bigears

ernie, retirement is fantastic as long as you have loads of interesting things to do.  Does the car/motorhome have to go back to the country of registration or just move on to another country after 6 months is up. 

hi whose law is being broken if a foreign reg car stays for example in france for more than 6 months.  Do motorhomes not stay out of the uk for that sort of time?  As long as they are legal in their country of registration, is that not sufficient.

ron thanks for telling me its the school holiday time (uk?),  I loose track of when they are, being a retired person.  Are your posts really sensible answers or personal attacks? 

Nice post Ron, hard hitting as ever.

hi I am interested in this topic as we will be selling our french maison secondaire in about two years, once we are finished the renovations, after 10 years of ownership.  From a notaires point of view dealing with the sale of the french residence, if you have declared french tax residence and gone through two french tax forms and altered the status of your house to maison principal, will it sail through without any french capital gains tax liability?  Will the fact that you own property in the uk alter the notaires's decision, will he/she actually ask the question?  Was the reference to paying cgt in the uk  to do with the uk revenue smelling a rat and charging it on the french sale, but why should they if you were indeed  a french resident, who would indeed inform them of the sale?  Perhaps the movement of funds to a uk bank would trigger off an enquiry.   Surely uk people do legitimately taste full time residence in france after having a holiday home here for a few years and decide perhaps the winters are not for them and decide to sell up and go back to live in the uk full time.   I  would be interested in hearing from people who have actual experience of this type of situation.

frexpat Why don't you becpme a french tax resident so that you don't incur any gct on the sale of the house.  Look at the figures and make a decision.  Look at the gain after taking into account the cost of health assurance. 

Wendy My understanding is that if you keep the centre of your economic interest in the uk, you can stay more than 6 months in any year.  Enjoy your time in france in your maison secondaire and don't worry about exactly how many days you have been here. 

hi Actually in singapore at the moment, but thats irrelavent.  You establish tax residency in France by telling the french tax man and filling out a tax return.  If it was me I would not do it until your second year if you decide to stay.

hi to my mind keep things simple and be resident only in one country at a time. 

hi just read the article and it has re-inforced what I have always believed i.e. 183 days isn't the overriding factor.  I remember having discussions about this in the past and people were banging on about it being the overriding indicator.  I'm actually soaking the sun up in nz at the moment after a most satisfying days work in about 30 degrees.  This year I will probably stray over the 183 days in france but will not be worried about it, probably will not even count the days.  We will only become french tax resident when my wife is able to obtain an e121 and then we can sell the house as our main residence, quite legitimately and move on to pastures new. 

hi was it on this forum, where the topic of the euro being doomed, was discussed? 

hi when I was struggling to register my car two years ago, I found the dvla very understanding and flexible.  I faxed them from nz to say my registration in france had been delayed and my car was offroad in france without tax and mot.  I eventually exported it months later, when I had finally registered it.

don't forget ernie there are many 'experts' on this forum.

good for you sweet17,  make good decisions now reap the rewards later.  Your 2-3 years, presumably for the market to recover may have to be extended.

hi sweet17, in my area achievable house prices have dropped over the last two years., as far as I can see the market is just about dead.  I'm surprised if you are looking to buy and cannot find a bargain, perhaps you aren't looking but just don't want to accept the fact that prices are going down.  Recession is almost here and its going to be a difficult ride. 

hi I believe you can sell your car without a newish ct, not sure if its 'en etate' or pour 'pieces'.

hi if you are french resident I would say buy property in france from someone who is desparado to sell.  Rent it out and wait until the market comes back.  I've seen some horrendous bargain from brits who are leaving.

hi if you have parents in the uk, ask them to put some of their household bills in your name, that might be enough to open a uk account.

hi we unfortunately don't have enough savings to buy a cheap (first time buyer)  property in the uk, if we had that is what I would do.  Buy one cheap, do it up and rent it out and decide whether to sell or not when the market picks up.

I'm not an expert, we have two supra both without liners.  The first one we installed about 6 years ago in an external  chimney I built using red flue blocks, it works well.  Its a 9 kw steel model with red verticle sides.  The newer one bought from mr bricolage a couple of years ago is also 9 kw but is all cast iron, and very heavy. It is installed in the existing chimney of the house.  It displays some of the symtoms you describe, in particular the glass has to be cleaned every couple of days.  We burn well seasoned oak.  I think its better to have a smaller capacity fire burning towards full capacity rather than a more powerful one ticking over.  Can you bang in that material (sorry don't know its name) between the outside of the flue and the chimney.  Make sure the air gap above the glass is always unobstructed.  Is the chimney built high enough with regard to the roof line of the house?  You could try taking out the flue liner and run it without for a while.  Sorry cannot really help other than the above. 

the uk doesn't need europe or the euro, bring back the empire, rule britannia

hi I would now expect there to be a run on the pound.

hi So good old state ownership is due to make a comeback.

hi If you are french resident best to buy lhd for a variety of reasons.  Trouble is they are expensive in france.  Have a look on ebay.co.uk there are many lhd cars, including many from spain, presumably from expats retreating back to the uk.  Hang on a bit till the recession bits and look for the bargains.

hi could those people also qualify for heating allowance from the uk, or do you have to be resident?