This is a brilliant conclusion. She is not regulated right now, which is how she gets away with no safety precautions, using volunteers as staff etc. You are on to something here.
Exactly. The location of that property away from prying eyes suits Fanny so she can go about her business without scrutiny. There is always an ulterior motive with everything that she does. Loking at the rules of chambre d'hote/gites etc there are a number of reasons why she is deliberately muddying the waters with regard to private/rental accommodation & possibly why she has little interest in expanding the business because of pesky regulations.
An entirely different regulatory and tax regime operates for hotels. Plus she will need to be more formalised in her business operations, risk assessment, hygiene certificates, fire safety etc..all open to 'outsiders' having to come into the property. I reckon that areas of that place wouldn't past muster in terms of electrical safety & certainly that kitchen would be condemned as not fit for human food prep!! Income Tax, social security. VAT all higher if she expands.
Interesting article from 2019 from a property sales company:
https://www.french-property.com/news/french_business/hotel_or_chambre-dhote/
"Some chateau owners seeking to run a chambre d’hôte are being advised that their property must be classed as a hotel, with significant financial implications.
Many people have been inspired by the adventures of Dick Strawbridge and Angel Adoree on the Channel 4 television programme 'Escape to the Chateau'.
The code de tourisme limits the size of a chambre d’hôte to a max of 5 bedrooms, accommodating a max of 15 persons. Beyond this threshold the property is considered to no longer qualify as a chambre d’hôte.
In 2 recent cases that have come to our attention, the local council & prefecture have been unwilling to accept the registration of the properties as chambre d’hôte on the grounds that the property exceeded the bedroom limitation.
In one case, the owners were not proposing to provide regular bed and breakfast accommodation, but to merely let out the property for occasional weddings, with the provision of overnight accommodation included in the package.
Even though the owners might not be obliged to run the business as a 'hotel', they were subject to the public access building norms of such a denomination.
The owners have therefore been faced with the choice of either carrying out
very substantial works to bring the property to the required standards - health and safety, fire, and mobility access - or of abandoning the project. The cost of the works in both cases were estimated at over €200,000."
Also I wonder if the local Maire is interested in what is going on at the chateau? It would be dreadful if the town was being deprived of the visitor taxes that each person should be paying to the town.
For the attention of tit hot PA Nati : here's the info you need for doing the paperwork pet.
There is a specific form (Cerfa N° 14004.01) for you to complete, which you can obtain from your
maire. You would be best advised to send the information by recorded delivery or deliver by hand, in order that you can obtain a formal acknowledgement of receipt of the information.
There is a fine of around €500 if you fail to declare, although the authorities are not particularly draconian in their enforcement procedures.
1.5 hrs one way to work. I heard a quote something like Americans think 100 years is a long time and Europeans think 100 miles is really far lol
