How do you get peace of mind about your property when you’re not on hand? After you’ve bought a holiday home in France and started to enjoy all the benefits of spending time there, a moment comes when you may feel a little anxiety about not being on site: it could be after a storm or when workmen need to intervene. So if you’re looking for holiday home and property management in France – what do you do?
Les Bons Voisins – literally meaning ‘good neighbours’ – is a property management company that are also your professional neighbours, on hand to act on your behalf whenever you can’t be there yourself. As well as offering regular services such as caretaking and key-holding, this national network of property managers can also step in for one-off incidents and seasonal maintenance. It’s all about ensuring that the practical considerations are taken care of so that you can make the most of the best parts of owning a place in France and enjoy every minute of your time in your French home.
Practical helping hand
If you already own a second home in France, you’ll probably remember going through the excitement of house hunting and the anticipation of how you’ll spend lazy, relaxing holidays there. You’ll probably also have experienced that moment once you’re back in your everyday life in America, the UK or the Netherlands and you need to arrange maintenance on the property of your dreams in the south of France – suddenly, you feel very far away, and the logistics of organising the practicalities can seem overwhelming. With property managers in various locations, Les Bons Voisins will have a contact nearby who can step in to take that pressure off you, and just update you once everything is sorted out.
Perhaps you need to liaise with professionals for pest control and you’re not sure which is the best company to use; it could be that your septic tank needs to be emptied, or you want to organise telecoms or satellite installation, but they can only come while there’s someone on hand. But many homeowners prefer not to have to deal with workmen while they’re enjoying their holiday in France and prefer to arrange for utilities and maintenance work to happen in between visits – in which case, your property manager can be there in your place to wait for the workmen and ensure the project is completed even when you’re not there.
Often, there are seasonal maintenance projects that we don’t think about when we’re buying a home. This could be the big spring clean, a garden overhaul, or the annual chimney-sweeping visit called ramonnage that is often required by your house insurer.
Then there are one-off, ad hoc requirements that Les Bons Voisins can help with. Their property managers can offer airport transfers if you need to be picked up when you arrive or taken to the airport to catch your flight home, and they can arrange to check your property if there’s been a particularly serious storm, letting you know if there has been any damage that needs attention, or updating you in real time to reassure you that your property is safe and sound.
The managers have even been known to take on chicken-sitting duties for those homeowners who love their fresh eggs and characterful hens, but can’t always be on site to take care of them!
Key events
Finally, Les Bons Voisins are an invaluable resource for those major moments of owning a property, starting with house clearances, which might even be required after purchase, before you can move in and settle your own belongings: they will source the right professionals and ensure that the clearance proceeds smoothly. During the course of owning your holiday home in France, you might also need to move furniture out of or into the property, and again the local property managers can help you to organise this.
Finally, you might decide to move home, so how do you organise your French property and get it ready to put on the market? If you are planning to put your home on the market, it’s useful to have a property manager to hand to help you get it ready and also to ensure that it stays in peak condition for any viewings while it’s on the market, boosting the chances of a quick sale as well as increasing the chances of a higher offer.
A personal contact in key regions
While Les Bons Voisins is a national network, it operates primarily in four key regions of France. Brittany, to the northwest, has four property-management teams: Pete and Bronwyn in Finistère, Julie and Peter in central Côte d’Armor, Richard and Demz in Morbihan, and Matt and Sue in Pays d’Auray. There’s an additional team in Orne, Normandy, thanks to Nikki and Nick, who cover Orne west.
A little further down, Pays de la Loire has two teams: Steve Coles covering Mayenne northwest, Phil and Alison Robson in Maine-et-Loire
Nouvelle-Aquitaine in central and southern west of France has four teams: Tony and Maria in Charente northwest, Phil and Aimee in south Charente-Maritime, Ian and Hannah covering south Dordogne and Lot-et-Garonne and Derek Tait in east Gironde.
Finally, the region of Occitania in southern France has six teams, some of whom cover parts of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, too. Pierre and Sachiko cover west Lot and southeast Dordogne, Cat works in Lot-et-Garonne and Quercy, Joe covers northeast Gers, Dan and Sarah work in northwest Aude, Serge and Rachel are in east Aude and Julie is in southeast Hérault.
Each property manager has the professional contacts, experience and availability to respond to a wide range of requirements when it comes to looking after your property.
Property peace of mind, wherever you are
While owning a property in another country can bring complications, there’s no doubting how useful it is to have a single point of contact on hand to help with any issues. Whether it’s a burst pipe, a fallen tree, a sooty chimney or a hungry brood of chickens, there’s a professional property manager nearby who can put your mind at rest. Then all you need to think about is planning your next trip to enjoy your home in France.
Find out more about Les Bons Voisins services: propertymanagementinfrance.com
