Living in Paris: Elegant Women

Here is a small communtiy site for international women in Paris. Some interesting news, articles and links.

www.pariswoman.com

Paris Apartments : Apartments in La Défense

La Defense is the main business district to the west of Paris. The area is surrounded by highrise office and apartment buildings that have swallowed up the original suburban towns of Puteaux, Suresnes and Courbevoie.

The area is suited to business people who wish to be in proximity to their companies and apartments are becoming more and more sought after for those who stay in Paris during the week and travel home on the weekends.

This 90m2 2 bedroom apartment was taken for such a client.

Rent 1800 euros/ month

Paris Suburbs : House in Le Vesinet

Le Vesinet is one of the most sought after suburbs of Paris. This house had been totally renovated a year ago. 350m2 with 5 bedrooms, a fabulous landscaped garden and a modernised and fully equipped kitchen.

Our client moves in next month with his family.

Rent : 6000 euros / month (gardening included)

Paris Suburbs : House in St Germain en Laye

This was a house we took recently for one of our clients in St Germain en Laye. Rare on the market, completely renovated and spacious. The views were magnificent over the Seine valley


300m2

Rent 5500 euros/month

Paris Apartments : An apartment in Passy

This is an apartment we sourced recently for one of our clients.

A fabulous 150 m2, 3 bedroom in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, overlooking the Seine.

Rent: 4000 euros/ month

Living in Paris: French Red Tape

France is known for its red tape in all aspects of life. (It must play a huge role in controlling the country's unemployment figures ;)

The following consumer site (in French) will help you with some of the many official procedures you are likely to encounter. It has a databank of letter templates for a host of everyday problems.

Ideal for those of you who's French is not quite up to scratch yet.


Help with the Red Tape

Living in Paris: Paris - A great place to live ...if you're wealthy!!

A recent report from Price Water House puts Paris as City No 1 for quality of life, but ranks it lowest for cost of living and economic initiative.

Read the full article here PWC Article (in French)

Living in Paris: How to be a true Parisian

I just found this website www.cestsoparis.com which I thought may tickle some of you.

A little harmless fun in the 'year of merde' style!!

Apartments Paris : Crisis in the Market

While working with our clients last year we noted that hysteria in the French market among landlords was getting progressively worse. The current laws governing tenancy agreements in France, fueled by a media coverage that has exaggerated the problems has made finding a Parisian apartment in 2007 even more difficult.

2007 sees bank guarantees, co signatures on the lease contract from the family or the employer as commonplace, these were previously considered a last resort for only candidates in the lower income brackets. Now it seems that any expatriate who does not have a stable financial history in France with a French employment contract is being asked to provide such guarantees regardless of income.

The rule of thumb for the Ile de France Region has traditionally been that a candidate for a rental property would be happily accepted by a landlord if his net monthly income equated to 3 times the rent being asked for.

Expatriate packages would normally cover this amply, certainly when the 'extras' such as housing allowances, travel allowances and private school allowances were added to the equation.
Today it seems that the 'Expatriate status' of many new arrivals to Paris has created nervousness among landlords.

The new fear is that the Expat tenant would disappear to another country leaving rent and potentially other charges relating to the property unpaid. Rather unlikely but the media has been brimming with dramatic stories of evictions that take over a year, non paid rents, properties left in terrible condition, law suits.

The Loi Hoguet, which stipulates the terms of any unfurnished lease and is the reference for furnished leases, does not alleviate the fears as this law is designed to protect the tenant considerably.

Eviction for unpaid rent is far from easy in France and this is dissuading any would-be landlords from putting their properties on the market creating a huge shortage of quality products.

Those owners who do decide to rent out face strong demand. The fierce competition has created a sellers market and inflated rental prices which make the income/rent ratio out of reach for many would-be tenants.

This high demand means that landlords can pick and choose tenants and demand the high guarantees cited previously.

Despite a slow down of property prices if you're a buy-to-let investor this could be a great opportunity. Recent tax breaks by the French government are making this even more interesting.

Article on Paris property in the Telegraph