Essential Guides & Advice Setting Up A Gite

Date Published:

12/06/2009

There are already 12,000 gîtes in the French Pyrenees alone, but setting one up isn’t always easy.

You’ll have to register the business with the local and tax authorities and provide all sorts of services, which can include wheelchair access.

To help you find out more, we've put together this rough guide to setting up a gîte in France - but please be aware that regulations for running a gîte may change and vary from town to town.

If you own a chambre d’hôte or a gîte, you'll first need to register at the local Mairie (town hall). Then you must declare your rental income to the French tax authorities.

If you wish to provide food as part of the services you offer, you must ensure that you've obtained the correct licence for a Chambre d’Hôte.

You don't need to register your gîte as a business if:
- The gîte has less than five bedrooms
- The gîte is to be rented out to 15 guests or less
- The expected rental income per annum is below €23,000
- The rental income accounts for less than 50 per cent of the total income

If the gîte has more than five bedrooms or is being let out to more than 15 guests, then the owner of the property is classed as an Etablissement Recevant du Public - a professional of the hotel trade. The running of the gîte is thus classed as a business, and must be registered at the local Chambre de Commerce. You'll be issued with a SIRET number - the registration code for the business - and will have to pay charges of somewhere between 45 and 48 per cent on any profit you make. In return, you'll be entitled to French medical cover, and allowed access to the French social security system.

For small businesses, the Régime micro-BIC tax scheme gives the owner a fixed deduction for expenses at 68 per cent of gross receipts (as of 2006). A Micro-BIC allows you to run the gîte business in your own name, but if it's a bigger business, you can set it up as a SARL (Société à Responsabilité Limitée) – a Limited Liability Company.