Blame those house in sun type programmes who make leaving the UK sound like moving up the road. People are easily seduced by promises that in reality are nothing like what it will be like, huge properties for a lot less than they can buy now in the UK and always the phrase of sitting in the sun with a glass of wine. I live in the poorest dept of SW and there would be no chance of getting any work unless you are well qualified and fluent in the language and then probably competing against locals who are first placed now because UK nationals are third country citizens and less important. I agree about the renting thing, saves a lot of upset and upheaval if things donât work out.
Iâve had a place here 20 years and come and go. Irish passport and french passport for the dog. Enjoy socialising here but donât need to work. Amazed at the people who have landed here and really struggled. After a while they try to get benefits here.
Why didnât they stay at home? They usually end up going back to live on benefits as itâs a better standard of living than they had here.
They also try to borrow money of people they hardly know. Very sad.
They should make a one hour programme about it and show it straight after place in the sun.
In contrast to all this, I know Brits who came out as young families because they wanted a better quality of life, especially for their children. They struggled yes, but now are thriving, with French sons /daughters in law, grandchildren who are more French than British, adult children who are engineers, project managers, stone masons, musicians.
Their lives are rich and fulfilled and yes there may be some tinges of regret if âgrannyâ is still in the UK, but itâs all been worth it.
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Thank you for your thoughts and help with our reality check. We have got to a point in our career that we are rather burnt out from our employments in the UK, not too much with the nature of the jobs, but just everything else that come with it has become more and more daunting. many of our colleagues have packed up and moved on to something completely different, for example my husbandâs teacher friend (a graduate from top uni, and a really good teacher and HoD from an outstanding secondary, teacher of my children in fact) has been reducing his hours in school and taking on training to become an electrician as his exit plan, we find it quite aspiring.
Moving to France has been our family dream for a long time, as it is our favourite holiday destination. Our teenage children are keen for the relocation plan and quite good in their French language learning, but not confident to study their university degrees in French speaking institutes, so we still need to factor in how to support their expensive university cost in the UK.
Our plan is to get a cheaper habitable property in SW France as our starting point without selling up in the UK, and travel back and forth to pickup some supply teaching and bank/agency nursing shifts in the UK as a source of income. We should learn the French language better if we spend more substantial time living there, and having a small base there to start with will help us to navigate the French system, explore the area, and ultimately find somewhere to settle permanently.
So grateful for this forum, it really opens up a lot of extra aspects and realities that we need to take into account.
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We havenât explored the rental options at all. Are there any significant differences in the rental market/tenancy regulations between the UK and France?
You should definitely watch the replay of the rental webinar hosted by @fabien a couple of weeks back. Loads of useful info on there!
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Huge! Mainly to the benefit of the tenants which is good. But can make it a hurdle to find a rental with no French job and no French track record. But doable with a bit of effort.
We shuttled back and forth for many years - work, elderly parents etc. And it is tough, we found being split between two homes seemed to mean we missed out on everything as we were never in the right place at the right time. And neither was the book, the jacket, or the pair of shoes we wanted at anypoint in time.
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You might find this reassuring
https://www.campusfrance.org/fr/en-france-on-peut-aussi-etudier-en-anglais
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Is there a link to his webinar?
Look at the icon on the top banner
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You are so right about the âsplitâ. Initially, we were considering somewhere in Normandie, as itâs only a ferry away from elderly parents, but considering the climate is not much dissimilar to the south coast of England, it defeats the main point of moving to France. Anyway, much to think about
After umpteen years in the other sied of France we are considering moving to Normandie now! The changes in weather in the last 20 years have completely changed how we feel!
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We were one of those young families who upped sticks and came, albeit already owning our house here mortgage-free and yes, a success was made of it as there was no choice but to work hard, get the kids through the entire education system and hopefully make a good future. Fate had other ideas for us, OH was taken fairly young,but that experience only resolved me and my children to carry on his dream and here we are, two french granchildren he would have loved but carry his name.
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I know nothing at all about UK property rental as have been away over 30 plus years now but it is quite strict here in France in that you can be evicted outside the winter trĂȘve very quick, you may need to provide proof you are a french tax resident as an avis was alway demanded but I suggest you do some investigation especially as you will be needing a post brexit visa to live here.
One way round the otherwise good rental advice is what we did. Bring a caravan and live on a local site for our holidays, which were frequent, at least 5 times a year. So much so that we very soon left the caravan here, no problem with that kind of rental, and collected it while paying the bill, on our way to the local site.
Took us less than 3 years to decide to buy, and here, 25 years later, we still are.
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I heard the heat can be quite extreme in recent years in South France. Which department do you live at the moment?
Doesnât sound very straightforwardâŠ
In the Jura. One of our priorities was no or few second homes as we wanted a stable year round community.
We havenât remotely regretted our move to Normandy (Seine Maritime) from a climate point of view. You rarely get the temperature extremes here, and the resulting mild temperate climate suits us both.The other side of the coin is of course the frequent rain, or as our vet said last week, looking out at the drizzle, âthis is Normandy sunâ.
Climate has changed even here. Our elderly farming neighbour had to regularly wade through snow to get to school when he was young - snow is now quite rare.The local Office National des ForĂȘts predicts there will be no beech trees at all in either Normandy or Southern England within 25 years, as the mild, damp climate which the great beech forests thrive in, changes even here.
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What is it about the changes in your local weather Jane thatâs driving you west? Am I going to be the only one left languishing here in the east?
Iâm very rude about Strasbourg but I love it really.