Sprogster
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Posts posted by Sprogster
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Sorry to hear about your dreadful experience when you got home.Be careful as it sounds if the man is deranged.
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Interesting report showing that UK's poorer cancer survival rate compared to some other countries could be due to a British culture of 'stiff upper lip' and reluctance to go to a doctor until it can be too late, rather than the standard of health care.
By comparison we all know the French are a nation of hypochondriacs and visit the doctor with the slightest hint of a sniffle!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-21242871
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If like most Brits in France you are a retiree dependent on a modest £ retirement income, then the exchange rate makes all the difference. At 1.40 euros to the £, most would find France good value, but at the current rate of 1.16 it is apparent that many retired Brits in France are finding it tougher going.
There is a problem in France with escalating prices at the moment, something that has been publicly recognised by the French government, in response to increasing concerns being voiced by the population.
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The general consensus seems to be that unless your Gites are very high end in an expensive area such as Provence or the Riviera where you can charge a hefty premium in season, it is not possible to make a living, especially if you have a family to suport and any borrowing. Most Brit Gites owners seem to be early retirees or retirees who are looking to supplement their retirement income and savings. What apparently kills the economics are the short season and high French social security contributions.
Other factors to take into consideration is that in many areas the market is over saturated with Gites and the current dire economic situation in France. Also if considering targeting Brit holiday makers the current renewed weakness of the £ is not going to help.
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Poppy, in no way am I implying they wold find anything wrong and would apologise if I gave that impression. I was only trying to explain why medical records are so important these days where medical insurance is concerned.
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£ now down to 1.16 and looks like weakening further. Hopefully, not a sterling crisis looming!
Interesting article in Sunday Times saying that introduction of French social charges on foreign second home owners who rent or make gains on selling, which HMRC have ruled as not UK tax deductable, combined with plunging £, has killed off beginnings of renewed interest by Brits in French property. But good news for those Brits thinking of selling if they can find a buyer, as they will now get more £'s for their euro sale proceeds.
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idun, you may be out of date, as the younger French doctor I go to has introduced computerised records. Although I expect that in deepest rural France things might not be as sophisticated and that's if you can find a doctor as there is increasing shortage in rural France.
The problem is that fraudulent claims on travel insurance policies are so endemic these days, that unless there is a way the insurance company can verify your recent medical history in the event of a claim, you are not going to find suitable cover. The only alternative would be having thorough medicals for the insurance company before a travel policy was granted, with all the expense that would involve. If like me you have had a medical for French life assurance you would know what I mean!
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idun, absolutely standard practice with travel medical insurance for the insurance company to ask your primary care physician to complete a medical report questionnaire, before considering a claim. The reason being is that travel medical insurance, unlike other insurance cover such as life insurance, is obtained without the upfront need for a medical or check as to your medical history, and therefore the insurance company are totally dependent on the customer making a full and frank disclosure of all past and present medical conditions. However, when you make a claim at that point the insurance company will check up on the customers medical history with your doctor and if it comes to light you have failed to disclose a previous or existing health condition, even if not connected to your claim, your insurance will be void.
That is why if you have annual travel insurance, you must update the insurance company with any changes in your health, even if they occur after the policy was taken out.
Unfortunately, everyone wants the cheapest possible travel insurance, but then find out they are not covered as most insurance companies nowadays manage claims by outsourcing their handling to third party companies who are financially rewarded for finding ways to minimse payouts!
French doctors are of course required to keep details as to every patients medical history (patients are given copies), as not to do so would be unsafe when prescribing medicines for example, if a doctor in ignorance precribed a medicine that could dangerously interact with another medication already taken by a patient, or other pre-existing medical condition. You cannot expect a patient to have that expertise! Also without your medical history, it would be impossible for a doctor to complete a medical questionnaire in relation to a patient taking out or claiming on medical related insurance, such as critical illness policies.
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As a general rule of thumb, new build is always much cheaper than renovation. Also when you come to resell, new build appeals far more to French buyers, who cannot understand the Brit attraction to older property!
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idun, whilst in the UK there is a limit to the amount of cash you can draw out with your bank debit car at an ATM each day for fraud prevention, there is no daily or other limit to the amount you can use your card to purchase goods or services, if there is sufficient funds in your account to cover.You can buy a new car using your debit card in the UK if you have funds to cover!Why the French banks limit the use of a debit card for purchases I have no idea, but my guess is that they do not have as sophisticated systems.
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The problem for many offshore banks who traditionally target expats, is that with such low interest rates it is impossible to make money from providing deposit and current account services, and their ability to loan deposits up to the banking parent to fund lending, which was the traditional model, is being curtailed by the regulators to protect against future bank failures.
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Quillan, I get the C5 channels OK with a metre dish down on the Med.
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AnOther, you do not actually need a passport to leave the UK. If you recall nobody looks at your passport leaving the UK other than the airline employee when you show your boarding pass at check in or the gate and this is just to check your identity matches the boarding card and ensure you have the appropriate passport and visa if required to gain entry to your destination country, as if you are refused entry on arrival the airline can be fined if they should have denied you boarding and are responsible for repatriating you. If you fly to Eire or the C.I, no passports are required at all and if you leave the country by private boat or plane there are no passport checks on departure either.
I am not aware of a single instance of a British Citizen who is UK tax resident and pays their National Insurance being denied UK health care.
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A few years ago in his Sunday Times article he referred to a printed Christmas card he was sending to all his friends which featured a photo of him and was promoting his books, He called it the worlds most distasteful Christmas card.I emailed him and asked if he could send his Christmas card to my wife as she could not stand him and it would be a good windup, which to my surprise he duly did! However, to my shock he printed my email in the Sunday Times with his weekly feature and I got a lot of ribbing from friends as a result.Had the opportunity of meeting him a year later and love him or hate him I am sad to hear of his passing because he was one of the last British eccentric showman. RIP
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With HMRC increasingly making it as difficult as possible for a British Citizen to become non UK tax resident, it is highly unlikely that the NHS would take the contradictory position that you were not entitled to care just because you spent more than 90 days outside the UK, which plenty of people do through the course of their employment. Aircraft and ship crews for example.
The fact is that if the UK is your main home, where your family is based and you pay your UK taxes and NI contributions, you are not going to have some faceless civil servant spending thousands of pounds in man hours tracking your every move to try and establish if you are entitled to use the NHS!
Also since the UK abolished border controls on those leaving the country to save costs there is no easy way to monitor how long an individual spends in or out the country. Hence the UK's inability to identify how many illegal immigrants there are!
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This Forum is an online expat group!!
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Let the discussions begin!http://www.thelocal.fr/page/view/french-homes-worlds-most-over-valued-report#.UPmt9qXZoQI
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I think the exchange rate is a big deal to a lot of Brit retirees in France and Spain who are reliant on a modest sterling pension income.
On the plus side those thinking of selling and returning to the UK, will get more £'s for their Euros.
That said with a rate below 1.20 Brit interest in buying French property tends to tail off rapidly if the past few years are anything to go by, so selling a rural French property might get even more difficult.
Some posters have advised in the past those thinking of retiring to France to budget at £ to Euro parity and I think they are absolutely right as a rule of thumb.
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Looks like we are on the way back to near parity again!! Currently 1.19.http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21068861
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HMRC rules that the French social charge of 15.5% cannot be deducted against UK tax .
This is really going to help the already subdued French property market!
http://www.sykesanderson.com/private_client/articles/HMRC-rules-on-French-Social-Charge.asp?j
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From people I know who rent their properties in France, I get the impression that it is barely economic for what is such a relatively short rental season, especially when you add in the cost of paying someone to deal with the weekly handovers and cleaning, plus the inevitable maintenance and repairs that result from tenants. Another consideration is that non resident landlords now have to pay in addition to tax, high French social charges on the rental income, which reduces the economics even further.
The OP's are correct in that in your situation the primary consideration is to buy a property that best fits your needs for what will become your main home and renting opportunities should be a secondary consideration.
Anyway, time is on you side as an article on international property in the current Economist magazine has French property as the most overvalued in Europe by far and indeed one of the most overvalued in the world, so a downward correction is inevitable and may indeed have started in the last quarter.
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You won't find many forum members in the south east of France, as evidenced by the limited number of posts on this regional section of the forum. The other French forum I participate in is the same.One of the reasons probably is that south east France is after Paris the most expensive area of France to buy property and live in and therefore less favoured by retirees.Hence the two most important questions are what is your budget and how far from the coast do you want to be?
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It doesn't seem to get better for President Hollande, does it?!
Oh dear it can only get better, but then again maybe not!
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Further to Quillan's advice, even though you would be relying on a European Health card, I don't believe that this would cover 100% or non emergencies, so taking out private health insurance might be prudent. If you are young without pre-existing medical conditions the cost should not be prohibitive and there are UK medical insurance policies that automatically give you European cover as well, such as from Axxa PPP.
Unfortunately, France is not self employed friendly and setting up a company in France is best avoided!
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