3-room flat of 50 m² to let by the year, right in the centre of Sainte-Maxime

The rent is €1,250 per month, plus €105 of service charges, giving €1,355 per month in total. The deposit is €1,250, one month's rent excluding service charges. You hand it over in person when you sign the tenancy agreement, at the same time as the keys.

We are the owners, not an agency. So there are no letting fees, no application fees and no tenancy drafting fees.

The application comes before the viewing. For this home, we ask for both sides of your ID card, your last three payslips and your latest tax assessment. You upload them online, from your phone, in a few minutes.

Viewings take place on Saturdays. As soon as your application reaches us, we call you to agree a slot.

A private garage does not stand out in a photo. It stands out on 14 August, when the town's population multiplies several times over and every free space in the centre is taken before nine in the morning.

Sainte-Maxime has around 14,000 permanent residents. The gulf of Saint-Tropez, where it is the largest town by population, takes in a summer population estimated at 300,000 people. That gap does not only show in full terraces: it shows in cars.

A home that comes with its garage takes the problem away for good. You come home, you park, you do not circle. And the car stays under cover, which counts when you live under the pines and the summer ends in storms.

Here you also get a parking space on top of the garage, and a private cellar. These extras are not let separately and are included in the tenancy agreement. On a 50 m² three-room flat, they add the storage volume that most flats this size lack.

The development is closed by a gate at the entrance, and a caretaker is present on site. These are two different things: the gate filters, the caretaker sees. One without the other always leaves a blind spot.

The tennis court and the boules pitch are reserved for residents. They are included in the service charges, just like the upkeep of the communal areas. These are not holiday resort facilities: they serve the families who live here all year.

The area around chemin des Virgiles is residential and quiet, with a food shop right nearby. The town centre is a few minutes away, which puts the home in the right zone: close enough for everything, far enough from the noise.

This type of residence has another quality, invisible at a viewing: it is lived in during the winter. In a town where more than one home in two is a second home, landing in a building that stands dark from October to June changes daily life. Here that is not the case.

A three-room flat with two bedrooms, in a gated residence with tennis and a boules pitch, is aimed first at families. It is also the group of tenants the local market serves worst, because a family home goes more easily into holiday letting than a studio.

A family's calendar is not up for negotiation: you move in before the school year starts, not in October. That means starting the search in May, filing your application in June, and signing in July. The homes that come free in September are already promised from the spring.

A gated residence is not only about security. It is a space where children can go out on their own, which no building on a main road allows. The boules pitch and the tennis court carry the same idea further.

One last point, rarely said: in a town where more than one home in two is a second home, a residence lived in all year gives your children neighbours their own age in January, not only in July. It cannot be measured, but you notice it very quickly.

We review the application before arranging the viewing. This method saves everyone time: you view a home you can actually get, and we meet applicants whose situation fits the property.

Two documents are enough to open an application: both sides of your ID card and your latest tax assessment. We review it the same day and we answer you ourselves, including when the answer is no.

The viewing then takes place at the property, on a weekday or on Saturday morning. If everything suits you, we sign the tenancy agreement straight away, no letting and no drafting fees.

The service charges are €105 per month and cover the upkeep of the communal areas, water for the gardens, the caretaker and the facilities of the development, tennis court and boules pitch included.

We give you the item by item breakdown before you sign, within the limits set by the rules on recoverable service charges. So you know your real cost of living here, €1,355 per month in this case, before you commit.

A service charge we quote does not move during the year without explanation. If there is an adjustment, it is backed by the accounts, and we tell you about it before it appears on your rent receipt.