Retiring to France

[Amymarria]

Sorry about posting on the Earning A Living in France forum but I was not sure where to ask this question.  My husband and myself are considering retiring to France.  We would both have a work pension - not vast but not too bad either.  I assume we would still be eligible for our British retirement pension as we have paid into this.  Anyone who has retired to France like to share experiences?  Any advice gratefully received.  

[BJSLIV]

You will still get whatever your UK entitlements are if you move to France. You will also receive any inflation increases to your pension.

If you have already received any Winter Fuel Payment before you move, then you will continue to receive it even after your move to France. If you have not received any WFP then you will not get any while you are in France.

[Amymarria]

Thank you for your helpful reply.  I am just wondering how people have found the experience of living in France once they are retired. Is it harder to integrate than for working people?  I am also a little concerned about moving so far from family but travel is so easy nowadays it is much easier to get to family if a problem arises so I am thinking it would be OK. We spend many holidays in France but living there will be very different.  My husband is very keen but I am a little bit more cautious.  Anybody got any thoughts on this?

[Patf]

You need to think carefully about the type of area you want to live in eg town village or country? If country, are you prepared to keep possibly 2 vehicles on the road? Do you need near neighbours? Do you want to be in an area with lots of british people? What standard is your french language? (Very important.) Do you want to be near mountains, or sea?  Etc etc. We are retired and have changed our views about some of these things since being here. Being near airports is important too. Pat.

[Anton Redman]

Relatively low house price inflation and the comparatively huge fees for propertty transfer mean you need to chose very carefully before you buy a house. Unlike the UK renting firtst may be a good idea.

[Amymarria]

Thank you Patf and Anton.  Our french is fairly good and we are working on improving it.  Do not particularly want to live where there are lots of Brits and would really prefer the outskirts of a small town to the country.  My husband will retire in the summer as he can get his work pension then in full but I will be continuing to work for at least a year and maybe two so we are really at the beginning of our thinking about this move.

[cooperlola]

We love it but I think it takes a certain kind of person.  Have a look at a thread called something like "Why are so many moving back".  (Use the search box above right.)  It is not for everybody, that is for sure.  If you are coming to escape something you dislike about the UK then think  again - you'll find something here to irritate you equally.  If you want to come here because you love France, then you'll probably make it.  We've found joining local groups such as walkers etc has really helped us to meet the locals.  Join in.  We find gatherings are much more intimate and on a few couples at a time for dinner kind of basis (apart from the annual dinners of local societies etc.)  Say hello to everybody, join in with whatever you can and don't be shy!  France is a group of diverse individuals like everywhere else. Some you'll like, some you won't.

[Amymarria]

cooperlola - thanks for your reply.  We are really considering it not because we are fed up with life in the uk but because we love France and think we would enjoy living there. There is a downside to everywhere and you have to accept that. Our family are very scattered so we feel we are free to go where we want to as anywhere we go will be far away from some family members.  I think we will probably spend more of our holiday times over the next year visiting areas of France we would consider living in and looking at them more from a residents point of view than from a holiday makers point of view. Also just getting a feel for the type of property we could afford. Where in France ar you located, if you don't mind me asking?

[Amymarria]

Sorry - just realised that it says where you live in the name posting part of posts - for those already living in France.

[cooperlola]

I just had a very quick look at this

http://www.immobilier.notaires.fr/

and there are 30 pages of detached houses between 90 and 150,000 euros in the Sarthe.  You can obviously have a closer look yourself but I thought it might help to give you an idea.  Obviously, the site covers all the regions of France so it's useful.  Buying through a Notaire can be cheaper but the pitalls can be the same!

[chessfou]

[quote]Unlike the UK renting firtst may be a good idea.[/quote]

Eh? Yes, renting is an excellent idea (as it is in the UK, at least if you can afford an expensive place - we were paying much less to rent than it would have cost to buy after we sold our last house in the UK and rented there for a while before moving here - our landlord was making about 3-3.5% p.a. gross!, i.e. nothing like enough to cover even an IO mortgage).

The difference, surely, between renting in the UK and in France is that in the UK it is very difficult to find a "long let" (something measured in years) whereas here in France the shortest legal let (barring some very specific circumstances) is three years (and generally renewable indefinitely), even though the tenant always has a simple opt-out of three months' notice.

[cooperlola]

Friends of mine are renting near here.  They were all for buying straight away but I talked them out of it!  (To be fair, I was not entirely sure that they would enjoy living here as much as they thought they would.)  After 6 months in their little rented house, they have in fact decided not to buy at all as their landlords are delightful and are spending quite a bit of money on improving the place all the time (they had renovated it but have added lots of extras since.)  The rent is very reasonable too.  They have been quite open about the fact that they may be there for many years and this is not viewed as a problem by the landlord as it might be in the UK.  It seems a very good option to me.

[chessfou]

[quote]They have been quite open about the fact that they may be there for

many years and this is not viewed as a problem by the landlord as it

might be in the UK.[cooperlola][/quote]

I think that comes close to hitting the nail on the head - in the UK many landlords seem to view tenants as a necessary evil that has to be endured to get the BTL mortgage paid, so that the landlord can eventually make a large capital gain. In France, properties tend to be rented out in order to provide an income for the landlord and security of income is appreciated (of course, the automatic annual  increase in rent - determined by law is helpful to French landlords in this respect).

[cooperlola]

[quote user="chessfou"][quote]They have been quite open about the fact that they may be there for many years and this is not viewed as a problem by the landlord as it might be in the UK.[cooperlola][/quote]

I think that comes close to hitting the nail on the head - in the UK many landlords seem to view tenants as a necessary evil that has to be endured to get the BTL mortgage paid, so that the landlord can eventually make a large capital gain. In France, properties tend to be rented out in order to provide an income for the landlord and security of income is appreciated (of course, the automatic annual  increase in rent - determined by law is helpful to French landlords in this respect).
[/quote]Perhaps Chessfou,  it might also give a little clue as to why some Brits who rent out properties over here, have so many problems with the French laws as regards tennants.  They seem upset by the fact that tennants have so many rights under the law. As a renter, this is another plus point.