3-room flat of 55 m² with enclosed terrace, 20 chemin des Virgiles in Sainte-Maxime

• Completely renovated flat, ready to move into
• 16 m² enclosed terrace with outdoor kitchen
• Two bedrooms, one with independent heating
• Air conditioning in the flat
• Bathroom with shower and bath, heated towel rail
• Separate WC and large hall
• Private garage and cellar
• Gated residence with cameras and a caretaker
• Leafy grounds, two-basin pool, boules pitch
• Visitor spaces around the residence
• Energy rating C

The shops and the schools are within walking distance of the residence. The covered market and the town centre are a quarter of an hour on foot. The beaches are five minutes away by car, and Saint-Tropez about fifteen minutes away by the sea shuttle from the port.

We let this property by the year, with no agency fees. We own it and we manage it ourselves. So you speak directly to the people who decide, before signing and after. There are no letting fees, no application fees and no tenancy drafting fees.

The application comes before the viewing. Two documents are enough to open it: both sides of your identity card and your latest tax assessment. We review it the same day, then we call you to arrange an appointment at the property, on a weekday or on Saturday morning.

A top floor sells itself in an advert: the view, the light, nobody above you. The lift makes nobody dream. Yet the lift is what decides whether you can still live here in fifteen years.

The question is a real one in a town where retired people make up a large share and where many settle for the second part of their lives. A high floor without a lift becomes a trap: you have to move again at the wrong moment.

It also comes up for the shopping, for pushchairs, for a piece of furniture to carry up, for a leg in plaster. A lift is not something you use every day, it is something you use on the days you have no choice.

Here you also get a garage and a cellar. For a family, the combination of the top floor, the lift and the extras covers just about every use of a long-term home, which is exactly what a three-year tenancy agreement is for.

Sixteen square metres of enclosed terrace, with an outdoor kitchen, on a 55 m² flat. The proportion is worth a pause: the terrace comes close to a third of the living space.

Enclosed, it is usable all year. That is the difference between a balcony you look at from November to March and a space where you put a table, some plants, a desk. On the coast, where winter days are often bright, this room becomes the most pleasant in the home.

The outdoor kitchen extends its use from spring to autumn. It takes the smells and the heat out of the living room, which counts in a compact flat, and it lets you entertain without cluttering the living space.

The trade-off is the upkeep: a glazed terrace needs cleaning, and the seals need watching. We do it, it is our home. But it is better to know before signing that a glazed space asks for a little more attention than open-air tiling.

Many people arrive here at retirement, and many buy. Renting is a serious option all the same, and often more sensible than people say.

Renting means avoiding notary fees, property tax, building works voted through without you and unexpected calls for funds. It also means keeping your capital available rather than tying it up in a market where prices per square metre in the gulf come close to those of the big cities.

Above all, it means keeping the option to change your mind. Spending a winter here before committing for thirty years is the most useful advice anyone can give to someone who only knows the town in summer. A three-year tenancy agreement costs less than a property mistake.

This home ticks the boxes that matter over time: lift, garage, cellar, enclosed terrace usable all year, a residence with a caretaker and cameras. These are the things you regret not choosing when you did not choose them at the start.

The address is on chemin des Virgiles, on the heights above the centre. It is a residential area, built as gated residences among the pines, a few minutes from the port and the shops.

These areas have a quality you only measure in daily life: they stay lived in out of season. In a town where more than one home in two is a second home, that is not the case everywhere.

The leafy grounds, the two-basin pool and the boules pitch are included in the service charges. The caretaker is present on site, the residence is gated and covered by cameras. These are the things that keep you in a home for ten years rather than three.

The rent is €1,500 per month excluding service charges, plus €145 of service charges, giving €1,645 in total. The garage and the cellar are included in that amount.

The deposit is one month's rent excluding service charges, handed over in person on the day you sign. And nothing else: no letting fees, no admin fees, no tenancy drafting fees.