Personally I’d go for it though I would definitely keep your options open by retaining property in UK - I made that mistake once back in the 80s and it was an expensive lesson!
We’re on the point of buying a place in the Charente Maritime to use as a holiday home for the next few years then either moving over to France full time (the original plan) or dividing the year between France and the UK depending on what Brexit actually means.
We’ve no intention of changing our plans but if it means that we need the UK property to live in we can’t rent it out and that will affect out income: we live fairly simply but to aid planning I’d be very interested in contributor’s views on what it actually costs to live in this area of France assuming no mortgage and ignoring taxe fonciere/habitation
You appear to be in a fairly enviable financial position if you can afford to buy in the Charente Maritime and keep a house in the U.K. Most people are not in a position to do that. For others the move to France meant a break with the UK.
The original questioner was proposing something very similar but with two properties in the UK. From my perspective if we are obliged by visa restrictions to only live part of the year in France that precludes renting the UK property out which both reduces income and increases costs. I don’t doubt we’ll find a way as we’ve spent half our lives living in countries with much more stringent visa conditions but it does make budgeting more important hence my question
With respect Roma, speaking as someone who lives in France, and spouse and I voting ‘Leave’, we took the stance that this crucial vote needed to be well thought out, and we had the time to do since referendum announcement early 2013. We also considered that this crucial vote was for what was considered the good of UK, certainly not us ex-pats, going into the future. As we still have a property in UK used by family that we care deeply about, and other loved ones, we also considered we had a right to exercise that free ‘one person, one vote’ in whichever manner we chose after serious weighing up of issues, likely outcomes, the ‘turkey voting for Xmas’ possibility for us, etc.
We have since been lectured to by ‘Remoaners’ at how ‘stupid’ we were to have drawn such conclusions, but also finding most of these same folks did not put in anywhere near the time and thought we did into their decision, them mainly voting for the status quo and in self interest Anyone who lives or has very good knowledge of, eg, the North and Wales should not be surprised at the outcome of the vote. To us the surprise is the majority wasn’t higher, but we put the ‘Fear’ campaign factor down to that…
I would say that it’s very early days. In the years we have enjoyed here we have known the rate of exchange go between 1.48 to pound, and 1.01 to pound. If all that is putting you off is what you perceive as the poor rate of exchange at the moment, better to find out now! I sincerely believe that for as long as the remain voters stay in denial and try every which way to overthrow this democratic vote, the EU will feast on that uncertainty and use it to harm the exit negotiations. Perhaps if they can be persuaded to accept that it took us 40 plus years to be at this awful junction of useless EU since the vote didn’t go my way in 1974, and will take more than 5 minutes to re-charge the UK to be the best it can be, we can all see the future more brightly. You may even come to see and be confident that the move here you wished for can still be on the cards, provided there’s the realisation that living here costs us more than the UK overall. Otherwise I’m told it really is much cheaper to live on the Costas?
I really don’t under the living costs more in France stance. For me it certainly doesn’t and I will be very surprised if that changes in the near future with the forecast inflation and exchange rates for the UK. You are entitled to your opinion but I find your attitude arrogant.
I am sorry David, I will never agree leaving Europe was a good idea. I did do a lot of research but instinctivelyi am in favour of free movement of people and I love Europe and being eoropean. There is nothing about Brexit that is good and the increase in hate and vitriol in Britain is testament to that.
Please listen to James O’Brian here, he has used material used in the court case today re parliamentary sovereignty to make his point. It is interesting.
David, I have only just seen your comments so apologise for the delay in responding.
I live in Wales and have done so for 17 years. We also have a property in France and are planning on moving there permanently (or at least as permanently as Brexit allows) in December. I was not surprised by the outcome of the vote - I was astounded. Here in Wales we benefit from EU membership by receiving far more funds (£658m in 2014) from the EU than we pay in (£414m), and many projects (such as road safety improvements, a high end University research centre, a brain research and imaging centre - there are dozens and dozens more) are therefore able to go ahead which otherwise would never see the light of day. It’s now unlikely that some projects will be started because they were part of the tranche of funding from 2017 to 2020. Welsh farmers (16,000 of them) receive subsidies (£200m a year) which, some tell me, enables them to continue farming; without them, many fear they will have to give up. A GP acquaintance told me she is worried that we will no longer be included in EU funded medical research, where many countries pool their expertise and knowledge.West Wales and the Valleys are categorised as “less developed regions” (GDP less than 75% EU average) so qualify for EU funding. I seriously doubt that funding will continue post Brexit. The region became “less developed” as a result of not receiving funding in the past, and I am far from convinced that there will be any money in the budget for Wales in the likely future economic climate.
So, surprised no. Shocked and horrified - oh yes! As for France being more expensive than the UK, here in Wales, prices of food and fuel are much higher than in other parts of the UK, so I doubt I will be so very much worse off.
David I am not sure why you are living in France!
You could possibly be better off in UK where everything will probably
be going your way…eventually when this messy Brexit is resolved.
Or perhaps the Costas…as it appeals to you!
i voted for you to stick to your original plan. Move over in 2020 (assuming that things haven’t changed too muchand make this too difficult)
You already own a property - so are a step ahead of others wishing to move/purchase in France.
I planned to buy in France and live between there and UK- not retirement age yet, and have teenage children (who are old enough to look after themselves for weeks at a time!) But am very uncertain now. It’s a big step to take for us.
Fingers crossed that things stay pretty much the same though - and for a better rate of exchange for £ sterling!
If it ever happens, I think Brexit will mean a line being drawn in the sand: all those already resident will retain their rights but have formalities to complete (carte de séjour or similar) but that it will be more difficult to move to france after Brexit, especially a hard brexit which may mean visas for residency, or just having a holiday home but not having the right to be resident. I think it depends what people have as their end goal and appreciate that every individual situation is different
Take his comments with a pinch of salt. There are people who have different goals to yourself; people who have decided to move back to the UK perhaps keeping a small holiday home in France. For these people Brexit is a great platform to crow about their superiority, to link their plans to a major change that they can claim they saw coming when in fact the two things are completely unconnected.
No 2 people think the same!
Not sure about superiority but possibly just not looking at the bigger picture…
that is where I will put it for now.
Can one or 2 of you give me some idea of what has been achieved by Brexit…
positive achievements please.
If the Brexit result is a shock to you and if you are not keen on the mentality that brought about the Brexit result, I’d wait until after the next French election. After the Brexit result, I was determined to get dual nationality (I am entitled to), however, I then thought it out and there is a horror lurking in the French darkness and that horror is Marine Le Pen. She could do more damage than Brexit has. If she were to win (unlikely, but so was Brexit and Trump), and if she pulled France from Europe, as she wants to (unlikely but, as before), it would probably destroy Europe. Germany could not handle it alone and who else? At this frightening moment in history, we are not being controlled by thought out, cogent, arguments, we are being controlled by a majority who have not had the same education and who, for some unknown (to me) reason, need to hate and to be alone. An island mentality is truly a pathetic thing.
Oh please, not that lazy and formulistic response as to why people voted for leaving the EU (not for leaving Europe, by the way)…I suggest you look at the education of, eg, Jacob Rees-Mogg before drubbing people that you have no knowledge of, as to their motives, beliefs, education, political stance, etc. After an excellent grammar education I attended Cambridge…Does that pass your muster, perhaps?
Was that addressed to me, David? It may be predictable ( I have said elsewhere here that I was at Cambridge, as were others, so it seems a natural question to ask)… but what’s intrusive about it? I was at King’s from '83 to '87, hence the interest as we share an alma mater and may even share acquaintances.
I don’t know what you read and as there’s no picture of you I have no idea what age you may be, but for all I know I may have drunk my hot chocolate sitting next to you in the buttery on the Sidgwick site. Or not.
Joined the conversation a little late…moving to France had been on my agenda for 15 years. Post divorce with a year of thinking, followed by a year of planning which also involved much encouragement and deterrent in equal measure…here I am. Made every effort to arrive before the referendum ‘just in cases’. Now what? Live everyday in the moment. Who knows how things will change. One thing is for certain…I’ve learned to expect the unexpected given the experiences during the last 12 months or so. In essence, yes I’d still move/did move.
