retirement planner

Thanks to you all for your comments on this. We had read before about the “toxic debt” some areas had. Is there any list of where these areas are available at all ?  We somehow guessed it would always be an upward trend, but as no-one has complained too bitterly about their own cases, we suspect that there are no horrendous rises received. Agents don't seem to publish the tax rates in the sales literature, so I guess this has to be asked for on each property.   So when rates rise, is it a % increase across all property type ranges, or do they load some types more than others? Thanks also Euro-trash for your link, as there is only football on tonight, I will have a look through there then. Julie

Another question if you don't mind. I wonder if someone could give their experience of Taxe d’ habitation and Taxe fonciere on their homes in France.  In the UK we have been lucky enough to have enjoyed no increase  ( apart from a few pounds a year) in council tax and television licence for the last four years now. This is in contrast to the previous years when council tax went up by a substantial amount each year.  Have you seen large increases in these two taxes while in France or do they increase by a reasonable percentage each year?  and who sets these taxes, is it local, department or national?  Just trying to find out what we may expect when making the move. Thanks  Julie.

Many thanks to you all for replying to this question, we really appreciate your advice, some things to think about there for sure. It is always nice to hear what people from the UK who already have homes in France think and advise, having seen it from the "inside". We were planning to keep a place in the UK, as in later life, we also feel it may be a wise thing. Many years ago when  friends of ours where looking in France for a place to live, we went along to view a couple of houses for sale with them, this was in 2004, ten years later and one of them is still for sale now, same price as it was back then, and it did seem a good buy to us at the price. This must be what Norman meant in another thread when he said he only pays French prices. Thanks again, Julie.

Hi, We have been following the forum for a while now as we are planning to buy in France in the not too distance future. We are therefore trying to gather information together now, so we should be better informed when the time arrives. My husband is early sixty's, so have a few years before we retire fully to France, but we are planning to buy a couple of years before then, so we can move in full time when the pension starts and the house is ready. We have a couple of questions regarding the way we buy the property, if anyone can advise us on these points would be great. Our situation is we are UK married and we have two children in their thirty's (both ours, not stepchildren or adopted)     Please correct me if I am wrong but, I believe the rules were changed recently to allow spouses to pass on to each other all their estate, with no tax payable on death? I understand from a tax point of view in the long term this may not be the best way, and that if some of the deceased estate was left to the children on the first death, then they would each receive a tax free allowance on their inheritance, from each parent?   So, does anyone know which of these ways is how things would work on first death.   A   If the house was brought in joint names both owning an equal share, the remaining spouse would receive the deceased spouses estate fully and with no tax to pay, but on the death of the second spouse then the property would be left 50/50 to the children who would have a tax free allowance of  100K euros each, then would have to pay tax on any remaining value.   B   If the house was brought in joint names both owning an equal share, on the death of the first spouse is the house treaded as each spouse owning 50%, therefore the deceased spouse’s 50% would be split up according to French inheritance law, with 1/3 each for the children and a third for the surviving spouse.   Purely as an example,  on a house with a value of 600K , would it work out that each spouse owned 300K, then on first death that 300K would be divided in line with French law, with 100K going to each child and 100K to the surviving spouse, therefore no tax to pay on death. On the death of the second spouse, the children already owned 100k each of the property and the second spouse owned 400K.  This 400K is then split 50/50 to the children, each would again receive 100K tax allowance each and each would have to pay tax on the 100K they received.   Is it this straightforward, or are we missing anything?  We have read that it is important to set up how you wish things to happen at the time of buying.  Sorry its a grim subject for our first post.   Thanks,  Julie.