Renovating a Gite in Brittany

Most of our gite bookings come via the website and email. Sometimes however the bookings are scams. The most recent example is this email from someone wanting to book a gite.

 Tenant name: Marco G Antonio Phone: 01 Total Number of persons (incl. children): 1 Number of children: Date of arrival: 1-05-2007 Date of departure: 31-05-2007  Hello, In response to your advert on your apartment for rent. My company is sending me to France on an official assignment in May 2007 and I am being posted to your area. I will like to rent your apartment for the period of (1 Month) that I will be staying in France. Pls do give me the following  information.   1. A brief description of the apartment   2. Cost for 1 Month rental.   3. The address of the apartment I will be waiting for your response. Hope to hear from you in earnest...... My Regards.... 

Experience tells me this is a scam. Some are really obvious, with terrible spelling and grammar, references to third parties, or just a bad feel about it.

The way the scam works is once you get into correspondence the client offers to pay you too much to 'cover expenses', 'organise a hire car', 'modelling agency fees' or some such. You are asked to then use the amount overpaid to pay the 'third party'. Of course you wait until the cheque they send you clears, the money is in the bank account, no problem. The instructions for payment to the third party usually involve a Western Union wire transfer. The transfer of money from you account is immediate. Four weeks later the bank informs you that the deposited cheque is fake, and removes the money from the account. A variation of the classic Nigerian 419 scam.

A couple of examples below with the follow up emails to show how it pans out.

 Hello, I am Ron Crawford.  A one of Suffolk Sheep Association based in Huddersfield. I have a two clients from Asia that would be able to lodge into your hotel apartment for 7 days. Please let me know the amount for one star with 1 bedroom only.  I would be responsible to make the payment also let me know if you will accept a Cheque Issueing from a United Kingdom Bank or Europe Bank for payment. Awaiting to your quick response. Thanks and god bless, Mr Ron Crawford. 

And the follow-up once they have got you interested.

 Hi, Accepted, But we got a called from our clients said that the booking should be for two person for that same period and which is two room seperately. and I want you to be expecting the cheque payment as from next week because i have instructed my financee to issue you the cheque of amount 3450 EUROS on their behalf. As soon as the cheque arrives you will hold out your amount which is £800 and send the excess balance of the money to my clients that they would need for tickets to fly to the france for the business trip and the money should be send via Money Gram or Western Union. In other to come over to your place, i hope i can trust you for my balance? Waiting to hear from you soon Regards, Ron. 

And another example…

 I am Mr Jeffer Mindo of Brighthall(coral) Agency,London .I need to book reservation for a christian organisation from London coming for a Christian summit on the 10th of DEC to the 20th of DEC. Get back to me if the dates mentioned above are free,so that we can book reservations immediately.Thank you and have a nice day.  Kind Regards, Jeffer Mindo  

 Thanks for your reply and assistance so far .I am glad to tell you that we have concluded payment with the delegates.  However, we are going to send you the Credit Card Information first thing tomorrow morning that will cover the cost of your accommodation, and the necessary arrangement for the delegates.  Moreover, we also made an arrangement with a pre paid car-hiring firm who will supply the delegates with cars they will use during their stay, but because of security reasons and confidentiality, we have decided that only one person will have to handle the credit card information.  So once you are in receipt of it, you are required to charge the credit card, confirm the amount of (6,000 EURO), in your account then deduct the cost of your services 3,050 EURO and send 2,950 EURO via Money Gram Transfer, to the car hiring agent whose information will be forwarded to you once this is confirmed.  So confirm this and provide me with your (1) YOUR FULL NAME (2) ADDRESS (3) PHONE NUMBERS for office records.  Please remember that the integrity of our agency is involved, so this business requires prompt response. I also hope the stay of the delegates will be made comfortable.  Kind Regards, Jeffer Mindo  

Now the occupany for the gites has slowed right down it's time to concentrate on some of the winter jobs. There may even be time to paint, decorate and update the house. That's something that has been on hold for the last four years, as the gites took precedence.

There's quite a bit to do in the winter; Internet marketing, website updates, some painting and sprucing up in one of the older gites, lawn mower servicing, hedge and tree cutting, fencing, updates to the play area, christmas cards, … There is always something.

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Well, it's been a full season with the two new gites. Thats five in total now.

We always knew that in order to make a living five gites would be required and judging by the success of the last year, the two extra gites have made the difference. The renovation of the gites was hard work but the extra income is worth it. With the extra gites it also means that the fixed costs don't bite into any profit quite as much.

All the guests this year in the new gites have been very impressed and having two slightly different layouts meant they catered for each type of families requirements. One gite has a ground floor bedroom and en-suite for wheelchair access and the other gite with the extra upstairs space for larger families.

Fortunately there were no breakages or problems to note, so the extra attention to detail paided during the gite renovation was worth it. We do have a couple of lettings over winter and I'm hoping all the extra insulation in the walls and roof will make them comfortable and less expensive to heat.

 brittany Gites

As part of my research for guests staying at our gites, I took the children to the Reptile Zoo and Motor Museum recently.

The reptilarium, Alligator Bay, is close to Mont St Michel and spread over a fairly large site. Outside there was a display of tortosies and turtles, some really huge ones that the children could touch. Inside a massive collection of crocodiles and aligators, and another building with various snakes and reptiles. The snake house had glass tubes running through the snake cages that the children could crawl through. Very strange experience being 'in' the snake pit.

The motor museum, just South of Rennes, housed a huge collection of cars through the ages, with special sections for Ferraris and Lamborghinis, along with a dummy grid of about 20 Formula One cars. Outside there are a couple of circuits for driving, a Rally Cross circuit and a normal race track. On the day we went, the circuit for was open for individuals to race their own cars. Very entertaining seeing a chaotic mixture of young lads in tuned up 205's to 'gentlemen' in Porsches etc.

Both attractions were excellent and I would recommend a visit to both.

I do receive a lot of emails about our Gites from people reading my blog asking about various things, ranging from simple DIY questions, to requests for advice about the purchase of a Gite Complex they have seen.

I try my best to respond to each of you but some slip through the net, so my appologies if you have emailed me and I have not responded. Sometimes my replies are a little tardy, so I appreciate your patience.

I have not blogged much recently, but there hasn't been much to write about. The summer season has been progressing smoothly, and apart from some day to day maintenance, nothing much of note.

This summer I have spent most of my time refreshing my IT knowledge. Before moving to France I was a computer programmer for 20 years, the last 10 of those as a freelance programmer, and I felt that my skills needed updating. The IT industry does move very fast.

To that end I've been working on some personal projects involving developing some gite related Web applications using Java, PHP, MySQL and an AJAX enabled browser front-end. I've been fairly engrossed in the project and I hope once it's finished to make it available to other gite and B&B owners.

I get quite a few enquiries from readers asking about the requirements for gite registration and various legal obligations for setting up gites in France. I've tried to put what know here based on conversations with the tax authorities, other gite owners and information from the Internet. Note that this is just my understanding of the situation, I am not legally qualified to give advice and you should always take professional advice before taking any action. The other caveat is that the rules seem to change slightly depending on which departement you reside in. The information supplied is not comprehensive and should be used as a starting guide as to your obligations on registering gites.

Gite registration.

You are not obliged to register at the Chambre de Commerce if you receive rental income from gites, and offer no other services such as cleaning etc. In addition your total income must be less than 76,300€

Registration of the business, usually means the creation of a Micro Enterprise with a SIRET (registration) number. This involves the payment of Social Security Contributions (Cotisations) to URSSAF. I have been told that it is possible to get a SIRET number for unregistered businesses by applying to the INSEE. By not registering you do not need to pay these cotisations. However under the CMU rules you do need to make contributions for State health care in another way.

Although it is not necessary to keep accounts, you must retain all your bank statements and every facture (invoice) issued to each client. I would also suggest retaining all your receipts for expenses.

The rental of furnished property is generally considered a non-professional activity. For other types of activities, e.g. building work, the income limit is much lower.

The rules for Chambre d'Hote (Bed and Breakfast) are slightly different in that I believe because a service is provided then it is necessary to register at the Chamber of Commerce.

In all cases it is courteous to inform your local Marie of your intentions to run a gite or B&B business.

Income Tax

Obviously all income, from whatever source, must be declared to the revenue. You must also inform the tax authorities that you are running a gite business to ensure that you are taxed under the correct regime for gite rental income.

If your turnover is below 76,300€ you can use the simplified regime of a Micro Bic. All your rental income is declared using your personal tax return, i.e. the total of all the issued factures. Under this you are automatically given an allowance of 72% of your turnover against expenses, you are subsequently taxed on the remaining 28%. This regime is the same regime used for a Micro Enterprise business.

Residents pay an initial Social Security Tax (this has nothing to do with social security benefits) of 10%, the balance is taxed at your own tax rate based on circumstances and other income. If you turn over more than 76,300€ you will need to supply accounts and be taxed on real net profit/loss and move from a Micro Bic regime to another more costly regime.

Other taxes

In some departements you must pay Tax de Sejour for each guest staying in your gites. The amount payable is very small.

Under normal circumstances Tax d'Habitation is paid on your residence. The amount varies with the surface area of habitable space. For each gite Tax d'Habitation is also payable, but there is an option to pay Tax Professionelle instead. Depending on the size/number of gites it is sometimes preferable to pay this tax instead.

Health Benefits

If your gite business is not registered then you need to apply to CPAM for health benefits as a French resident. The Chamber of Commerce handles health benefit payments for registered businesses.

Insurance

Regardless of whether your gite is registered you should ensure that the necessary insurances are taken out to ensure yourself and your clients from any accidental loss/damage or personal injury. These include things like Public Liability and Third Party Liability.

Alternatives

In our case we decided to create a limited company, an SARL, and register the business with the Chamber of Commerce. The main reasons being that we could offset the large investment and renovation costs against any profits and reclaim TVA (value added/sales tax) on purchases. Running an SARL is more expensive than a Micro Enterprise as you have to keep full accounts, submit end-of-year books, maintain a company bank account, pay additional social charges and employ an accountant. However we felt that on balance, even though our income is well below the registration threshold, keeping the financial sides of our business and personal lives separate felt more comfortable.

With most things, it's swings and roundabouts, everyones circumstances are different and to re-itterate, take professional advice and ask at your local tax office.

Any corrections or updates please don't hesitate to contact me.

Useful Links

• http://www.apce.com/ – APCE
• http://www.impots.gouv.fr/ – Impot (Tax)
• http://www.cci.fr/ – Chambre de Commerce
• http://www.service-public.fr/ – Your Rights
• http://gites-de-france-limousin.tib.cc/PDF/amenager_ch_hotes.pdf – Gite and B&B info
• http://www.insee.fr/ – INSEE
• http://www.cmu.fr/ – CMU
• http://brittany.angloinfo.com/information/2/sci.asp – SCI

 brittany gites

Gite lounge

Gite master
bedroom

Gite dining
room

Gite kitchen

Gite bedroom 2

Gite bedroom 3

Eighteen months hard work and the two gites are finished. Here are some photos of the most recent gite, Abricot. The other gite, Fraise, which was finished at the end of last year has photos on the website.

Time for a well earned break.

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The gite is finished. Hurrah.

Everything has been cleaned up and my tools are safely back in the workshop. I've no plans to see them for a while. Curtain poles are up, and Caroline has been hanging curtains and pictures. The missing kitchen cupboard doors arrived from IKEA, which was a relief. Nearly all the furniture is in place with just a sofa suite left to put into the gite lounge.

Over the next few days we have got to take photos of the rooms and publish them on the website. The garden has been a bit of a distraction over the last few weeks, the grass growing like the clappers, weeding, hedge trimming etc. but fortunately we have got enough spare time to add the finishing touches to the gite and smarten up the garden.

The first guests for the new gite arrive on Saturday 27th May.

Update: Gite Photos

The kitchen is the new gite is finally finished.

Gite kitchen

Well finished apart from the two cupboard doors under the kitchen sink. They are in the post from IKEA because for some reason we got the wrong doors. Hopefully they should arrive before the first gite booking at the end of the month. All the white goods, cooker, dishwasher, fridge etc. are in and working. The tiling is finally finished and grouted. On the suspended ceiling you can see the smoke alarm and fire extinguisher on the wall. Apart from popping in the other 'essentials' like a toaster, kettle, microwave etc. the kitchen is complete.

With the kitchen finished it's really that last piece of major work in the gite. All thats really left is picture hanging, curtain poles a major clean up and shifting all my tools back to my workshop.

So next week we should be able to dress the gite ready to take some photos for the website. It's been a long slog but certainly been very satisfying to see the end of the project.

 brittany Gites

At the end of last week the upstairs rooms in the gite were finished. They have been almost there for a couple of weeks, but still needed light fittings, heaters, stairgates, mirrors, shelving, etc. Now that all the final finishing touches have been completed Caroline has been busy sorting out curtains and putting in the furniture, beds, wardrobes etc.

The vast majority of the smaller stuff for the gite had already been bought but the larger items we left to later to avoid having to store loads furniture and move it all twice. The 'window' shopping and planning is the hard bit (well and paying for it) so it was just a matter of driving the van about and collecting the beds etc.

We are both really pleased with the result and the gite is really starting to take shape. A week or so left downstairs for the finishing touches and the gite should be finished. Where have I heard that phrase before.

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