electricity mains standard

[Philippe2259]

I'm wondering if I have to upgrade the electricy mains (cables, outlets, circuit breakers...) of a very old house (must have been built in the early 1900s) we'd like to rent for very short stay. All electrical circuits are working fine even if sometimes the Earth is missing. Can't find anything suitable. Any ideas?

To be precise, it's located in France, the kitchen and the bathroom have been fully revamped, including the electrical circuits.

[Fiona256]

You should get it checked by a professional electrician, to make sure all systems are safe and working properly. You may need a certificate of compliance, depending on French law for short term lets.

[Emilie]

Hi @Philippe2259, 

It's a lovely project, old houses can be so full of charm they make great holiday properties! Whereabouts is it located?

In addition to @Fiona256's advice, I wanted to tag in @Joelle43 in case she knows more about the requirements on this matter in France. 

Thanks 🙂

Emilie

[Mary1523]

In my 5 bedroom house and its only 30 years old, guests would constantly blow the fuses in winter as they turned on all the heating and lamps at once. In normal house living, you wouldn't do that but guests like to turn on everything as soon as they walk in. So do a test of that. We ended up putting another full circuit in to cater for this and asked guests to balance the load of plugging stuff in across the 2 circuits. Most of the time its all fine.

Regs

MK

[Joelle43]

Hello @Philippe

As a host in France but active here on the English CC, @Emilie tagged me on this very important subject.

Here is a link that explains what norms should be in place when renting out any type of home in France:

https://izi-by-edf.fr/blog/norme-electrique-location-saisonniere/

According to the link below, plugs that are not earthed, although functional are not up to the required norms:

https://izi-by-edf.fr/blog/prises-electriques-sans-terre/

You mention that you've redone the bathroom and the kitchen that should have been according to the  norme NF C 15–100.

Did the electrician not check out the rest of the house?  It is very important that you provide a safe place for people to stay so yes,  before you think about renting out your place, please have it checked by a qualified electrician.  

Only yesterday, a little girl of 10 years old died because of faulty wiring in an Airbnb that she was staying at with her parents and siblings.  It would seem that there were no fire alarms in place and although listed on Airbnb, the required registration number was missing as this home had not been declared to the local authorities.  

There is already daily Airbnb bashing on French media so this tragic event will highlight unforgivable negligences on behalf of the owner and the fact that there are not enough controls in place.

You should also check with your insurance before starting out on renting.  If you do not live on the premises, you can take out a PNO insurance (Propriétaire non Occupant) 

@Mary1523 message to you is so true.  Guests will turn on every light in the apartment/house even though they are not in all those rooms and then you have the guests who plug their electric cars to your mains (without asking for the most part) so that's also something you should consider.

Make sure you are up to date also on all the administrative steps you will have to take before renting.  This is presumably a secondary home?  The "Anti Airbnb" law (yes that's the name it's been given)  will be coming into effect very shortly so look up on the net to find out how this affects you.  

Good luck

Joëlle