Who can look after your house in France while you live abroad: the relays and their roles
Several relays can watch over a house in France for an owner living abroad: a relative or neighbour for the watchful eye, a house-sitter for a long presence, a concierge service for tracked stewardship, and the managing agent for everything to do with the co-ownership. None replaces the others. This dossier says what each one does, how to vet them and how to combine them.
By Jean Mascla, founder of Home SelectUpdated · 6 min read
Who can legally look after your property?
French law regulates estate activities, and the first sorting happens there.
The relative or neighbour acts with your agreement, without any particular status: collecting the post, watering, airing, reporting. This is the first circle, free or nearly, irreplaceable and limited. What he can do without you: the routine gestures you have entrusted to him. What he cannot: sign, commit, decide. The dossiers on the trusted neighbour and on watching over a second home detail this first circle.
The house-sitter lives in the property during your absence, for a reduced or nominal rent: the house is inhabited, heated, alive. That is a presence, not a management: he steers neither works nor co-ownership matters. The house-sitting guide says what that contract must specify.
The private concierge covers concierge service in the proper sense: tracked visits with a report, mail, access for craftsmen, coordination of interventions, follow-up with the managing agent. That is the role of the Home Select concierge service.
The managing agent runs the building, not your flat: in a co-ownership he remains your compulsory counterpart, and being represented with him is a relay in its own right.
What each relay does, and does not do?
Relay
What it does well
What it does not do
Cost
Relative, neighbour
The eye, routine gestures, the alert
Sign, commit, coordinate works
Free or a token thank-you
House-sitter
Long presence, a living home
Manage, follow a co-ownership, report like a professional
Read this table as a recruitment grid: one holder per need, and nobody outside their role.
Empty home or lent home: which setup for which case?
An empty home calls for the fullest setup: a neighbour on the alert, a concierge for inspection visits and the mail, a managing agent watched from afar. Whether to leave it empty at all deserves an earlier question: leaving a home empty or keeping it alive changes wear, insurance and value.
A home lent to relatives lightens the concierge service, the human presence being secured, yet keeps the need for coordination: insurance to adjust, heavy maintenance, craftsmen decisions. Lending has its rules, detailed in the dossier on entrusting your home to relatives.
Val-d'Isère, Alpes
How do you vet the person you entrust your home to?
Three checks, valid for every paid relay:
Professional liability insurance: ask for the certificate, current, covering the actual activity. An uninsured relay who bursts a pipe leaves you alone with your insurer.
The written trail: every visit produces a dated, photographed report. This is what separates professional concierge service from a favour, and what carries weight with an insurer as with a neighbour.
References and track record: how long has the relay worked, on which comparable homes, with which standard contracts. A clear quote, with a statement of time spent, beats a verbal promise.
For regulated activities, a fourth check applies: the licence. Transactions and the other regulated activities require licensed professionals, card and insurance: their status is what protects the owner.
How many relays do you need?
The setup that holds has three bricks: a human first circle in the neighbourhood, a tracked concierge service that coordinates, and regulated professionals called in when the subject demands them. Two symmetrical mistakes ruin the edifice: entrusting everything to one person, who becomes a breaking point the moment she travels, and scattering between five providers with no coordinator, which turns you back into a dispatcher 6,000 kilometres away.
What Home Select organises for your property’s relays
A property held from abroad is prepared from the purchase. During the viewings, your Home Select property finder spots what will need upkeep; before the signing, they introduce the concierge service that will watch over the house in your absence.
After the keys, the Home Select concierge service organises the visits, the call-outs and the photographed reports. Tradespeople, the insurer and the managing agent act under their own responsibility; you decide on documents, wherever you are.
Frequently asked questions
Can a neighbour look after my house in my absence?
Yes, for neighbourly gestures: collecting mail, airing the rooms, reporting an anomaly. His action relies on your agreement and stays informal or modestly compensated; he can neither sign on your behalf nor commission works in your name. For anything binding on the property, you need a mandated, insured relay.
Who pays for what when I delegate the care of my property?
The property insurance stays yours, and so do the charges and taxes. Every concierge service is quoted in advance, on actual time spent, with a written report. Regulated services, such as a transaction, are carried out by licensed professionals under their own fees.
Should I have one contact or several relays?
One coordinator, plus a back-up relay in the building or neighbourhood. A single relay becomes a breaking point if he is on holiday exactly when the leak happens; coordination by one pair of hands, on the other hand, spares you steering five providers from another time zone.
Who can legally look after your property?
French law regulates estate activities, and the first sorting happens there. The relative or neighbour acts with your agreement, without any particular status: collecting the post, watering, airing, reporting. This is the first circle, free or nearly, irreplaceable and limited. What he can do without you: the routine gestures you have entrusted to him. What he cannot: sign, commit, decide. The dossiers on the trusted neighbour and on watching over a second home detail this first circle.
What each relay does, and does not do?
Read this table as a recruitment grid: one holder per need, and nobody outside their role.
Empty home or lent home: which setup for which case?
An empty home calls for the fullest setup: a neighbour on the alert, a concierge for inspection visits and the mail, a managing agent watched from afar. Whether to leave it empty at all deserves an earlier question: leaving a home empty or keeping it alive changes wear, insurance and value.
How many relays do you need?
The setup that holds has three bricks: a human first circle in the neighbourhood, a tracked concierge service that coordinates, and regulated professionals called in when the subject demands them. Two symmetrical mistakes ruin the edifice: entrusting everything to one person, who becomes a breaking point the moment she travels, and scattering between five providers with no coordinator, which turns you back into a dispatcher 6,000 kilometres away.
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