Sprogster

With the latest Q2 property report from the Notaires de France showing the average price of houses and apartments outside central Paris continuing a three year decline with the annual fall to June 2015 being the largest fall recorded since 2012, having a second French home will only be for the rich and stupid!! I had hoped that there would be signs of the French property market bottoming out, but no such luck and increasingly it looks like the pessimistic forecasts of French property market prices continuing to decline until 2020 are correct. Never has the advice of rent not buy made more sense!

It is a sobering thought, but when selling a house in France you need to obtain a price of at least 20% higher than you paid, just to break even, as French buying and selling costs are much higher than the UK. Add to the equation that most expert forecasts anticipate French property prices continuing to fall for the foreseeable future, especially in rural areas, then there is a strong argument for renting over buying until you are certain your French location is the right choice, which means being there all year round to experience a French Winter!

Evianers, just to add in a more succinct manor, I would tell your American friends that the American website is probably still accurate for their circumstances, as whilst having EU citizenship gives them the right to live and work in the EU, EU citizenship in itself is not relevant in connection with health and social security entitlements, which is based on individual historical EU residence and EU social security contribution history, regardless of nationality.

I believe Linda is correct in that unless they have a ten year minimum social security contribution history in an EU responsible State, they will not be entitled to an S1 or equivalent, where their responsible EU country pays for their health care as retirees. Therefore, they would have to fund their own private health insurance, which as pensioners will be expensive and will not cover pre-existing conditions. Being an EU citizen on its own gives you no EU health care rights, as it comes down to EU residence and EU social security contribution history, as I know well being a Channel Island resident British citizen, but because I have not worked in the UK or EU I am not entitled to an S1. As US pensioners they will have the safety net of US Medicare, so should think carefully about abandoning that if they leave the US.

From my experience a lot of Brits have totally unrealistic expectations about the winter weather in France and are shocked to find it as cold and wet as they left behind in the UK! I am on the Med coast not far from Sainte Maxime and in recent years the weather from the end of October to April has been unusually wet, cold and unsettled. Inland can get very cold!

Bob, I have a house on the Cote D'Azur, which is much further south than the travelling time you have specified. However, even on the Med my experience over the last 11 years is that the weather from the end of October to April is getting worse! There is no doubt that the Winters have become much wetter and colder, with far less sunshine than used to be the average. As a result I know quite a few retirees and second home owners in France who reluctantly have or are considering moving to alternative warmer Winter climes, such as Morocco, Florida, Canaries,or Madeira. I say reluctantly because if it was not for the consistent poor Winters they would not have considered moving elsewhere.

Yvonne, If mild Winter weather is an important consideration for you and who does not want to minimise heating energy costs, I would suggest you spend a Winter in France before you commit to a permanent move. My house is on the Cote D'Azur close to the sea and the Winter weather from the end of October through April is not good, being much wetter and colder than I anticipated. Recent Winters have seen much higher rainfall and less sunshine than average, presumably all part of the climate change that is going on. Going inland and further north in France Winters get a lot colder and away from the influence of the Gulf Stream can be and often are colder than England. France is very different in Winter and from what you have experienced in late Spring and Summer, not only because of the weather, but many rural and summer tourist areas can basically close down.

My wild guess is that the producer involved will be reluctant to press charges, as from what I have read he is keen to put this matter behind him, come out of hiding and get back to work, which would be difficult to do if criminal charges against Clarkson keeps this in the headlines for months, fuelling further undeserved hatred of the producer by the lunatic fringe of Top Gear supporters. Also the producer would risk creating the perception he was twisting the knife as Clarkson has suffered enough and is not a well man.

Interesting questions raised by the BBC presenter of Newsnight this evening, in that the BBC might have some culpability, by putting undue pressure on Clarkson to increase the current series by four episodes, when they knew he was under considerable stress from the death of his mother, his marriage breakdown and recent illness and was as a result clearly losing it. There is no excuse for what Clarkson did, but when an employee is clearly stressed out, a responsible employer does not increase the workload to the point they crack under the pressure.

Idun, UK pensioners resident in the USA do not have their UK pensions frozen as they are increased each year exactly in line with UK resident pensioners. The pension situation regards UK pensioners living abroad differs from country to country depending on the agreements in place between individual countries and has no correlation with the EU, as this is not an EU matter. Sprogster is currently in the USA.

Ubill, as a non EU citizen you can apply as a retiree for a long stay visa, but this prohibits employment. This visa, which is subject to periodic renewal requires a medical prior to arrival, evidence of comprehensive private medical insurance and adequate financial means. The 5 year rule and S! is only relevant to long term (more than 10 years) EU resident retirees or early retirees, who are moving from one EU country to another, as there is an agreement between EU countries to pay for the health care costs of their retirees living in another EU member state. As a non EU citizen if you have not contributed to social security in an EU member State for a minimum of 10 years you will not qualify for an S1 when you retire, and will have to rely on private health insurance and obtain a long stay visa which is more difficult than it used to be I believe.

Just realised the original post was back in 2011. I do find it confusing when a very old post is suddenly resurrected after so many years, as don't always check the date heading!

As already mentioned your main challenge as a non EU citizen will be obtaining a long stay French visa, otherwise as a US citizen your visits to France will be limited to 90 days and a maximum of six months in any one year. This French visa, which in recent years has become more difficult to obtain, has to be applied for in your country of residence, the USA, and if granted, prohibits employment and requires evidence of comprehensive private health care insurance to cover your health care needs in France, as there is no reciprocal health care agreement between France and the USA. In addition, you will have to pass a medical and demonstrate you have sufficient independent financial means. That said at least there is a French long stay visa, which mainly is aimed at reasonably well off non EU retirees, as no equivalent exists for EU citizens wishing to stay for more than 6 months a year in the USA.

Hi Catalpa, Most travel insurance policies includes repatriation so that should be your friends first port of call. If so the insurance company will task a British medical repatriation company to deal with and they will decide if repatriation by road or air ambulance is more appropriate and liaise directly with the hospital concerned. Usually the process involves the repatriation company sending out a doctor and or nurse to accompany the patient home or to a suitable hospital in the UK. As you can imagine this happens on a daily basis with tens of thousands of Brits abroad at any one time, so the insurance companies are totally geared up to handling this type of situation. Last but not least, very important the insurance company is notified and brought in as soon as possible to avoid invalidating the policy through failure to notify adequately in advance and no arrangements should be made without the agreement of the insurance company, if you want them to pay the bills!

Garde girl, I believe this is also targeted at popular tourist and second home areas such as near the Med and the Dordogne, where foreigners are perceived as inflating local house prices!

If this is passed which it almost certainly will, it is the precedent that worries me more than the initial amount involved, as it is designed to create more housing stock and reduce house prices by pursuading second home owners to sell and release their properties to local buyers. What it says is that the current French government don't like second home owners and if the 20% tax surcharge does not hurt, it will be increased until the desired effect is achieved!

If there is a reasonable possibility, as you mention, of returning to Oz eventually I would hesitate buying a property in France in the current poor market as French house prices are forecast to continue to gradually fall for a good few more years and rural French property can be difficult and expensive to sell in the best of times. So would suggest you rent for a least a year, as you might find that after your first French winter, the novelty wears thin very quickly!

There may be some basis for your concerns according to the results of an expat survey, the link to which I have posted below: http://www.rivieratimes.com/index.php/provence-cote-dazur-article/items/do-expats-enjoy-living-in-france.html

I would also advise trying to get some form of independent valuation for the plot of land as values of undeveloped single home plots have plunged in recent years. Where I am a plot overlooking the Mediterranean with good views was unavailable six years ago, now a lot are coming on the market as long term owners look to sell and values have halved. 

Interesting report on Bloomberg regarding very poor second quarter French housing construction figures and further adverse impact on French property market of new rules capping rents and imposing expensive house reports on vendors: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-29/housing-market-in-france-in-meltdown-after-hollande-rent-caps.html

Bob, although with buying a new build agency and notaire fees are usually lower, that in part is to defray the VAT(TVA) cost added to new build prices of 20%. So when buying new build the price is inflated by 20% and in a stagnant French property market you may not recover that when you re-sell. 

According to a book recently published in France written by two French economists that has got a lot of people talking, French property prices will continue to gradually fall for the next ten years and rural property will suffer the most. This tallies with an OECD report that says French property is still overvalued. Also you are quite right in identifying the high purchase costs associated with French property, so I think if you just bought for a five year stay you would run a considerable risk of making a loss and not be able to afford to get back on the UK housing ladder. Another consideration is the exchange rate risk if the £ continues to strengthen against the Euro. I think you probably answered your own question in that the sensible answer is rent! http://www.french-property.com/news/french_property_market/house_prices_fall_10_years/

My advice would be to try the colonoscopy once with sedation to see how you get on, as if you are fine it is far better to avoid multiple general anaesthetics if you are going to need repeat colonoscopies every three years, as you could end up with side effects like permanent disabling cognitive impairment, which is a surprisingly common side effect with patients over the age 0f 60 (Over 10%). That is why with older patients procedures like hip replacements are increasingly being given under an epidural rather than GA. I would do a bit of research on the internet so you can make an informed decision.  

It is not a cost issue as screening colonoscopies are usually done under sedation if requested, not general anaesthetic because of the not insignificant risks involved with a GA that increase with age, being overweight and medical conditions such as high blood pressure. My other half had a colonoscopy privately last year and asked for no sedation so could leave the hospital immediately afterwards and had no problem, even enjoying watching the procedure on an overhead monitor! Likewise, I have had numerous colonoscopies over the years as a private patient outside the UK, so no health service cost issues, and have been told that under general anaesthetic there is actually an increased risk of perforating the bowel if you do not have the cooperation of the patient.   A lot of people who have colonoscopies think they have had a GA because they can remember nothing of the procedure, but this is usually because of the sedation and amnesiac drugs which administered intravenously. If nervous just ask for heavy sedation and I guarantee you will feel or remember nothing!

My French house was built in 1995 and asbestos was used in the roof and highlighted in the survey, when I purchased it. When I enquired I was told that asbestos was used extensively in French house construction until 1996, especially in forest fire risk areas such as the Var. Apparently, if undisturbed it presents no health risk, but its existence is flagged in house surveys so that future owners are aware and can forewarn tradesman who may work on the house.