Oh where, oh where is an
apartment to rent ?
Grab some
popcorn and a coke. This is a long
tale.
Renting an
apartment in
“Yes, there
are,
Some
examples, perhaps would illustrate this better.
One friend here tried to rent a place with his family. He scoured the ads, and spoke with the
agents, and found a place that seemed to be perfect. A three bedroom place of about 1,000 square
feet! The asking price was “reasonable”
at $2,500 per month. He put in an
application for the place that day! The
realtor contacted the owner, who responded that, naturally he would require
three years worth of rent as a “security deposit”. My friend was quite disappointed, since
$90,000 is not in everyone’s pocket.
However he spoke with his sending agency who offered to loan him this
deposit money! Elated, he re-contacted
the owner, who promptly rejected his request to rent it! The owner confessed that he had demanded that
much in order to make sure my friend would never be able to rent it, and no
intention of renting it to him at all!
So sorry, go fish.
“That makes
no sense!” you protest, “Why is it so difficult?” Well, let me tell you. The French laws state that the owner of a
property can ALMOST NEVER evict you.
Even if you don’t pay the rent.
(This has to do with the fact that the apartments are COMPLETELY empty
on renting them – ie. nothing but the sinks and toilet – and the bare walls -
in the whole place – and thus moving is a major undertaking… no kitchen
cabinets even….) So, most French folks
are quite nervous to actually rent their place out. In theory it’s one thing, but in practice,
quite another. For the tourists, fine –
you know they are leaving in a few months and they come intending to spend a
lot of money. For others, hmmm, maybe
not. Of course one could buy a place,
but a half million dollars isn’t exactly on the trees here despite what you may
think from price-tags.
In addition
to that, there is this very bizarre requirement that you need to notify the
apartment owner where you currently live 3 months before you move, but you need
to rent a new apartment within one month of finding it. Thus if you give your notice you your current
place, you have 3 months to find a new place or be stuck homeless, …and if you
wait until you find a place before you give your notice you will be stuck
paying 2 or 3 months of double rent! Oh
la la!
So,
choosing not be homeless, we gathered our wits, and plunged in, trying to be
ready to cover all bases. We spoke with
4 different agencies, and scoured the ads, and even spoke with a dear French
family and asked them to be willing to act as a guarantor for us. After spending several days talking with
multiple agencies, it became apparent that there was really only ONE place for
rent in the town where we wanted to live which would fit our needs. A nice 3 bedroom 900 square foot house
for a very “reasonable” rate! We went to
the agency armed with every document we thought they would ask for and put in
the application. Well, we thought of
almost all the documents….
We left the
agency with a few more documents to gather for them, and the request for a bunch
more documents from the “guarantor” as well.
After a few days I contacted the agency and was shocked to hear, “I
assume you must be calling to set a day to get the keys.”
HUH?...
“You mean we got the place??”
“Yes, and we never received the information
from your guarantor, but that hardly matters anymore, and we don’t need any
more documents. When would you like the
keys?”
My mouth
was wide open in astonishment!
I have
mentioned this to several folks here when they ask how the apartment search is
going (and are ready to hear: “It’s not going so well.”). After they pick up their jaws from the floor,
they usually just go away shaking their head.
…Except one dear lady. She said,
“I have often heard such things happen to folks who follow the Lord.”
Thank you,
Lord!