Unwanted brits?

[Frogslegs]

Found interesting and probably accurate article in the Telegraph today about unwelcome brits in the Charentes!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/main.jhtml;sessionid=1XDE4ERY5SKLNQFIQMGCM54AVCBQUJVC?xml=/property/2005/02/26/pfrance26.xml&pos=portal_puff1&_requestid=44924

[Boghound]

[quote]Found interesting and probably accurate article in the Telegraph today about unwelcome brits in the Charentes! http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/main.jhtml;sessionid=1XDE4ERY5SKLNQFIQMGCM54AVCBQ...[/quote]

Had to laugh. Just read your other post about advertising English films being shown. Can't have it both ways you know.

[IAN_S]

Since when was The Aviator an English film?

[Frogslegs]

o.k, o.k, before this gets silly...I thought I was doing cinema foyer a favour by promoting their event....and I know you can not have it both ways but there are some of us that do make an effort over here. We run a gite and chambre d'hote, we are registered with a siret number and I go to french lessons each week. We  invite our french neighbours in for aperitifs, go on ski holidays with french residents from another village: and are converting another gite using french artisans.

maria

http://www.le-tilleul.com

 

[Russethouse]

Its the same old story isn't it ? Who sets the price for the house ? Ok the buyer may put in an offer or even pay the asking price if they, like so many, have limited time to look, but its the owner and the agent who set the 'ball park figure'

How many of them are complaining ?

Where were all these people wanting homes when there were wrecks stood empty for 20 - 30 years ?

As for people not mixing with the locals - well not everyone is sociable, as a couple we really are quiet I doubt that moving would change us...........

[GRT17]

spot on with your comments Gay.

I would say that a lot of these newspaper articles are published because the so called journalists have nothing better to fill the pages.

"The original émigrés came because they really loved France," she says. "Those that come now are here to take advantage of the better style of living and they don't mind whether it is France, Spain or Italy – they simply want a detached house with their own grounds."

The above comments may apply to some but I still believe the majority go to France because it is a country they love and enjoy.

In reality many of us have found that once in France the locals are surprisingly "friendly" especially if you can make the effort to communicate with them and join in locally. Don't rush in but get to know them gradually and as others have said, you will probably have friends for life.

Bon courage mes amis

amicalement

Gill

[Coco]

"The original émigrés came because they really loved France," she says. "Those that come now are here to take advantage of the better style of living and they don't mind whether it is France, Spain or Italy – they simply want a detached house with their own grounds."

The above comments may apply to some but I still believe the majority go to France because it is a country they love and enjoy.

Probably the majority of the members of this site came for those reasons Gill, by virtue of the fact that they are interested enough in France to belong to such a Forum.  However, I would disagree with the statement and say that at least 75% of the Brits I have met in France fit that description perfectly.  Even my own parents, who will swear that they moved here for the love of the country, moved here because they could sell their house in the UK, buy a similar property here for a quarter of the price they sold at and stick the rest in the bank to "subsidise" their pensions.  I am 100% convinced that if they could have found something as cheap on the south coast of England they would have stayed there and I think it's the same for too many of the ex-pats in France.

In reality many of us have found that once in France the locals are surprisingly "friendly" especially if you can make the effort to communicate with them and join in locally. Don't rush in but get to know them gradually and as others have said, you will probably have friends for life.

Oh how I couldn't agree more with you.  I'm afraid I disagree strongly with the British Press's picture of the French as being an arrogant race, I find them extremely shy.  Perhaps they appear arrogant because they are proud of their own country.  Something that a few more Brits could take note of!  It's taken us a long time to get to know our neighbours but we are getting there and are included in a lot of things locally that they have no intention of including the other "non-French speaking Brits" in.

[Lizzie15]

[quote]spot on with your comments Gay. I would say that a lot of these newspaper articles are published because the so called journalists have nothing better to fill the pages. "The original émigrés came ...[/quote]

Gill- I agree with you. We are having a big problem with a French bank but all the people we meet ( unconnected to the saga!!) are so dismayed at the way their countrymen have behaved towards us,this being "corporate behaviour", they are forever apologising for the mistakes of others!They shake their heads in dismay, it makes us feel a whole lot better about the situation!!!  There are lots of lovely people out there,whatever country you are in, there are also some not so lovely!! 

 

[Boghound]

[quote]o.k, o.k, before this gets silly...I thought I was doing cinema foyer a favour by promoting their event....and I know you can not have it both ways but there are some of us that do make an effort over...[/quote]

WoW.

So this makes you more French then most then? I can see that I'll have to open gites and go ski-ing with French friends more.

Hey Ho. Back to the "drawing board".

 

[Frogslegs]

Just stating the facts matey!! I can not win here?

[Tresco]

Don't worry Frogslegs, it's quite apparent who the 'loser' is in this exchange.

tresco

[Jsey]

Most Brit.immigrants moving to France over the past few years have done so chasing the fast buck and in doing so have wrecked the housing market here much as they've done in Spain and Italy and are in the process of doing the same in Turkey and Poland.

[CountrylassAnne]

Jsey, I posted a similar reply to yours on another thread several weeks ago, and was almost shot down in flames! I will be very interested to see the response that you evoke.

I've been reading a lot about property prices worldwide just recently. Here in the UK gravity seems to be taking hold and everything that went up, now seems set to come down. Lots of...... (OK I won't tar them all with the same brush) Estate Agents seem incapable of accepting the truth and still attempt to push up prices. I believe that we are on the verge of lots of changes.

I've also been reading a French forum and they also are concerned about which way the prices are going over the coming years - I've found a wonderful French website written by a very, very realistic Frenchman who sees things in a unique way, to which I can relate. If anyone would like the website address please pm me and I will pass it on to you.

I know that this post looks to be off the original thread but I personally feel that in the future us Brits won't have the same capacity to buy abroad as we've been able to do over the past 5 - 10 years - we've all been 'equity rich' but I don't believe it is sustainable, I think the 'party is almost over!!'

PS  I don't mean to be miserable but I'm just a down-to-earth country girl!

 

 

2 Y's U R,    2 Y's U B,    I C U R,    2 Y's 4 Me.

[SaligoBay]

Well, there's a new lotissement just being finished between us and the village, adding about 500 people to the village population.  Land was being sold at almost 200 euros a sq metre, and guess what, not one Brit among the lot of them.

Yes, the British might have pushed prices up in some places, but isn't it a bit tunnel-visioned to blame it ALL on them?   The TGV line to Montpellier opened the south up to Parisians, that's certainly helped to push prices up in this area.

 

[Teamedup]

That isn't including the house building or the taxes or notaire or any other thing I imagine. Makes quite an expensive residence.

[Cal50]

Wasn't it just the same in the UK about twenty odd years ago. Prices of country houses became unreachable for country workers like myself and strangley enough it wasn't because of thousands of French people coming over to live but it was blamed on ' townies ' at the time. People just have to accept it has become more popular to live in the countryside at the moment so naturaly prices go up

[A New Life!]

Hi

I have been following the trend of brits moving to france for 20 yrs, and it appears to me that those who move for the wrong reasons, typically the ' bangers & mash brigade' who want the same lifestyle, only in france or spain etc, move back to UK ?

Anyway the main point of my post, which until I read this threadwas to go in the postbag,

We are moving to at the end of the month, I'm based in La Rochelle to look for a suitable house to rent for the interim, til business gets going and then buy a wreck and convert it,

One agent I visited today showed me a handful of places of which 2 were ok, another woman entered, i guess just earwigging, after a short time she said, ' oh this house is no good for you' 'why?

' the company that owns this property and several hundred others in the SW, will not rent to' brits or non whites, she went on to say ' this is common practice nowadays with many property owners

so they dont like us, who cares ? if we make the effort, integrate as they say, when in rome etc etc, tough, short memories they have, this could Germany, think they would like that more.

I have been disheartened by the attitudes I have come across over the years as a visitor, and also heartened by others,  and will live here, on my terms not theirs.

 

needed to vent a little!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ian Hoare<br>All the best<br>Ian<br>La Souvigne Corrèze<br>http:www.souvigne.com]

Hello "A New Life"

You said:-

so they dont like us, who cares ? if we make the effort, integrate as they say, when in rome etc etc, tough, short memories they have, this could Germany, think they would like that more.

I have been disheartened by the attitudes I have come across over the years as a visitor, and also heartened by others,  and will live here, on my terms not theirs.

I'm truly sorry, but I think your move here will prove an expensive catastrophe, with these attitudes.

If you think you can live here "on your own terms", go live on a desert island. Because you're dreaming. You will NEED to have contact with the local mayor, or you just might find that he's decided your proposed renovation is illegal. You will need to have contact with local craftsmen, you might even find that looking at british TV and each other gets pretty boring.

Living successfully in a foreign country involves making some effort to integrate (even if the autochthones are as hostile and unfriendly to immigrants as the brits were back in the 50s). 

The first paragraph I quoted was written so telegraphically that I'm afraid I may have misunderstood what it said. I hope so. Because if you're going to come to France saying "thanks to us you're not living under German domination" you may find your stay here even shorter than I expect it to be.

So, don't waste your time and money here, you won't be happy. Try New Zealand.

 

[Boghound]

Let "New Life" live his life how he wants to. As far as his remark about the Germans ...well...it's true.

If he wants to watch UK TV...good luck to him....it's certainly better then French...there are to many "Brits" over here as it is...all chasing the dream of running "business's"...mostly gites/or guest houses...sticking their nose's into village affairs and drinking to excess in the cliques that they have to form.

[Tresco]

[quote]Let "New Life" live his life how he wants to. As far as his remark about the Germans ...well...it's true. If he wants to watch UK TV...good luck to him....it's certainly better then French...there ar...[/quote]

 

there are to many "Brits" over here as it is'

...Oh hey now Boghound, does that mean one of us already in France has to leave so you can retire here

tresco

 

[Tourangelle]

I agree with Ian here up to a point, in that it is a fact that you cannot come and live here on your own terms. I do think that you can have your holiday home here (especially if you do not want to renovate in any way, it seems) and be completly detached from French life, if that is your choice, though I can't think why anybody would bother.

I am afraid that a "this could be Germany type approach" will just provoke laughter. Short memories? You have to be 70 + to have a memory at all of 1939-45. That sort of attitude would go down very badly here. The Americans tried to suggest something similar during the 2004 D-day commemorations and the French were having none of it. Their attitude was, yes those individuals who came over on D-day were brave and we owe them our respect and thanks, but this does not extent to being grateful to every single living American. Lots of projects have gone on in France to promote positive relations with Germany, which is why every other French town (at least), is twinned with a German one. You will find the Algerian war is much more of a sore point with the French.

On the other hand people who have been here for a while, and I know I am guilty of this, do forget how very frustrating French administration can be, how hard it can be when you first arrive, how the French can be unhelpful and unwelcoming, even to each other, how if you don't know about things they wont necessarily tell you and you get sent from pillar to post by the administration. It can be so annoying, time consuming and boring. I really sympathise with New life's house hunting problems, it is, of course, illegal to refuse to rent to somebody who is not white and French, but they know when they tell you that that you are not going to bother doing anything about it. If I were in a New life's position, I would look for a property through a private owner. Try paruvendu.fr

[Boghound]

[quote]there are to many "Brits" over here as it is' ...Oh hey now Boghound, does that mean one of us already in France has to leave so you can retire here tresco[/quote]

You can if you want but considering I live here already...you may be wasting your time...although...yep..a good idea.

[Tresco]

Sorry Boghound, I misunderstood you, but I still don't understand how you can live here yourself and say what you did. 

tresco

[A New Life!]

Hi

I think some may have got the wrong impression,

In any country there will always be those who would like to give a foreigner a hard time, same in the UK right?

So on a personal level,  I as always will take people as I find them,  I've always had the view people are inherently good, given the opportunity! and those with attitude I can do without.

As for the Mayor and other depts, speaking french helps, even as little as I do currently, and as with all government depts there is procedure to follow, and they cannot just change it for us, if they take a dislike to us ! Knowing some of the procedures helps of course.

I spent the past few days visiting Hotel de Ville, Prefecture, College ( for my daughter  Chambre de Metiers, Chambre de Commerce etc and everyone was genuinely helpful and pleasant, maybe there are not too many of us around here

hope I dug myself out a little.

ps, the German crack was uncalled for, I apologise

 

 

 

[Boghound]

[quote]Sorry Boghound, I misunderstood you, but I still don't understand how you can live here yourself and say what you did. tresco[/quote]

Hey "T"..I would have thought, that by now, you would realise that I just like stiring the "pot" to relieve the boredom.

After sending my tax-form off again last week....and doing the same for the UK & the States...I'm just a bit cheesed-off with all the new freeloaders that come to live here and visit CPAM in the first week to claim for repeat perscriptions etc...if they know that they are ill or have a tribe of kids...stay in Britain...at least they might have contributed something to the welfare state there