Managing a Co-Owned Holiday Home in France: Expenses, Maintenance and Responsibilities
Once several people own the same holiday home, the main challenge is usually not ownership itself. It is making sure the property can be maintained, repaired and prepared without every small decision becoming a group discussion.
If you are still deciding how the property should be used, how decisions will be made or how the ownership itself is structured, start with our guide Co-Owning a Property in France: What You Need to Know. This article focuses on the next step: organising the practical management of the property once those basic rules are in place.
TABLE OF CONTENT
1. Separate regular costs from unexpected expenses
A second home generates costs throughout the year, even when nobody is staying there.
Typical recurring expenses can include:
garden and pool maintenance
cleaning
electricity and water
internet and security systems
insurance
heating and air-conditioning servicing
pest control
septic tank or drainage maintenance
routine repairs
property taxes
For foreign owners, it is also worth understanding how French ownership taxes work. Our guide French Property Tax Explained: What Foreign Owners Need to Know covers the main points in more detail.
The simplest approach is to divide expenditure into three categories:
Routine costs
Regular expenses that can usually be anticipated and budgeted for.
Planned works
Improvements or replacements that can be discussed and scheduled in advance.
Urgent repairs
Problems such as leaks, electrical faults or equipment failures that may require a quick decision. This makes it much easier to decide how each type of expense should be handled.
2. Decide who can approve what
Not every repair needs a meeting between all the owners. A practical arrangement might allow one designated person to approve routine expenditure up to an agreed amount, while larger works require collective approval.
For example:
Type of expense | Example | Possible approach |
Routine | Pool servicing | Pre-approved budget |
Small repair | Replacing a damaged lock | Local approval up to an agreed limit |
Major expense | New air-conditioning system | Quotations + owner approval |
Emergency | Serious water leak | Immediate action to protect the property |
The exact system is less important than having one before something goes wrong.
Keeping approvals in writing — even through a shared email thread — also makes it easier to understand later what was agreed and why.
3. Give each maintenance task a clear owner
Shared ownership can easily create gaps in responsibility. Everybody assumes someone else has booked the gardener. Nobody knows when the pool equipment was last serviced. A contractor sends a quotation to one owner while another owner gives different instructions.
A simple maintenance plan helps avoid this.
It can identify:
what needs to be checked regularly
how often it should be serviced
which contractor is responsible
who receives quotations
who can authorise the work
where invoices and reports are stored
This becomes particularly useful for second homes that remain empty for long periods. As we explain in The Reality of Owning a Second Home in Provence, gardens, pools, security systems and seasonal preparation continue to require attention even when the owners are abroad.
Practical tip
Create one shared digital folder for the property containing contracts, invoices, quotations, maintenance records and useful contacts.
A simple system is usually better than a complicated one that nobody updates.
4. Have someone who can deal with things locally
Many practical problems become more difficult simply because none of the owners are in France.
Someone may need to:
give a contractor access
check that work has been completed
photograph a problem
obtain quotations
inspect the house after bad weather
prepare the property before an arrival
respond when something goes wrong unexpectedly
This is where having a reliable local contact can make shared ownership considerably easier.
The local contact does not need to make decisions on behalf of the owners. Their role can simply be to implement what has already been agreed, coordinate the relevant contractors and keep everyone informed.
For buyers who are still considering what owning a property here involves in practice, Buying Property in Provence: What Foreign Buyers Should Really Check provides useful additional context before the purchase itself.
Keep the system simple
A co-owned holiday home does not need a complicated management structure.
In practice, four things make the biggest difference:
1. A clear annual budget
Everyone knows what regular ownership is likely to cost.
2. Defined approval limits
Small issues can be dealt with without unnecessary delays
3. Clear responsibilities
Maintenance tasks do not disappear between several owners
4. One reliable local contact
Someone can coordinate what needs to happen when the owners are away
Once those basics are established, the property becomes much easier to manage — and owners can spend less time discussing maintenance and more time actually enjoying their home in France.
At Var Villas Mangement, we support owners of second homes in Provence with property checks, contractor coordination, maintenance follow-up and practical assistance when they are away.
A Personal Note 💬
💡My advice
Agree on a fixed amount that can be spent on routine or urgent maintenance without consulting every owner. It avoids delays for small repairs while keeping larger expenses subject to collective approval.
🌍 Did you know?
Pools, gardens, irrigation systems, security equipment and seasonal preparation can all require attention during periods when the property is unoccupied. A simple maintenance schedule helps avoid discovering problems just before an owner arrives.
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