[Closed] Retiring to France?

I vaguely know someone in the village, late 40s, recently took redundancy as a miner, no kids or ties, he's selling up and going over.

Keen cyclist as well, getting a place down south handy for some big riding.

So obviously worth considering

We've been thinking about it for a while. It seems to be an itch that needs scratching and we are getting closer and closer to doing it. The biggest issue we have to overcome is that its a one way ticket unless you can maintain a property in the UK and you have to accept that you are going to get old and stupid abroad. We've just picked up a handy guide published by The Connexion an expat newspaper - about 10 Euro for the download. As soon as we can pluck up the courage, we'll be off somewhere down the West Coast 🙂

Id think very carefully about the pros and cons particularly to the area you want to move to; what does Normandy offer that UK doesn't?

Euro may be weak but price of food etc have gone up a lot in France in the last few years. House prices are quite suppressed at the moment so potential bargains to be had though...certainly case in central Brittany from what we hear.

However, personally if i was considering it (again) Id consider renting as an initial step; lots of French rent, they seem less obsessed with house ownership compared to Brits

That's a good way of putting it jerseychaz, "an itch that needs scratching". We nearly bought there before we had children but one thing and another it didn't work out, so 20 years later heading over for our retirement looks like a good idea.

We are fortunate that we would retain a property in the UK, at least in the short term.

Thanks for the heads up to The Connexion, I'd not heard of that before.

Ian

Thinking about retiring abroad myself, but also a bit apprehensive about the idea of being old and sick a long way from family and friends. Sorry for the downer 🙁

a bit apprehensive about the idea of being old and sick a long way from family and friends.

Its a important consideration; my parents in law still live in France and my father in law has terminal cancer. The health care has been excellent (currently on an experimental drug costing £500 a pill!) but its very hard for them to be so far from their daughter/grandkids. Plus there's the worry of what will happen to my mother in law when the inevitable happens

Also thinking hard about this, but are a bit concerned about what will happen if we up and leave the EU after the election/referendum (if it happens). We already own some property over there so might have problems anyway 🙁

A good point to consider Crewlie, and it certainly has crossed my mind; but I'm not sure how likely EU exit is in my lifetime.

Obviously the health concerns are huge too but we are in pretty good health, and as I'm only 53 and Mrs BB is 47 we should have a fw good years left in us. I suppose if things did go badly we could move back as we will still have a UK base should we need it.

BB

:edit: I'll leave it...who likes hearing negatives after all

Hey Nuke, -ves are welcome. I'm looking at options so if you have had a bad experience that you want to share...........

BB

my parents had some issues with very old inheritance laws, but I don't recall the detail (possibly based around the property on death and succession laws). They were overhauled some years ago, but you should still have a look at them.

My boss retired to Normandy but from his description it didn't seem that appealing. I have thought about buying an apartment somewhere in the Alps but need to look into in a but more depth.

France is big. This means that

1) Any advice you get about "how things work in France" may not be applicable to the bit you end up in

2) It's easy to end up in an isolated location. This is only a problem if health issues see you taking regular trips to the nearest large hospital/nearest city to visit specialists, or if that easy DIY job leads to you making an emergency 2 hour round trip to the nearest DIY store to buy the single, essential, tiny nut/bolt/tool that you don't have

But it also means that there's a fabulous range of places to experience and some amazing people to meet.

Used to live in Normandy. Whereabouts are you looking?

I'm the world's number one Francophile and have lived and worked there for over three years but there's no way I would ever commit to living there permanently; France is goosed and heading for bigger problems and although I love the French as individuals I find French society cold and unwelcoming. As for buying an old farm and doing it up.... there's a reason why these old places are derelict.

I will probably do the same myself but as my fiancee is French that's quite obvious.

I have a few friends who have done it and some who are in the process. Pretty straight forward to do and it need not be a one way ticket, if you don't like it you can come back. Cost of living in France is lower and Normandy is an easy hop back to the UK.

There are of course many cultural differences, it pays to get to know the local mayor and other "dignatories" in the area as much read tape can be eased. Doing this generally means you need to speak decent French. French bureaucracy is unparalleled !

Both of my friends who have moved recently have gone to Brittany (they are both sailors) and bought properties to renovate. This can be a long frustrating and expensive process in France due to regulations and permissions (especially if property is considered architecturally important) and it's likely the property value won't increase that much. So you do it for the project not the profit.

So look around, the French economy is in free fall currently so you may find some bargains.

CFH, the location is near Bernay, in the Eure Dept.

Why not test the water by renting somewhere for say 6 months in the area you are interested in. Or buy a touring caravan and having a tour around.
I thought we would be retiring in Spain but 8 years into it my wife wanted to return here. Family and friends are a big pull to come back.
And whatever people say about the NHS its great compared to the shambles we encountered in Spain.
Its not a good situation when one partner wants to return and the other wants stay.

Ah, I see. Not an area I know well, sadly.

Normandy is ace, though, especially the coast North of Caen, Alencon and Suisse Normande. And the food.......!

Why's it a one-way ticket? My folks did it, came back...

There was a change in the healthcare rights of non-french retirees back in about 2009. Or at least there was an attempt to. Can't remember the details. We've (Mrs Mugsy is French but was in UK for about 15 years) been in France for 6 and a bit years now, Mini Mugsy moved with us when 6 months old, Micro was born in France.

Some valid words of warning above. It depends how much you are going to become part of the French society as to what your experiences will be and whether it works for you or not. The grass is not all greener, cost of living is very difficult to compare: the whole set up is completely different. Price of 2nd hand cars skyhigh, as is processed food in supermarkets and imported food.

What can I say: it's a different country. I have a different view (I don't work for a french company, nor do I work in France, apart from when I am working from home. ) to Mrs Mugsy who has experienced both UK and French industries. Some of it sucks. Some of it is sweet. We could never dream of having the house we have in France in the UK but and there are buts.

Several people I know have moved, renovated a lovely property, then thought - now what?

People are more important than places. If you have friends, stay here.
It's not easy to meet new people & interate after a certain age, so think carefully about what you are losing, as well as precisely what you want to gain.

Re health care...as I understand it, the French system will no longer allow early retirees (pre UK retirement age) access to their system until you have been resident for 5 years. You are required to take out insurance to cover your needs, but you are allowed some tax credit as you do not have to contribute to the state scheme.
However this has been challenged by the EU who state you should only need to be resident for 3 months to qualify. Basically it's a mess, and the more I have researched the messier it gets. 😐
There are also lots of horror stories around the insurance companies not covering long term illness/medication even if they develop after you've moved.
Despite all this we've still not ruled out moving over here.

People are more important than places. If you have friends, stay here.
It's not easy to meet new people & interate after a certain age, so think carefully about what you are losing, as well as precisely what you want to gain.

That's sound advice, and applies to anywhere, not just France. There's plenty of people who've emigrated to Oz (where I am) and not settled in because they didn't realise how important family & friends back home were to them until they didn't see them anymore. Me, I'm an antisocial b@stard - so it wasn't a problem 😉

Do it, learn French while you're there

It's a beautiful, diverse country

I've got friends who have lived there for 10 years, they have moved elsewhere now, but that was because of school problems with their two children

My mum also had a holiday place there for about 10 years

The bureaucracy is notorious, but keep calm and you'll get there

I'd love to live there. Plenty of exploring to do, learning the language, learning the customs. I'm a bit of a Francophile, but only after visiting there a lot because of my Mum's holiday home there

I'm still trying to work out how to get there on a more permanent basis...

I live in Spain & plan to retire here, no reason to move back to UK really. Biggest reason for expats moving back is failure to integrate - not just the language but eating, drinking, lifestyle etc.

Whatever you do don't sell up in UK, so many people become stranded in a foreign land. If you are financially independent you should be fine, best thing is keep a small place in UK so you can nip back when you want.

Also watch out for UK govt removing expats UK tax free allowance - I reckon it will go (I don't expect any sympathy here but its the law) & if you let yr UK house expect more taxes on this too.

Email in profile, hth, seen so many come & go I could have written a book.