Annual upkeep costs for French Property ?

[fuzioneer]

Wife and I are looking into buying a french property, but we know nothing of the annual upkeep costs, i.e. in the UK we have

electric bill,
gas bill,
water rates,
council tax
phone bill

What is a very approximate breakdown of the french equivalents and any other taxes/bills that are paid in France ?

[JohnM]

It will be very difficult to give you any useful information until you know the location, what sort of heating you have, how long you intend being there, i.e holiday home or main house.

Tax d'habitation and foncierre (I am sure I'll get told off for my spelling) are the equivalent of Council Tax. In the Savoie I pay about half what I pay in Wiltshire.

Electricty is more expensive unit per unit

Wood Heating is cheaper than bottled gas or electricty. Solar power even better!

Telephone, will you be phoning back to the UK regularly or just use it for local calls? That will affect the price.

To be on the safe side, I'd guess the same as the UK, then add on a contingency of 20%. With a bit of luck you will come in under budget!

 

[Val_2]

Until you have bought a property in France, no one can really tell you what you will expect to pay because everything depends on that house and it's size.

Size of property denotes on how much Taxe d'Habitation you pay, i.e. the more rooms the higher the tax. If you are resident over 65 or it may be 70 now and have previously submitted tax returns in France you may eligible for non-payment of this tax.

Taxe Foncières is payable on all property and is the commune charge which in turn pays for drainage,education,street lighting etc.

Electricity. Is dearer in France and many people run their heating on it as a secondary backup to a real fire or stove. Bear in mind too, that you heat your water by chauffe-eau,a large water tank which heats up over night on the special tariff and provides hot water all next day, these usually take upto 8 hours to heat right up. There are no tanks in loft systems here, all mains pressure. For residents, bills arrive every two months.

Water. Is metered on the property in France and you get two bills per year.

Gas. Piped gas only in the large towns and cities. Elsewhere you have to rely on bottled Butane or Propane. Again depends on your needs as to cost and whether to install a large reservoir tank in the garden. Refill bottles of Butane are about 23€ currently.

Phones. Again depends on personal needs. There are so many different schemes and tariffs to suit all needs.

Don't forget other costs like emptying your septic tank if you have one, if old property, then continual maintenance eats into your money. Buying in a store of wood for winter heating. Costs of getting to the nearest shops if you live in the sticks and one of the most important things - Health insurance and mutuelle insurance top up. You will also have to insure and possibly re-register your car in France or replace with a french model.

As you can see, there is no definitive answer and different depts of France have different needs. e.g. Teamed Up in the mountains burns a great deal of winter wood thus a great expense every few months and in other places, you may need to get air conditioning installed or a swimming pool.  Search some of the archives but be aware that living in France on a day to day basis is not cheap anymore and currently petrol and diesel are the highest I have seen them in 15 years.

[suein56]

**Refill bottles of Butane are about 23€ currently

Val 2

Which size of butane would that be?

We pay about the same (£16.50 equivalent) here in the Uk for the 19kg bottle which sits outside and use it for the hob and oven so would be interested to know how that compares to France.

Sue