Sprogster
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Posts posted by Sprogster
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The big difference in the UK is the existence of short term tenancies, which gives the landlord the ability to get automatic possession at the end of each annual lease if they want to.
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t42, I have also just re-read your first post and unfortunately it all comes down to your poor health, as moving to France at 43 unable to work is a non starter, due to the fact that you are not entitled to an S1, as you have not worked for over three years.Therefore, without being able to join the French health care system and on the assumption you cannot obtain private health insurance due to existing medical conditions, you could risk financial ruin in France if you had to be hospitalised and could not meet the costs.
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I agree with Aly in that fresh fruit & veg is very disappointing in France compared to the much better choice in GB.My car insurance in France is much more expensive, as the insurance market in France is not as competitive as the UK and because car part costs in France are astronomical.Anyone who thinks property taxes in France are cheap should come to the south of France!
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wooly, in view of the absence of capital gains tax in Belgium there is a significant tax advantage in a Belgian retiree with a house in the south of France keeping his Belgium tax residence. Also without any border controls between France and Belgium it must be impossible for French officials to work out how much time a Belgium retiree spends in France.
I agree that the south of France is popular with Belgiums, but there are probably not as many as you think as Belgium is a very small country!
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What potentially could clobber the French property market further is the proposed reform of local property taxes, which is currently under consideration. This would enable local regions to considerably increase the tax on properties to make up for the substantive fall in central funding from Paris. Those Brits that highlight one of the benefits of living in France being lower property taxes, could be in for a shock!
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Until I saw that you had upped your offer, I was going to advise you hold out, as property prices in the Var where I am, are down over 20% since the peak in 2008 and forecast to weaken further. With the cold winter months approaching, I would have been confident the sellers would have come back to you if you had held your nerve!
Meanwhile, you might want to buy your Euros forward if you have not already, as the £ seems to be weakening a bit at the moment.
Having owned two houses in the Var over the last ten years, the only advice I would give is budget carefully for any building works, as everything is a lot more expensive in the South of France and the Artisans tend to quote a higher Anglais price if you are not local!.
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Interesting BBC link to a story comparing the current national moods in the UK and France.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19814806
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Quillan, the new satellite should not have any impact on northern France as Sky and Freesat have to maintain sufficient coverage and signal strength for the Channel Islands, being part of Great Britain and liable to the UK TV licence fee!Sky also have thousands of subscribers in Jersey and Guernsey and transmit BBC Channel Islands and Channel ITV.
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Bugsy, it might just be that other members just do not have the answer, as the issue is not relevant to their personal financial circumstances.
That said the forum is pretty quiet these days, but so are the other two French forums I look at from time to time.
A sign of the current economic circumstances perhaps, where most people have had to put on hold any thought of a house in France.
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It was be nice to have an update from French Fancy as to how they got on with their search for a French mortgage, as it is nearly 10 months since their post.
In response to Stan, the credit market is a lot tighter than it was two years ago and most French lenders these days only lend to French residents, as foreign second home owners are seen as higher risk. There are I think some lenders still prepared to lend to foreign second home owners like GE Capital, but you pay a higher interest rate and have to take out life insurance with them, which can be problematical if you have a health condition or are over a certain age.
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Ian, thanks for sharing this with us.
By the way not all the forum members are ladies, there are quite a few of us chaps!, so do keep posting as we are here to help and listen.
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Jako, French nationals are not forbidden from moving to Monaco, it is just that they continue to be taxed by the French Fisc in accordance with an agreement between France and Monaco, as French tax resident. However, this can be circumvented if like Alan Ducasse, France's most famous and richest chef, if you take out Monegasque citizenship.
The main limiting factor preventing people from moving to Monaco are the astronomical property prices with a decent apartment setting you back multi millions.
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I thought it was an accepted economic argument that you tax gains less than income to allow for the offset of inflation and encourage entrepereneurship.
If France do tax income and gains at the same rate, they will be one of the very few if not only country that does and it is not even a policy that the UK Labour party would adopt.
A lot of professional class French bought second homes as an investment, as the previous tax breaks were generous, and it was capital gains tax free if you owned it more than 15 years. With the loss of the tax breaks and the need now to own the property more than thirty years, it is inevitable the French property market will feel the impact in areas where French owned second homes are popular and indeed this is already being reported.
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The attraction of Belgium for the wealthy is the absence of any capital gains tax. Most of the super wealthy structure their investments for gain, rather than income, so that is an important consideration.
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Apparently France has the most liberal gun ownership laws in Europe and as a result the highest number of guns in civilian ownership after Switzerland.It is reported that the number one crime concern of French voters at the moment is the significant increase in gun related crime, due to a flood of illegally imported weapons from Eastern Europe, that has become impossible to control since Schengen was introduced.
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Ian, my deepest sympathies on your loss. I note on Debs profile that she is the number one contributor to this forum, and thought having pole position was somewhat fitting for a motor sport fan.
A very brave lady who will be sadly missed.
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At a loss for words. My thoughts are with you both.
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Mary, property taxes may be the least of your concerns, as how would you fund private health insurance between your S1 expiring and the UK retirement age when you would qualify for a retiree S1?
Personally I think relying on a reduction in property taxes to afford the move is high risk, as from what I am reading if you are a Brit inactif the situation seems subject to interpretation and French officialdom will usually interprete in their favour!
Hopefully you are also budgeting for exchange rate volatility, as there is no guarantee the £ will hold its recent recovery against the euro and already shows signs of slipping back a bit.
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Ian, if Debs is unsuitable for surgery ask about radiofrequency ablation.
I have posted a link below which gives you more information.
http://www.radiologyinfo.org/en/info.cfm?pg=rfaliver
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Love and best wishes to Ian and Debs and my thoughts are with you both.
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The last paragraph in Norman's post probably sums it up best, in that it all comes down to language competence and assimilation, without which longer term you are probably going to be happier staying in the UK.
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wooly, it is impossible to answer, as it all depends on lifestyle and which areas of the UK and France you are comparing. I am always bemused when posters take prices in the Limoussin for example as representative of France in general, in seeming ignorance as to the huge regional variation in everything from grocery and fuel costs to property taxes.
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Quillan, you are correct in that France has more doctors per head of population, but the the majority are hospital doctors and specialists, as few new doctors in France are attracted to the paltry pay and conditions of French general practice. So the growing problem in France is not the overall number of doctors, but the fast declining numbers of those who want to practice general medicine.
The UK was facing a similar situation and managed it by increasing pay and conditions, which some may argue is now too generous!
By the way £29k thirty years ago was a v good salary and adjusted for wage inflation would not be that far off a doctors salary today.
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The fact remains that London is one of the worlds leading medical centres for teaching hospitals and pioneering medical treatment and clinical research in fields like cancer, childrens medicine, eyes and transplant surgery. Hospitals like the Royal Marsden, Great Ormond Street, Moorfield Eye Hospital, UCLH to name a few, are global centres of excellence that attract patients and research scientists from around the world. The idea behind the proposals put forward originally by the previous Labour UK government, are to emulate the Moorfield Eye Hospital who have opened in Dubai and use the profits to develop their London hospital.
By comparison France despite its good overall health service no longer has the equivalent world renown medical centres of excellence, probably in part due to the general decline in the world standing of French Universities and the absence of the equivalent to the sizable UK medical research charitable sector. Also maybe because culturally the French are not educated to think out of the box but follow the rules, which does not make for the best clinical research doctors.
A lot of people read health service horror stories from the UK and presume that the lack of equivalent reporting in France means the situation there must be better. Not so, French privacy laws prevent any equivalent reporting so any problems that arise are hidden from public view. The UK generally has a free press and media, France does not!
Emmanuelle is dead. Who did not see her movies?
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By today's standards the original Emmanuelle film, even the uncut version, is very tame and nothing that you could not show on mainstream television after the watershed.
I forgot that the actress was Dutch and sad that she ended up so lonely in her final battle with cancer.