[shygirl]

there have been a few conversations on france recently.
as anyone actually bought a holiday home in france but resided in the uk?
if so id be interested in how they manage/who they get to manage the property for paying guests and whether it made more or less profit than a similar property in the uk.
thanks

[henchard]

there have been a few conversations on france recently.
as anyone actually bought a holiday home in france but resided in the uk?
if so id be interested in how they manage/who they get to manage the property for paying guests and whether it made more or less profit than a similar property in the uk.
thanks

We did have some years ago. Another Brit who lived nearby used to cut the grass and deal with guests when we did let it.


To be honest it wasn't worth the grief! If we had lived there and had a few gites I think it would be OK. But just letting our holiday home when we were not there didn't work very well.

[Lesley Silvester]

My brother has a holiday home in France but would only rent it out to family because it was too much hassle to let it to strangers. They're selling it now having spent the last few years on holiday doing nothing but working on the house, cutting the grass and probably  definitely drinking wine.

[MAK]

You should not have too much trouble getting someone to maintain a house, hold keys and do a clean between guests. You could put an ad on angloinfo.com under the appropriate region and offer the job.  My guess is that profitability will depend upon location, local attractions, pool or no pool and getting Brits to book it. The French luv camping so maybe best to focus on Brits and Dutch.
What part of France are you thinking of?

[shygirl]

thanks
somewhere near toulouse i think. mainly so we can travel to spain or italy from there.
id have to recieve more income than £8000 pa or its be more profitable to buy a rental here.

[newtoitall]

We sold our holiday home in France last year when we realised the lifestyle of keep going out there was stopping us doing what we wanted over here (which is why we are now buying a smallholding). We also realised that we never wanted to live there fulltime and letting it was a hassle when you are so far away and a second home far too much of an extravagance if we weren't letting it. Having said all that we had it 10 years and had some great times out there and the experience helped us work out what was important for us.

[lachlanandmarcus]

My parents live in France most of the year. One of the issues is that if you don't sell up here generally home insurance will only cover absences of up to about 30 days at a time. They have two houses in France, one smaller with more land which they originally bought and a second, larger house with less land but with a pool. Originally they stayed in house 1 and let out the second one but TBH they found the rentals too much work for too little reward as they got older and now they live in the house with the pool and I suspect the original house is a bit neglected (I have suggested selling one of them but you know what people are like):-))


Also it is definitely a long term thing as there are punitive tax implications unless you keep it over 10 years if you are a non resident,.


If I did it it would have to be something like a lock up and leave apartment with a management company that did all the lettings etc, lower returns but not the hassle. Or live out there full time.


We went the all the eggs in the UK basket and bought our mad wild place. Not as hot and sunny but more relaxing - I could go to parents house but that would assume I can get time away from the duties here on the farm!

[shygirl]

i think we would get a terraced townhouse with a courtyard in a busy village -  so its easy to maintain. french estate agents are sooo helpful. getting loads of listings sent to me on a daily basis with polite letters - in french mind...
after researching a bit i dont think we could live there permanently at the age the kids are, so a rental place is the only option at the moment. there are plenty of places for about £125k so its just trying find out if the investment returns better than a similar one on somewhere in the uk?
even if we never do - the thought of it gives us an excuse to learn french - my youngest daughter picks it up sooo quickly! sooo cute.

[javierrodriquez]

there have been a few conversations on france recently.
as anyone actually bought a holiday home in france but resided in the uk?
if so id be interested in how they manage/who they get to manage the property for paying guests and whether it made more or less profit than a similar property in the uk.
thanks

I have a cousin in France so I bought a chalet in saint trope and gave the responsibility of that chalet to my cousin. Actually I bought that for the purpose of renting that to the US tourist probably from my city. I use to give that only to the people I know.I am a software developer as well and I am often sent to France once in 3 months. so I usually don't face any problem with that.