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Everything you always wanted to know about France |
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This is newsletter number 97 about life, living in France and our personal experiences over the last 16 years bringing up our family in a French village.
Like most people who come to live in France, we came both to escape and to discover. Our dreams and plans were partley formed by memories of warm holidays and images from books, films and paintings of another time and place. Reality takes a long time to percolate through and, although quite different from our expectations, the discovery of our "Real France" has been exciting and rewarding. It is often easier to start a new voyage than to finish one already started. There are over 1,000 articles in our archives at... http://francevoila.com/archives/ http://francevoila.com/archives/ Our holiday/vacation rental site is at... http://rentalsfrance.com/ http://rentalsfrance.com/ we advertise holiday villa and gite rentals in most parts of France, established in 1998 we are one of the most prominent and successful villa rentals sites on the Internet - and aim to stay that way. Do browse through our websites and please use the advertising links. ======= In this newsletter... 1. Climb too High and all You See Are the Clouds 2. Capital gains Tax Calculator 3. Don't Buy euro From Your Bank - You Can Be a Currency Trader 4. Ask me Another One 5. And Still They Come 6. Child Benefit, Social Charges and Working in France 7. A 24/7 Emergency Help Line in Five Languages 8. Investing In French Property ======= 1. Climb too High and all You See Are the Clouds Tony I enjoy your newsletters very much but my feelings are tinged with regret. I feel I have certainly missed the boat - a female divorcee in my fifties. My husband never had the same enthusiasm as I did for the idea of living in France. Now I find myself with far less money, a house not worth much at all but I do have a reasonable (not particularly secure) job and plenty of work experience such as teaching, business development, writing ... What do you think are the chances of someone like me being able to find a niche in France? Would you in all honesty advise someone to still hold the dream given rising house prices in France and so on? Pauline == Pauline Have no regrets, another boat will be a long in a minute. Forget what you had, or thought you had, yesterday - take stock of what you have today. There are plenty of "niches" to find - but will you be comfortable in the one you choose? A tiny French village with just a boulangerie and cheap wine in the cafe sounds wonderful - the reality is usually an uncomfortable experience for a foreigner to adapt to - and the cafe wine is never cheap and always very bad. Find a village full of ex-pats and you are approaching my personal idea of a nightmare not a dream (braying, boasting, bonking and barbecues). Apart from the weather, (bright sunshine today along the Mediterranean where we are, snow in London I am told ) what is it you are looking for in France as opposed to where you live now? At some point you made the choice to be where you are today - simply moving your location does not make a dream come true - but it can seem to work for a while. Without knowing your personal details, family, friends etc - I cannot advise you. Some simple facts may help... - getting a job here, even with fluent French is next to impossible - without fluent French is totally impossible. - property prices are slightly lower than in the UK, it is very difficult comparing like-with-like, a 3 bed bungalow in a Norfolk village is about the same price as a similar property in a Languedoc village - an executive house in Bracknell is about the same price as an executive house in Montpellier. - wherever you are you will always be a "foreigner" - the French are friendly and polite, but highly insular and chauvinistic. You are talking about changing your life, but just moving a few hundred miles will not necessarily do that - and being immersed in a local French society is likely to generate more introspection and loneliness than a more familiar UK environment. So - take stock of yourself, decide what ties you to your present lifestyle and make a decision based on your answers. Look - here comes another boat - but do you really want to get on board. Tony ======= 2. Capital gains Tax Calculator Hi Tony, I am a subscriber to your newsletter. I recall a few months ago that you included a link to a very useful capital gains tax calculator. As I am about to sell my house in the Herault (I may well be using your services) I'd like to find this calculator. I've tried looking on your websites but i can't find a link anywhere. Can you help? Thanks in advance. Tony == Hi Yes, we are working on a lot of property sales initiatives - you can get to the calculator from... http://1stpropertysales.com/ http://1stpropertysales.com/ Best wishes Tony ======= 3. Don't Buy euro From Your Bank - You can Be a Currency Trader And definitely do not buy any currency from the foreign exchange shops in the high road or through travel agents. With a little care the rate of exchange you can get can be much better, it is safe, secure and simple, takes 10 minutes and can save you a lot of money. To read the rest of this article, please go to http://www.fblog.com/?q=node/view/126 Best Currency Deals ======= 4. Ask me Another One Tony We are in the process of buying a property in Normandy, which we will be spending the next couple of years renovating. Our aim is to move out to France when it is finished to live, so we are thinking about what careers we would like to do out there. I am considering estate agents, but would like to know how I would go about being one. Are you able to give me any advice on this matter? And also any advice on our forthcoming project of renovation. Tammy == Hello Tammy My honest and sincere advice from 17 years of experience working in living in France is. Don't. Don't take on a restoration project with an old French property and don't expect to be able to earn a living by working in France. To be an estate-agent requires special qualifications, several years local proven experience, money for insurances and a lot of luck. When we moved to this area there were 5 estate-agents in Pezenas - at the last count there were over 30 - many are failing. Being self employed is not simple, you have to register and this means paying a penalty tax before you earn a penny - do not register and you are a criminal and so is anyone employing you. Social and fixed charges will be a minimum of 5,000 euro a year and always accounts for half your income - this is before income tax on any profit left. Renovation invariably costs more than building a new property - Often up to 15 times as much and you end up with an inferior and inconvenient property. Rustic charm, historical stones and wonderful views are no substitute for efficient central heating, reliable services and dust free comfort. Visit the old interesting stuff and come home to lots of hot water, insect free rooms and no drafts. There are no jobs, even if you are French, unemployment is very high - if you are not French you will not be offered employment even if you are completely fluent. Everything is possible, but I have yet to hear of a real, legal, success story from an ex-pat in France - great place to visit and retire to if you have income - weather in some parts of the south is good - food healthy but rather boring - health services are fantastic - education good up to the age of 13 - poor and restrictive after that. But France is not the place for enterprise and entrepreneurial ambitions - quite the opposite. Bonne Chance Tony ======= 5. And Still They Come Hi Tony I am quite interested to see what Poitou Charente is like and perhaps Limousin - why do people not like Limousin, is it horrible? I know what you mean about trying to get info - the books do not answer the questions I want and are all the same. As well as some of the estate agents. Is it not worth buying an old place - (not just a barn) - but perhaps an old cottage and renovating it then - we would do most of the work ourselves hopefully. We want it to come to for holidays. Thanks for your time - I am sure you are busy. I will sort out visiting Poitou Charente etc. to see what the area is really like and what the state/size of the properties are. A Bientot - June == Hi June Perhaps what is attractive is coming to France with the (moderately) liberal and open upbringing of an average UK resident and living in an introspective, private and intimidated community, it is possible to get - "the best of both worlds" - add to this a disciplined (although partly stifling) educational system, excellent health care and a state run by the army (Gendarmes are part of the French armed forces and you must never forget this) and it - at the present time - is a secure, healthy and comfortable environment. The Brits grouping together is normal behavior for most minorities anywhere, for many people it would be too scary without familiar things around - the fact that you can now get Marmite, Peanut Butter and Weetabix in local supermarkets (none of which most French people would eat in a year of Sundays) proves this. However, things are changing, even the most pro-British Mayor I know is complaining that the English are pushing up property prices now so that French people cannot afford them. Bonne Chance Tony ======= 6. Child Benefit, Social Charges and Working in France Hi Tony - thank you for a very helpful newsletter. We are hoping to find a home in France in the next few months - my daughter wants to know what 'child benefits' there are in France. I'd like to know how difficult it is (ie is planning permission required etc) to set up small home based businesses, like providing private dinner parties, accommodation, riding holidays, trekking etc, guitar lessons (yes we plan to be diverse!!). Any advice you have would be much appreciated. Best Regards Vivien == Hello Vivien Child benefit is very fair in France, by digging deep, you can find our more on the official site at http://www.service-public.fr/ Starting any business or home enterprise is not simple. You have to register every activity at the Chambres des Commerces and as an individual also at the Chambres des Metiers - as soon as you do this then URSSAF will demand payments costing from 300 euro to 1000 euro a month for your social security - you will also be liable for other taxes based on turnover (not profit). The cost of having a business is therefore about 6000 euro a year then you will pay charges on top of about 50% of your turnover (again not profit) on top of that you have to pay income tax, although few people have enough left so most do not pay tax. There is 20.6% VAT on just about everything, no threshold and very few exemptions. You cannot operate anything to do with catering without special permits, and vacation accommodation, unless it is you own personal property, needs an Estate agents or Travel agent licence and special insurance - expensive and difficult to get. Riding Holidays and guitar lessons seem OK - you will need heavy insurance for the horses - and if you are taking money for the guitar lessons then you are faced with the URSSAF and tax liabilities before you start. To get child benefit you have to register. Operate anything outside of the system and your risk "denonciation" and an inquisition where every penny put into your bank account - or "assessed" as having been earnt will be taxed. Nearly every self employed person in France has to break these laws - it is a national pastime - if they didn't they could not survive - but foreigners do so at their peril. Having said that - the weather and health-service are great. best wishes Tony == Hi Tony - Thank you very much for the valuable info. With regard to URSSAF - don't understand, do you mean that if we are on social security they will ask for a refund of payments pending possible other income? At this point in time we had no intention of claiming social security. We want to go to France to work! Same as we have here in Ireland. Are there no business incentives whatsoever in France, no encouragement for individual entrepreneurs? We expect to get taxed, and will be engaging the services of an accountant, which we know from experience is important. I do expect to have to meet hygiene regulations etc with regard to catering for people. In England there is a mandatory hygiene certificate that must be held by anyone who caters for the public(even ladies in village halls!). I already have that. The horses are show ponies, and already insured, but I guess public indemnity will have to be put in place for all activities. The guitar lessons: we'll be running day Master Classes initially, perhaps in local hotels etc. Is it all as black as it sounds from your e-mail? Do we have a chance of making it? Regards Viv == Hi Viv Well - umm - yes - well perhaps not quite as black as I |