Did you know French police can check on your home while you are away?

One of the few downsides of taking a holiday is the worry of leaving your home unoccupied.

But homeowners in France can sign up for a free service run by the police and national gendarmerie where officers come and check on your home while you are away.

‘Opération Tranquillité Vacances’ is available year-round and will see officers come to your property once or multiple times a day when on patrol to check for unusual activity, or signs of trouble, such as an attempted break-in.

If they spot something, they can contact you – or a designated trusted neighbour – to inform you of what they have seen, instead of you coming back from your holiday to a nasty surprise.

How do I sign up?

There are two ways to sign up for the service:

• Firstly, you can go to your local police or gendarmerie station and fill out a form

• Secondly, you can sign up for the service online here

If you sign up for the service in person, you need to show proof of identity and proof of address (bank statement, energy bill, etc) at the police station.

For the latter, however, you must use a FranceConnect login - a collection of online logins for official sites in France. You can read more about FranceConnect and how to sign up for the service below.

Read more: What is FranceConnect?

You should provide as much detail as possible to the police, including your address, travel dates, contact information in case of issues, how you are planning to return home, and anything else you think is important for officers to know.

After submitting the form, you will be given a receipt to confirm your request, allowing you to rest easy.

You must sign up for the service three days before you leave for your holiday (or at least one day before when asking the gendarmes), and inform the authorities if your travel plans change (i.e, you come home early), so the police are not confused by activity inside the house.

Read also: You should soon be able to report some crimes in France from home

Are you a main or second-home owner?

Depending on whether you ask the police or the gendarmerie, there are slightly different rules.

Police officers only provide the service for main homes and only for up to three months.

The gendarmerie, however, will offer the service for second homes as well as main residences, and you can ask them to check in on the house for up to an entire year.

Whether you are in a “police zone” or “gendarmerie zone” depends on the location of the house, however, and you will need to ask at your local station which service you can benefit from.

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