Eric999

Hi,

We are Eric and Fiona and are currently living in Turkey. We retired here 3 years ago after holidaying here for several years. The gloss of living here has become a bit tarnished for several reasons, too many too discuss here, and we are looking at our options again. Our place is for sale here so any timescale on moving is dependent on the house selling.

France figures highly in our ‘review’ with the area around Carcassonne being an area we quite fancy after reading a lot about this area.

A few questions that we hope you guys can answer:

1. How far is it from the coast/nearest decent beach, time wise? What are the beaches like there?
2. How far is it from the nearest ski resorts and what are they like?
3. Is the weather warm enough in the summer to warrant a pool?
4. Is the local community welcoming of UK ex-pats?
5. Is it possible to live reasonably well on 2,500Eu pcm? (I know, how long is a piece of string )
6. Anything else you may want to advise us on greatly appreciated.

We look forward to your replies.

dennerlymum

hi there
we live in toulouse so cant help enormously, but Roger, who lives in the region that you are looking at, should be along shortly to help!
Good luck!

Roger O

What a good guess!!
OK here goes - for a start:

1. How far is it from the coast/nearest decent beach, time wise? What are the beaches like there?
About 40 minutes (via Narbonne). The coast from Gruissan
http://www.gruissan-mediterranee.com/en/
northwards is more or less one long beach interspersed by villages.The beaches themselves are more or less all flat (as is the immediate coast behind) and of fine sand. However, between Narbonne and the coast is a very interesting plateau called La Clape - worth exploring!!
Here's a picture - this area houses some special wine domaines!!
http://www.rivagebleu.co.uk/la_clape.htm
By the way, very near Carcassone is the Lac de la Cavayere (locally known as Carcassonne Plage) which is actually a reservoir, but has been built up as a leisure area. Quite popular with the locals!
http://www.barthegites.com/images/la...yere150x97.jpg
http://www.holiday-cottage-carcassonne.com/cavayere.htm

2. How far is it from the nearest ski resorts and what are they like?
About 1 1/2 hours - there are several of which Les Angles
http://www.lesangles.com/saison/index.php?lang=english
is very popular, as an example, but there are quite a few good ones.
(Despite having lived 24 years in Switzerland, I don't ski - I'm a rock climber!!)

3. Is the weather warm enough in the summer to warrant a pool?
Reckon on average about 3 months average for an unheated pool from June into early September. Hottish weather (30°C upwards July/August)

4. Is the local community welcoming of UK ex-pats?
The local community welcomes all nationalities. For its size of about 50,000 inhabitants, Carcassonne is one of the most cosmopolitan places in France! So far I have never come up against the slightest hostility. (I do speak very fluent French, though, with a southern touch!) Most Brits here tend to be rather "discreet" in that you never see crowds of them about. There is a small Best of British shop which caters for British food and books. There is also a popular Irish pub in town.

5. Is it possible to live reasonably well on 2,500Eu pcm?
If you're a couple with no young dependent children, yes.
Having said that, of course it will depend, to a certain extent on your house budget. Two local taxes apply anywhere in France - taxe d'habitation (based partly on your taxable income) and taxe fonçière (more or less equivalent to rateable value). In Carcassonne, this is quite high, but lower in most outlying villages - say within a circle of about 10km. From the point of view of "personal" taxes - e.g. income tax, this should be quite small. Let's say, at a rough guess, you should be left easily with more than 2,000 pm after tax (if you elect to pay by monthly bank debit as we do. Heating in winter is by far cheaper if you have a fire with "insert" and hot air conduits. Wood costs here about 60 euros per cubic metre known as a stère, or 240 per pile (say peel) which is 4 stères. We use roughly 1 pile per year. This winter which has been colder we will probably use some of our reserve stère before it's over!

6. Anything else you may want to advise us on greatly appreciated.
Shopping? There is a good selection of supermarkets, DIY and all kinds of stores around the periphery of Carcassonne.

For really big shopping days, try Toulouse (south) about 1 hour to the east by motorway. Pass you back to dennerlymum for more on that subject!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Don't hesitate to come back for more if you have specific questions..
Cheers,
Roger

dennerlymum

yep I can help there; though I mostly shop in the north of Toulouse; there is very good shopping in the south of toulouse, grouped into 2 zones, one at the SE and one at the SW! All major chains and needs catered for. In the centre of Toulouse there is a cinema showing films in version original (english).

Any more info just ask
Michele

Eric999

Thanks for the replies so far Roger.

Our kids are all grown up, just the 2 of us. My pension is a Fire Service pension paid into a UK bank and taxed at source. The figure to live on per month is after tax, do I have to pay French tax as well?

Roger O

Check the answer to the first question here:
http://www.frenchentree.com/fe-legal...e.asp?id=18970
Your's is a UK state pension taxed at source as I understand so it is not taxable in France. However, when you sell your place in Turkey and presumably buy a property in France, then if the price of the French property is substantially lower, you should check whether the difference might not be taxed as "impôt sur la fortune" - in other words wealth tax but I seriously doubt that. However, if, when you buy your French property, you pay "cash" in whatever form, you will be requested to furnish the source of that money - partly for tax evaluation purposes and partly to ensure it is from a legitimate source (e.g. not proceeds of money laundering, etc.)

I bought our house with the proceeds of a matured life insurance which, in France, is non taxable provided the period involved is 8 years or more.
I'm not sure how the difference between the sale price of a house outside France and the purchase price (assuming less!) of a house in France is regarded by the french tax authorities, but I'm sure there is someone on this forum who knows that!!

Tweedpipe

RogerO certainly gives a lot of useful information here - very helpful indeed.
Just a little point though. You say, "I do speak very fluent French....etc"

I know what fluent French is, but very fluent French has me guessing......

Roger O

What I would call about 85% toward being fully bilingual (including wide vocabulary). For example, it's very rare these days that I don't understand any particular word or term used in the daily news, analyses of current events, fiscal changes, whatever. If I do, I can ask my wife (bretonne).
If she doesn't understand it either, then I know it's probably something really technical (or medical) so I usually retain it and look it up. For example, I watched 3 episodes of Dr House yesterday evening - choosing French over the available VO on TF1 digital. I just have a "thing" for languages - I love learning them - at school I made up my own for use in my diary. I'm toying with the idea of learning Occitan.. haven't decided yet.

This evening, I'll watch "Mentalist" on TF1 in English as I like the nuances which are not well translated - also to relax as I have to drive to Montpellier tomorrow afternoon to pick up my wife Annaïck and daughter Alizée flying back on Easyjet (we don't use Mr O'Leary's "services" for a number of reasons!) from a week in London and it promises to be a hard drive from the weather forecast!!

Eric999

Thanks very much for the info Roger it has been very helpful. I'm sure that we will have plenty more questions as times goes on. We are hoping to drive around the area after Easter so maybe we could meet up for a vino or coffee if you are available.

Roger O

Certainly, with pleasure! When it comes nearer the time let me know the dates.

cyrian

Tax liability depends on residency status. If a UK citizen leaves the UK for France and lives there for more than 183 days per year then they could be tax resident in France. You can only be "tax resident" in one country at a time. Therefore if you make a "capital gain" on the sale of your property in Turkey then you would pay "capital gains tax" in Turkey. In that tax year, if you live more than 183 days in France then you would/could be liable for "Impots sur les plus-value" (Capital Gains Tax) if the french rate is higher than the turkish rate. The UK and France have reciprocal tax agreements so that you are not taxed twice i.e. you can deduct any tax paid in France from the same tax due in the UK and vice versa. Not sure about Turkey.
"Impots sur la fortune" is a tax that is applied on the "world wide" assets of a family where those assets exceed 750k ?? euros. It starts at a low level ~ 1% and increases in small steps.
Confused?? - Join the club
Cyrian

Ka Ora!

Dont forget if you reside in France and have any other earnings even if they are taxed at source in another EU country they have to be declared in France using the "Déclaration des revenus départ à l'étranger" form.

Section 2 deals with pensions received "Pensions retraites rentes"