Charentes Relocation

About Us

Charentes Relocation is run by me, Gary McCandlish. I am married and we have four children aged 17, 15, 12 and 8. Our children are in the French education system (school, college & lycée) and the oldest working as an apprentice. They have all integrated well.

I have been involved in logistics for the last seventeen years, moving people, equipment and funds around the world and solving any problems that have arisen, in order to ensure the smooth running of a move.

For 20 years I moved around the world living in various conditions, amongst many different cultures thus developing the tricks of the trade, through experience, involved in setting up home for sometimes short periods of time.

Realising our love for the French way of life after several holidays and regular visits to France with work, we decided to move here permanently. It is a decision that we have not looked back on. With four children, we have first hand experience of the schooling system and various clubs and societies. We are also well acquainted with the Social Security system in France, such as the health services available and family allowances. Our children are rapidly working their way through a checklist of ailments, from earache to a cracked tooth, so we now know our way around the local hospitals and doctors' and dentists' surgeries.

During the move to France we noticed how little information there was readily available on things such as the documentation required for registering with the French authorities. We wanted to rent a property while we searched for a house to buy, but all searches ended with a more expensive holiday let. We were actually quoted £5,500 for a four month period in one gîte - compare that with the monthly rent of 500 - 800 € (£460 - 740 approx) for a likesize long term property rented from the owner or local management agency. The trouble we had was finding these properties from the UK, not being able to physically knock on someone's door and speak to people face to face.

The relocation services available to us at the time either:

- catered mainly for corporate moves at corporate rates,

- charged extra for sending a 'consultant' to your destination area to deal with the move,

- were only available for support for an inadequately short period after the move,

- promised to arrange work, services or facilities, but in reality only passed on the name and number of someone (who we could have looked up ourselves) for us to do the arranging, or

- charged by the hour with little or no guarantee of success, stating that if not successful on the first attempt we could always come back for another try and, of course, at extra cost. Such an approach questions their incentive to succeed on the first attempt.