is a natural 'fit' for you - a farming community if you're a country person and you're into hunting, a place with a lot of local associations if you're a sociable sort of person etc - and you can speak French and are prepared to put a bit of effort into fitting in, you should be accepted and welcomed.
I see that Le Ferré has 702 inhabitants and AFAIK it isn't a specially Brit place but it is near Fougères which I believe does have a significant Brit population.
Avoid expecting to make enough to live on purely from one B&B or gite, avoid assuming that French bureaucracy including healthcare entitlement etc works anything like the UK system.
Affordable depends how much money you happen to have but you can establish this quite easily for yourself from looking at property adverts on the web. Unfortunately, property prices near the coast in Brittany tend to be a lot higher than inland.

dmu

Hi, and welcome to the Forum!
If you can tick boxes such as, for example:
- Speak adequate French to deal with the inevitable (in the sense of unavoidable) bureaucracy, and attract French clients
- This would be simply to supplement a ready source of regular income (and even then, with all the expenses involved....)
then do a forum search (button top right) and you'll find a wealth of info from BE members on the feasability of coming to France to run a B&B or gîte.
Or Google "comment créer un Gîte ou Chambres d'Hôtes".
Législation et fiscalité des chambres d'hôtes, gîtes et locations de vacances
is but one result and you should study all the administrative, fiscal, legal implications before taking the plunge.
According to the official Le Ferré site, it seems to be a small village with about 700 inhabitants. Is it likely to attract guests except to spend one night on their way elsewhere?
You must also consider healthcare coverage if you don't receive a UK Pension. Becoming an Auto-Entrepreneur would cover you, but 3-4 months of rentals (at best) wouldn't cover the 12 monthly contributions into the Social Security fund.
Hope this has given you food for thought!

audio

I’m on the coast about 120km west of Le Ferre. Several Gîtes are here and although they are not next to the Eiffel Tower they are always full July- mid September, the B&B not so good but do have guests throughout the year. I do not know their tariffs.

EuroTrash

Hmm. July to mid-September makes 10 weeks.
If it was the only income you had, you'd need to be charging not far off Touraine's 3 000€ a week if you want to cover expenses, social charges, taxes etc and have enough left to tide you over till season. That is assuming you have no mortgage to pay.

Touraine

If you want to run a Gîte in France you need to be able to rent it out for 52 weeks of the year. Renting it out just for 8 weeks in holiday season is a complete and utter waste of time and money. That means it either needs to be in the middle of a famous city or near something famous/important that people come to visit all year round.

Back to the rural vs city/semi rural debate.

It is a British expat passion to move to the rural France (often places where no one has ever heard of) spend ££££££ creating a Gîte complex, build a swimming pool ect and often end up renting it out for 2/3 weeks of the year and then go backrupt.

Semi rural/city is best for gîtes too.

EuroTrash

Location is important but most important of all when you start out, is how well you market your gite. Then, if it's a great gite you will get a lot of returning customers and your income will snowball fast. But you could have the best gite in the best location, but if nobody finds out about it or if what they see on the internet doesn't do it justice, nobody will book because you have to compete with so many other gites all trying to grab the punters' attention and be their first choice. If you have a very average gite but you're a marketing genius, you'll get footfall. And that means knowing how and where to market it in a way that will appeal to the French, and other nationalities, not just Brits.

audio

I asked the question last night, how much per week for a gîte?
Here they start at 600€ in high season (2 bed, bring your own bed linen, gas and electric supplied), my nearest have a block of 8, which I calculate as around 48k for the 10 week period. No they are not penthouse sea view apartments.
A nice little earner I thought.

EuroTrash

Does high season stretch across all 10 weeks? I suspect not but for the sake of argument let's say it does, and let's say that 600€ is achievable in Ile et Vilaine.

So, eight gites under auto entrepreneur, yes you could live on it - 48k less cotisations leaves around 41k, less maintenance/guest supplies/running expenses/whatever other taxes and charges you have to pay, haven't a clue really but say 50 per cent though I suspect it might be more (AE is based on a notional abattement forfaitaire of 71 per cent which is reckoned 'average' for achat-vente), leaves around 20k or thereabouts.

Four gites, 24k, less cotisations brings you down to around 20k, less expenses leaves around 10k. Not a lot to live on for 12 months.

Of course, hopefully there would be lettings outside those 10 weeks - but at the same time you can't guarantee to be fully booked for the crucial 10 weeks, especially for the first few years.

The OP gave no indication of how many gites she had in mind, but she did say 'affordable' which suggests that there are limits to what can be acquired without finance. And if finance comes into the equation, it changes the picture completely.

PS - everybody feel free to tell me if my figures are all up the creek, I can't do sums to save my life.

audio

OMG! I cannot be bothered to discuss let alone argue the point. I was just passing on information I was given. The department is not Ille-et-Vilaine BTW.

InVinoVeritas

I think the clue here is that everyone I know who does gites also has a full-time job. Sometimes they even move out of their own house for the whole of the summer to rent out that as well, teachers do this too as they have 8 weeks holiday. If there was more money in gites I don't see why they would do this.