Secondary residence concierge

Owning a second home in France is a pleasure. Managing one from four thousand miles away is a job.

Between two stays, a house keeps living without you. Pipes freeze, gutters block, a tile slips, a damp patch spreads behind a wall. None of it announces itself, and all of it costs far more once discovered in July than it would have in January.

Homelike Home manages your French second home while you are not in it. Whether you bought through our property hunting service or you already owned the place, our team visits, inspects, reports and coordinates the trades, so that you arrive to a house that is ready rather than to a list of problems.

What we do between your stays

• One monthly visit to check the general condition of the property
• A schedule agreed with you, and direct communication on anything that needs attention
• A detailed written report after each visit, with photographs and, where relevant, the works to anticipate

If you are weighing the running costs against the pleasure, our guide to buying a second home in France sets out the full budget. And if you consider letting the property occasionally, which many owners now do to offset rising property taxes, we will point you to the local agencies worth working with and handle the practical coordination on site.

Why remote ownership goes wrong

The three failures we are called in to repair, almost always in that order.

Small problems become expensive ones. A blocked gutter is a twenty minute job. The same gutter, left through one winter, becomes a damp wall, then a ceiling. The cost gap between the two is rarely less than a factor of twenty.

Nobody is accountable on site. A neighbour with a key is a favour, not a service. Favours do not hold up over ten years, they are awkward to chase, and they stop exactly when you need them most.

Trades do not answer a foreign number. Getting a roofer to a rural property in Normandy is difficult for a French owner. From a different time zone, in a second language, with no local reputation to trade on, it is close to impossible. Our team already works with these trades, which is why they answer.

Who this is for

Most of the owners we look after are American, British or French expatriates who use the house several weeks a year and cannot drive over for a leaking tap. Many of them bought exactly where our teams work: the Normandy coast, southern Brittany, the Perche, the south of France.

If you are still at the buying stage, start with what buying in France involves as a foreigner, and with our regional comparisons on Normandy versus Brittany and where to buy in the south of France. Management is a question for later. Buying the right house in the right place is what makes it easy.

Three services to choose from

Summer package: €235 excluding VAT / month

Everything the house needs while you are away during the warm months, so it is open, clean and working on the day you land.

• 1 monthly visit to check the general condition of your house
• Servicing of the swimming pool, where applicable
• Coordination of household cleaning
• Preparation of the house before your arrival

Please note: all costs linked to external service providers are invoiced separately (swimming pool specialist, cleaning, works and similar).

Winter package: €275 excluding VAT / month

The months when an empty house is most at risk, and the reason we steer owners of stone houses in Normandy towards the winter cover rather than the summer one. Heating started and checked, damp watched, and someone on site every month.

• 1 monthly visit to check the general condition of your house
• Starting up and checking the heating system
• Coordination of household cleaning
• Preparation of the house before your arrival

Please note: all costs linked to external service providers are invoiced separately (heating engineer, cleaning, works and similar).

A la carte services

For owners who only need occasional help, each service can be booked on its own. It is the formula most often chosen by expatriates who come back several times a year.

• Hourly rate: €95 excluding tax per hour, including liaison with agencies for the seasonal letting of your property, visit organisation and similar
• Starting up the heating system: €105 excluding tax
• Chimney sweeping: €105 excluding tax
• Housekeeping coordination: €95 excluding tax
• 1 monthly visit to check the general condition of the property: €125 excluding tax
• Household repairs before arrival: €105 excluding tax
• Garden maintenance: €105 excluding tax

How it works

A first visit together. We walk the property with you, or with your photographs and plans if you cannot travel, and we agree what matters: the boiler, the roof, the pool, the garden, the alarm.

A monthly round. One member of our team visits, inspects against that list and sends you a written report with photographs. You read it from home and decide.

Coordination when something needs doing. We get the quotes, meet the trades on site, supervise the work and confirm it is finished. You are not asked to manage a French builder by email.

The service is currently delivered by our Normandy team. For a property in another region, talk to us first: our coverage extends across fifteen areas of France and we will tell you honestly whether we can look after your house properly.

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