French law on booking a holiday home rental is strictly controlled so that everyone involved is protected - this makes the procedure a little complicated but if you follow the steps laid out below you’ll do it with ease.
Print out TWO copies of the BOOKING FORM. (You will find it is written in both English and French. This is because it is a French contract with an English translation for your convenience).
Print out TWO copies of the ETAT DESCRIPTIF of your chosen property. (you will find out exactly what this is later on). Also take this opportunity to read the natural risk documents (PLAN and FICHE).
The BOOKING FORM plus the ETAT DESCRIPTIF combined are your HOLIDAY RENTAL CONTRACT.
Fill in both copies of the BOOKING FORM.
Initial every page of the TWO CONTRACTS in your own handwriting (don’t forget the Etat Descriptif description!)
Sign in the appropriate place at the end of the BOOKING FORM and the ETAT DESCRIPTIF on both copies
If you were thinking of filling in one copy and photocopying it, you can do, but photocopy it before you have signed and initialed because your signature and initials must be in your own handwriting on both copies.
Calculating the Taxe de Séjour. Best to leave our computer to calculate this but if you want to get an idea click on the TAXE DE SÉJOUR button (near the bottom of the BOOKING MENU), find your village in the list and get out your calculator. The sums you see are multiplied per person per night. Note that each village decides what its tax rate will be, but they often only get round to it in March or April so these figures may change ...
On the signature section at the end you will see Signed at ……….. on ………
AT refers to the name of the town WHERE YOU ARE SIGNING and ON refers to the DATE.
In the box where your signature goes you will see that you have to write "lu et approuvé" next to your signature. This means "read and accepted"
We can accept VISA and MASTERCARD
Tick the box on the Booking Form that tells us you are going to pay by this method.
We have to add 1.5% each time for this method of payment if you are paying with a CARD issued by a bank outside France or 1% on a CARD issued by a French bank.
Add this charge in the special box provided on the Booking Form.
Click on the CARD FORM 1 button and print out the form, fill it in and send it with the Booking Form.
Be security conscious, please, if you are sending the form through the post, leave out the last 4 digits on the form and send those 4 digits separately by email or fax (but please remember to identify yourself well so that we can marry up the digits!)
From February 2007 we now have to additionally enter your 3 digit code in our machine. You will find this on the signature strip on the back of your card. Definitely don't add this to the card forms, always send these separately.
(If you are going to be paying some now and the rest later, subsequent CARD payments need to be done on CARD FORM 2 so you may as well print out a copy now, you will find the CARD FORM 2 button further down the menu).
Tick the box on the Booking Form that tells us you are going to pay by this method.
Click on the RIB button on the booking menu. Print out this page, it has all the details of the bank account here in France where you are going to transfer your payment. Give it to your bank and tell them how much you are going to transfer.
Enter the reference number which the bank will give you (hopefully) in the space provided on the Booking Form, we can then trace the payment.
We now bypass the Bank completely by using these people http://www.interchangefx.co.uk they are cheaper, easier to deal with, reliable and unbelievably fast.
We do not add any charge for this method of payment as long as the Bank charges are all prepaid at your end.
That's OK, but we can only accept cheques, in Euros, drawn on a domestic French account. (Why? Because cheques in Sterling, or in Euros from other euro countries take up to 2 months to clear and have elevated and unpredictable bank charges attached)
Tick the "paying by cheque" box and enclose a cheque with the Booking Form. There is no charge for this.
Under French law we are not allowed to ask you to make your final payment more than 30 days before you arrive to collect the keys, but that doesn't mean you can't pay it before if you want to. Keep an eye on the exchange rate and do it when the rate is good.
We're pretty flexible on this and by arrangement, you can even pay on the day of arrival, but if your card refuses to function, as it often does when the system is overloaded on a busy Saturday, you would have to pay us in cash in order to obtain the keys (and most French and Spanish cash machines impose a withdrawal limit on foreign cards totally unrelated to the limit you have at home).
After booking, you will receive an acknowledgement back from us with all the documentation you'll need to get here and find us. You'll find the final payment date in this documentation.
Little ruses to make things run smoother when your holiday is over and it is time to return your Damage Deposit
If you are paying by CARD, your Damage Deposit will be returned speedily and cheaply by doing a CREDIT back through the CARD system. You need not read this section any further.
If you are paying with a French cheque then we will just send a French cheque back to you. You need not read this section any further (unless receiving a cheque is inconvenient for you).
If, however, you are paying by Bank Transfer, read on. We are left with no other option but to send your Damage Deposit back to you by Bank Transfer which takes us a long time to process and is expensive relative to the small amount being transferred. You are unlikely to end up with the full amount as Banks have a funny habit of finding ways to reduce it along the way!
Here's our solution to the Bank transfer dilemma: Pay everything but the Damage Deposit amount by Bank Transfer but pay the Damage Deposit amount separately by CARD. This way the CARD system will recognise your number and allow us to do a credit. Voilà!
What makes this astuce even more attractive is that if you just pay your Damage Deposit by card and we are able to refund it the same way We won't charge you the card charge
You are meant to send both copies as we need the originals to counter sign, but to save postage we suggest you post one and BRING THE OTHER WITH YOU and we'll sign it when you arrive.
HOWEVER - as it appears that the postal system has completely collapsed (letters can now take up to three weeks to arrive from GB) we would ask you to only post your documentation if your arrival date is at least a month in the future.
The Postal Address is:
EURL CAN COSINS
3 Impasse de la Fontaine
66300 Thuir
France
Please do send us an email telling us you've posted it.
If you are arriving less than a month away, please fax (or scan and email) one copy, we have virtual fax numbers that come straight through to our desks and these are:
In FRANCE 0820 568 908 (from outside FR +33 820 568 908)
In GB 0845 508 9490 (from outside GB +44 845 508 9490)
If you are faxing it please remember to bring the original copies with you!
After we've processed it all you will be sent a Confirmation letter and statement and the Arrival Instructions. If there is a pool at your property then you will also receive a Pool safety document. Make sure you have these documents with you before you leave home!