Sprogster

Although my children are grown up I follow with interest the posts of those contemplating moving to France with children. I can quite understand the motivation of parents who want a better life for their children and the perceived attraction of a more structured and discplined secondary education system in France. However, what seems to be overlooked is the troubled French higher education system which has been under invested in for years and the very poor youth employment prospects in France, with youth unemployment at an a national average of 23% and much higher in rural areas, thanks in the main to unduly restrictive employment laws From my experience, it is not unusual for young French people to continue to remain in the education system through their twenties because of the lack of job opportunities and hence the large numbers of young French people working in London. Maybe it is human nature not to look too far ahead?  

Just to complicate matters, the changes to French inheritance tax this year need to be considered carefully, if you wish to minimise this liability when any children eventually inherit your French property. In France you can now leave everything to your surviving spouse free of inheritance tax and there is a Euros 150,000.00 allowance for each child. This compares to the newly increased IHT allowance of  £600,000.00 for married/civil partnership couples in the UK.  However, to fully utilise the increased  French IHT thresholds each spouse needs to use their allowances individually, unlike the new rules in the UK where the surviving spouse can pool any unused allowance of their pre-deceased spouse, when leaving assets to their children or anyone else. For example, the first spouse to die leaves an interest in their French property to their two children up to the applicable French IHT allowance, although giving the surviving spouse  the legal right to continue to occupy the property during their lifetime. When the second spouse dies the value of their remaining interest in the property is also able to take advantage of the Euros 150,000.00 per child allowance. That way you are able to utilise a total combined allowance of Euros 600,000.00 for two children, rather than Euros 300,000.00 if the surving spouse inherited everything first. As this is such a complex area, you should obtain professional advice in France, from a lawyer who is experienced in dealing with foreign nationals investing in France.      

As previous posters have advised, France is not suffuciently far south from the UK to have warmer winters and in fact many areas of France have colder average winter temperatures than southern areas of the UK that benefit from the influence of the gulf stream. Even on the Cote D'Azur the winter months can be and often are cold and wet, with night time temperatures well below freezing resulting in icy roads. Last but not least visible air pollution is an increasing problem in south eastern France during the summer months and when the air quality is poor the speed limits on the autoroutes are reduced and advisory warnings are given to the public.

The most important thing is to keep your chloresterol closely monitored through your doctor and not ignore it, as it is the main cause of heart disease and strokes. Although excercise and a good diet are important annd do help, this is unlikely to be sufficient in itself if you are over 50, or high chloresterol runs in the family as there is a genentic link.  The good news is that statins are very effective, cheap to prescribe and well tolerated by most people, to the extent that under new BMA guidelines doctors in the UK are being advised to presribe statins more readily to men over the age of fifty as a preventative measure, even if they just have moderately high chloresterol. The new gold standard is ideally to get under 4. In America statins are being credited with reducing heart attack deaths by 40% over the last ten years and the similar benefits are being reported in Europe. 

Jura, According to French government statistics, average unemployment in France for under 25 year olds is 23%. In certain rural areas it can be as high as 60%. Employers in France are extremely reluctant to take on young employees French or otherwise, because of the difficulty in letting them go if they can't do the job, because of unduly restrictive employment laws that the new President NS wants to change. That is one of the main reasons so many young French people move to London. I have never understood why anyone would want to take nearly adult children to a country that has one of the worst youth unemployment rates in Europe, as even if your daughter spoke fluent French there might be no increased likelihood she could find reasonable paid work.

Another factor that might help is we are moving into a buyers market and property owners who want to sell in the next year or two are going to have to be realistic and flexible on price. Therefore, you might find that you can negotiate a deal that offsets the fall in the value of the £.  

Hi Wilko, This is a French government statistic and has been widely quoted in the press.  Not surprising really, as it has been the buoyant UK property market that has been the facilitator in enabling Brits to realise equity from their UK property and buy abroad in such large numbers. Also buying old property in rural France seems to be a strangely British love affair, with other Europeans such as the Germans being more influenced by climate and the need to get further south. You do get other buyers such as Belgians and the Irish but these are countries with small populations, so the numbers are relatively low by comparison. 

As someone who works in financial services, I can confirm there is increasing bearish market sentiment towards the value of the £ against the Euro and 1.32 is a destinct possibility with the spot rate around 1.37 today. Reasons are varied but mainly due to expectations of reducing £ interest rates next year, which makes the £ less attractive to foreign investors and UK trade deficit. I would not be in a hurry to buy as the UK and French property market is softening and will continue to do so for some time yet, the only question is by how much. Add to the equation that 60% of foreign residential property buyers in France are Brits and tend to buy older properties that the French don't, you can see the downside risk if the £ continues to weaken on top of the ongong credit crunch that makes mortgages more expensive and difficult to obtain. 

Hi Oakbri, Not much has changed at all on the crime front since you were here, as people still do leave their keys in the ignition, although not really advisable!  Jersey still has negligible serious crime compared to most other countries, with some drunkeness on the streets of St.Helier when the pubs and clubs close at the weekend being about the worst of it. Part of the reason is that the Jersey Courts are quite draconian compared to the UK, with people for example convicted on drugs supply offences imprisoned for much longer. (Twelve years is not unusual and in Jersey there is no parole!) One thing that has improved since you were here is that thanks to the low cost carriers such as Flybe, BMI Baby and ThomsonFly, getting to and from the island is much cheaper. Even getting to France by ferry got cheaper this year due to competition for Condor on the St Malo route from HD Ferries, who adopted the low cost airline model. Also since last year you have been able to get the TGV from St Malo.    

Hi Oakbri, Not much has changed at all on the crime front since you were here, as people still do leave their cars in the ignition, although not really advisable!  Jersey still has negligible serious crime compared to most other countries, with some drunkeness on the streets of St.Helier when the pubs and clubs close at the weekend being about the worst of it. Part of the reason is that the Jersey Courts are quite draconian compared to the UK, with people for example convicted on drugs supply offences imprisoned for much longer. (Twelve years is not unusual and in Jersey there is no parole!) One thing that has improved since you were here is that thanks to the low cost carriers such as Flybe, BMI Baby and ThomsonFly, getting to and from the island is much cheaper. Even getting to France by ferry got cheaper this year due to competition for Condor on the St Malo route from HD Ferries, who adopted the low cost airline model. Also since last year you have been able to get the TGV from St Malo.    

Oakbri, I am not sure how long it is since you lived in Jersey, but if it was more than a couple of years ago I don't think you would recognise the place today. The capital St.Helier is being developed beyond recognition on the back of the resurgent finance industry with substantive land reclamation schemes resulting in new waterfront developments springing up all over the place. As a result we can match the facilities of any medium to large town in the UK and most days large numbers of French day trippers arrive on the St Malo and Granville ferries attracted by the choice of high street shops such as M&S. (Not that it is any cheaper mind you!) Interestingly, even the tourism industry has started to recover on the back of new upmarket hotel and spa developments that have made Jersey an increasingly favourite short break destination. Housing licence restrictions have been eased with over 2000 new residents arriving in the Island last year, as the new ministerial style government is allowing the population to grow to the hundred thousand mark. House prices though are similar to the south east of England  The best bit is that Jersey does not seem to experience anything like the same social or crime issues the UK is facing and we are only 12 miles from France! 

Bugbear, I don't think it is a case of banging your head against the wall, it was just unfortunate that 47AJM implied all immigrants to the UK were freeloaders. Contrary to what many would perceive as racial prejudice, official statistics published yesterday in the UK and given prominence on the national  news, show that the average immigrant worker in the UK earn more than the national average wage. Anyone who has dealt with employees from Eastern Europe, who form the bulk of immigrants in the past few years, will attest to their high work ethic.   

Well done Chris and many thanks for sharing your story with us, which is a valuable lesson for many of us I am sure. I for one resisted the usual temptation to open a bottle of wine this evening and reflecting on your experience will try and substitute the Rose with Evian a bit more.

47AJM, it is a statistical fact that the suicide rate in France is 2.5 times that of the UK, so there are problems. By the way MRSA infections are a concern in French hospitals. One of my French neighbours has been avoiding going into hospital for an non urgent operation she needs, because of her worries about picking up a super bug infection. In the domaine I live in out of the twenty four houses six have been broken into over the last three years, two of them worryingly whilst the owners were asleep. As a result we all close and lock our downstairs shutters at night and most of us have fitted alarms and security locks. Last month another of my neighbours had the wing mirrors removed from her new Mini whilst she was parked outside a restaurant. Presumably for spare parts! All this in a very nice rural area of the Var.

Bugbear, It should not be surprising as France is a country many want a home in, but in practical terms it is difficult to move there permanently before retirement, because of the employment, language, tax and other issues discussed at length on this forum. Where this is probably most evident is in Southern France, where many houses are clearly shuttered up for the winter, by their Dutch, German,Norwegian, Belgian or British owners, who increasingly in many areas seem to make up the majority of homeowners.  I have not got the precise statistics to hand but the information stems from the relavent tax authorities. 

Val, your friends IOW experience sounds a bit like the situation some posters find themselves in remote areas of France!!

Panda, it is unlikely the proposed health care changes are having an impact as the majority of foreign owned private residences in France are second homes, whose owners are non French resident and therefore not effected. However, what is having a discernable effect is the rise in interest rates and resulting credit squeeze, which is leading to a dramatic rise in borrowing costs for homeowners with mortgages and most second home owners have a mortgage on their primary or secondary property, if not both. In the above circumstances, if the homeowner finds themselves financially overstretched often the first thing to go is the second home, as that is a luxury not a necessity. Most of Europe is currently experiencing a much slower property market and in France over the last quarter average house prices have declined slightly for the first time in many years. Most property analysts now expect a correction or slow down in the property market throughout Europe over the next year or two and their opinions only differ by how much.     

From my experience in having private health insurance over many years there is a major limitation frequently overlooked, in that long term chronic illnesses are not covered beyond  diagnosis and primary treatment stage. As such insurance is only intended to cover acute conditions. Therefore, if for example one unfortunately was diagnosed with a long term incurable neuroligal condition or diabetes you would have to fall back on some form of government health support for your long term care, as you would probably not be covered by private health insurance. Another problem is that private health insurance is on an annual contract basis and if you have a poor claims history, that can be reflected in an increase in your premiums when the policy comes up for annual renewal.   

Krusty and Cat, I believe that other EU countries reimburse the French government for the health costs incurred by their countries "inactifs" resident in France, without time limitation. This is the crux of the issue and maybe a point on which Brits should be lobbying their own government?

I don't believe 100% mortgages in France were ever available, as banks in France are strictly regulated as to the amounts they can lend as a percentage of a borrowers earnings and the value of the secured property. (Your monthly debt repayments in total are not allowed to exceed one third of your gross income.) At any rate the days of easy credit and 100% mortgages are now over, due to the American sub prime mortgage problems that have caused a global credit squeeze. Surely, you are aware of the Northern Rock situation? Anyone currently looking for a mortgage in the UK will have noticed that banks are already applying much stricter lending criteria.

Zeb, You are absolutely correct in that driving or being driven by someone else whilst you are having a suspected heart attack is extremely dangerous to yourself and other road users. The risk in being driven, is that the driver is distracted by your condition. Also the medical authorities advise that you do not attempt to contact your doctor,  just call the emergency services as they will get to you a lot quicker and have resucitation equipment that your local doctor or their call out service will not have to hand. In the UK there is an advertising campaign sponsored by the British Heart Foundation that says exactly the above.

The main point of my original post was proximity to hospital A&E facilities, not any language barrier. In France increasingly the gold standard treatment for heart attack victims is immediate angioplasty to unblock the artery, fit a stent and limit damage to the heart muscle. (Think dynorod!) Unfortunately, the longer it takes to get to the hospital with or without paramedics the poorer the long term prognosis.

One of my neighbours who is Norwegian, following a heart attack sold his holiday home in the Var to move nearer a French town where there are emergency hospital A&E facilities, in case heaven forbid he had another one. What this highlights is a risk factor most of us overlook in our haste to find our bucolic paradise, in that as we get older being stuck too far out in the sticks might not be the best situation if you require emergency medical care, when every minute can count. 

Janusian, you are clearly disillusioned with the UK, but you must do careful research to ascertain if you would be better or worse off in another country before making any final decisions. Some countries have a less enlightened approach to disabled people and there is a view that in France there is a cultural out of sight out of mind attitude to disabled people and a more institutionalisation approach, rather than to actively encourage and support independent living. Don't automatically assume another country will by be an improvement, unless you have lived there on a trial basis first.

At the moment Oz and James are filming a new series in the wine growing area of California. My brother visited last month the very small Champagne vineyard featured in the series, where the owner pressed the grapes in his garage and was selling the resulting excellent Grand Cru Champagne for just Euro 13 per bottle. Suffice to say, thanks to the programme demand had soared as had the price!!