Moving to France?

[Nick69]

I am considering moving to France in the next 5 years.
I know some of you are already over there and wondered if anyone can offer the juicy details of whats involved?

My wife and I and our 2 dogs and cat.

On a side note my folks are also thinking about it too

Thanks
Nick

[Brij]

Are you all of British nationality?

For people, it is fairly simple - especially if none of you are drawing a state pension. You can probably google up all the necessary advice pretty sharpish. Are you going to buy or rent? You will need to look up the paperwork to open a French bank account, that is very important. Do you have any idea what region you'd like to move to?

For pets, it is more difficult, and you will need to do things quite far in advance - an anti-rabies injection is one of the mandatory requirements, and that must be done at least 6 months before the date of travel, I think. If any of your pets are registered with a vet, I would ask them.

[Nick69]

Hi there,

We would all be buying property outright. We would all be British, our pets all have Pet Passports.

As far as region goes, we were looking at Brittany.

[Brij]

Are you looking at buying through an agency? They will be able to inform you of any protocol.

I found this good article in the Times : http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/money/ ... 007950.ece which might be helpful.

You will also need to announce your arrival with your local authority in France - I'm not sure of the specifics, but the local mairie is usually the place that sort of thing is done, and if not, they will be able to advise you of where to go. Their details should be online and I would imagine it would be best to call in advance once you have chosen your property.

It's also a good idea to get together with the neighbours. If you will be living in a town, drop invitations to an early evening drinks at your house to a dozen local properties, if you are in the countryside, maybe you could bake some English biscuits to drop in on your neighbours "just to say hi". As expats it will make it easier to make friends, and you can then ask for advice on the best value local supermarkets, brasseries or rubbish collection days.

I get the impression that a fair few foreigners settle in Brittany, so I would imagine that it shouldn't be too difficult.

[Graye]

You would need to look into health care provisions. You will not be able to qualify for treatment under the French health service and would need to take out some private cover.

I think you'll find there are no problems bringing pets INTO France but you need to look into rabies jabs, pet passports etc if you want to take them back in to the UK. If they all have pet passports laready it won't be a problem though.

[Jandra]

I suppose you already speak French well enough to buy a house from a French agency, do negociations etc? If not, learning French would be my first course of action. I think that not knowing the local language well enough is a sure recipe of being deceived when buying property and later on, un-integrated unhappiness.
When buying, make sure the property has no asbestos (have it taken into writing that it'll be safely removed payed by the seller or whatever is legal and workable in France). Asbestos isn't treated with the care and safety measures it should in some parts of Europe.

Exciting plans, emigration to France. We'll be moving to Germany (from the Netherlands) soon and my husband is watching German TV each night to polish up his command of the language.

Good luck, Jandra

[Millymollymandy]

Have a read through some of the French forums, not just the forum bit but the information pages. There's an awful lot involved in moving to another country! The very first thing to think about is how you are going to earn a living if you are not retired as it is not easy to find a job in France even if you are fluent in French, and starting your own business involves a lot of bureaucracy and is very costly. From reading forums it seems that most people living here and working are a lot poorer than they used to be in the UK or wherever, also if you are relying on a pension or money from the UK you need to take into acount the exchange rate fluctuations. Be aware that food and toiletries cost a lot more in France and it is not a cheap country and the cost of living is probably pretty much the same as the UK overall.

When buying a house expect it to be a lot worse than it sounds in the blurb about it because estate agents in France call EVERYTHING 'bon etat' (good state) even if it is falling down!

http://brittany.angloinfo.com/

http://www.totalfrance.com/france/forum/index.php

[Nick69]

Many thanks for the links I shall have a look.