Offering your French home as a holiday gîte is a popular way to help cover its running costs. For a lowdown on what’s involved and some insight into today’s rental market, we speak to Brittany based Pete O’Grady who runs a property management network.

For Pete and Sue O’Grady, giving up busy careers in the UK and relocating across the Channel more than 15 years ago was never meant to be a ticket to a lazy retirement in the French countryside. Sure enough, today they run a growing property management network that helps second homeowners with maintenance and rentals. Called Prestige Property Services, they operate using a network of appointed agents, who share access to resources and rental platforms.

Tell us the background to your life in France

We moved over in 2006, after becoming disillusioned with our working lives in the UK. Sue was a nurse and had reached a desk-based managerial level, while I was a consultant working for big finance firms but without much of a life outside of work. We were hitting our fifties and had both built up healthy pensions so decided it was the right time to swap Leamington Spa, where we were living, for Brittany, where we had a second home near Pontivy.

We came over with no work lined up but knew we needed something to occupy us. We got involved with a Brittany-based property management company that offered franchise opportunities to expats. While working for them, we were also offered the chance to run a château and its five-star campsite in Normandy, which we did for a few seasons. But by 2015 we were ready to go it alone and started Prestige Property Services.

Are all rental properties classed as gîtes in France?

A gîte is the colloquial term for a French self-catering holiday let, which could be a gîte complex or any type of independent property, so a flat, townhouse or villa. As long as the local mairie (townhall) is happy for you to let your accommodation, they do not impose any minimum standards. Instead, the market is self-regulating because poor quality gîtes do not rent out well and therefore do not stay on the rental market for long.

Owners can apply for their accommodation to be classified by an independent body and awarded a star rating, which indicates the level of quality and amenities offered. This can encourage some guests, especially the French, to select your accommodation above other non-classified options.

Do you and your agents help clients set up their gîte?

We always inspect properties that we take on as holiday lets and we can help owners get their accommodation ready for letting by detailing any shortfalls or recommended improvements. We can also assist with dealing with the townhall and getting your property ‘classified’, if this is what you wish.

What things help one gîte attract more bookings than a similar one down the road?

Great photos on its rental listing, for starters! Well curated rooms with good, informative but honest photos will always attract guests. Of course, on arrival a property should match guests’ expectations. Repeat guests are always a bonus too, and great reviews from previous guests will give others confidence to book your property. Owners who reply promptly to enquiries will secure bookings over those owners who are not as prompt in getting back.

How diverse is the rental market in France – can gîte owners expect bookings from France and other countries?

We are in the era of the French staycation! In 2020-2021 the ‘Covid’ effect and its associated travel restrictions has created a market where more than 90 per cent of guests in gîte accommodation are from mainland Europe and of these the French and Dutch are the most prevalent.

Once the Covid effect fades, we should return to a mix of mainland European and British bookings, with smaller numbers from further afield, including the US, Canada and Australia.

You help expats join your network as property managers. What skills are most important to do this successfully?

Good property managers can come from all walks of life and do not need to have great French language skills, at least not initially. Most homeowners/clients will be British or at least have English as a second language.

So really you just need bundles of common sense, a good work ethic and the so-called Ronseal approach – the ability to do what you promise to do. Then complement these skills with the ability to deal with owners, guests and problems in a calm and professional manner.