BritinHK

Hi,
Husband & I are now in a position to start thinking about our retirement plans. We would preferably like to buy a place in France (Dordogne) with a garden (not huge!) and swimming pool, so that our family can enjoy visiting us for holidays. We are considering whether to move permanently, or whether to keep a small place in the UK so that we have somewhere to stay when visiting family/grandchildren for lengthy periods. The latter being the case, how do people, who do not make a permanent move, keep their gardens/pools maintained during longer absences ...? Whilst this is something we both dream of doing, there are many things that keep me awake at night worrying about how it's all going to work out!

Tweedpipe

Welcome (return) to the forums, noting that your previous and 1st post was in 2003. You've certainly been keeping a low profile - 16 years in HK?
I can't advise on pool maintanance during periods of absence, but I'd be surprised if there weren't any agents providing that service or even close neighbours you could call upon.
In your situation, and knowing France well, I'd be far more concerned about break-ins when leaving any property empty - anywhere in France!
I believe I'm right in saying that statistically 'Dordogneshire' in one of the more safer departments, but it's common knowledge that crime in general is on the increase, even if stats for 2018 are reported as somewhat improved.
We're located far further south than the Dordogne, just on the outskirts of a small, quiet village. The very first thing we did just after purchase was have a very good security system installed, which although obviously not fool-proof, gives us piece of mind when out shopping or away on longer breaks.
When I see that most of the properties around here probably give priority to a satelite dish rather than a good security system, it's food for thought. Although a calm area, during the 12 years we've been here, the largest house opposite was burgled 9 years ago, and our next door neighbour 2 years ago in broad daylight. So caution is the watchword wherever you may end up in France.

dmu

Hi, I don't see this as a problem worth worrying about before you've arrived, since there are countless professional artisans available everywhere for gardening and pool maintenance. Depending on what time of the year you'd be in the UK and for how long, you may have to sign contracts for regular work in your absence and set up DDs to pay for it, but there's no lack of registered manpower. Avoid employing some one on the black as you'd both be penalised when found out....
I live here permanently and the above is general, but others in your future situation will come along and say how they manage!

Tweedpipe

DMU's right, there are other things that potentially are more worrying. Perhaps even ISF in your case........

cyrian

Hi
From your previous post in 2003, I would advise that you take your own advice "My advice to anyone thinking of returning to the UK ... Don't make any long term plans or hasty decisions ... Try it out for a few months, maybe a year, before you finally decide."
Why don't you rent somewhere initially to allow you to decide where you would like to make a permanent home?
This would allow you to assess life in France and the housing market and all the other questions that will arise when you are living there.
You may find that the house you choose already has a regular gardener.
The UK is not - and never has been Hong Kong or Brunei. HK is probably one of the safest countries in the world.
There are also lots and lots of immigrants in Dordogne - mostly English.
France also has LOTS of problems with immigrants - particularly in the South but also in the large cities like Paris and Lyon and Marseille. I was also suprised with the level of immigrants I came across in Lille last year.
Paris has its own ghetto suburb which is known as the 93 (or le neuf trois) which is infamous in France as a "no-go" area for the gendarmes.
Yes there are bad areas in the UK but also there are lots of really nice areas.
It really depends where you choose.
HTH

dmu

@ BritinHK - ISF being Impôt de Solidarité sur la Fortune, if you weren't aware!
If inapplicable to you, you might worry in advance about French Bureaucracy, French Property and Inheritance Laws, Taxes, healthcare insurance, etc... Is your French adequate to cope, without having to ask strangers to help with your private business (finances, health....)?
Take a look in the Read Me: Moving to France FAQs above - most aspects of living here are covered, even Growing Old in France which you will be if you decide to retire here....
As suggested, rent at the beginning to get the feel of the region before buying property. Every one will say that it takes about 2 years to sell a house, and it's not advisable to commit yourselves without making sure of everything beforehand.
HTH

Pulaski

I think it is the same through the industrialized world, that there are bad areas and good areas, often very close together. Although the US has a reputation for shootings, in practice the risk of being shot is highly localized, both geographically and ethnically, such that for much of the US the chances of being shot are probably about the same as in the UK, …. and the risk of being knifed/ stabbed much less.

Ironically the chances of being burgled in the suburbs or rural parts of the US are, I think, lower than in the UK, with a primary reason being that would-be burglars know that if they break into an occupied home there is a fairly good chance that they will be shot!

cyrian

Yes I agree with that. I have visited the USA on many occasions and I am aware that the majority of gun crime is "localized both geographically and ethnically" which is usually the same thing.
Ironically, my nephew was working on secondment for a year at Pinehurst Golf club in NC and he was stabbed by a young white American guy. He was lucky to survive.
While it was something that he would have been alert to in Scotland - he just didn't see it coming in the USA.
I have taken a wrong turn in the US and accidentally entered a "transitional" area followed by a quick about turn before I "lost" my rental car

Pulaski

That's very true, but "ethnically contained" violence sometimes spills over into other geographic areas with little threat to the general populace in the area.
Wow, that is very unusual - knife crime is pretty rare here. I am glad to hear that your nephew survived. Knife crime here, the little that gets reported, is often also linked to an ethnic group - the Chinese, who seem to prefer knives as their weapon of choice.
I took a short cut one night through a small town in NC, specifically the "wrong part" of that town, and inadvertently found myself, with my wife and daughter in the car, between police cars blocking the road ahead and a weapons-drawn situation behind me. After a quick detour across the verge and pavement into a sideroad I exited the area PDQ. Mrs P has never since allowed me to take that shortcut, at least not at night; she never goes that way on her own or with our daughter.

petitefrancaise

I think the general advice here on the forum is to keep a foothold in the UK and think long and hard about "retiring to the dordogne" At what point will you want to go back to the UK permanently? Will you want to get old in France, with no family around and end up in a french speaking nursing home? If not, what's the plan? Do you want to burden your family with trying to sort out your affairs because you can't do it anymore? You get the point?
As far as having a holiday home in France, well loads of people do it of course. You can hire people to sort out the pool (https://www.guide-piscine.fr/piscini...teur/dordogne/) and get someone to come in and do the garden for you. However, from personal experience, getting insurance for a house that is unoccupied is expensive and the requirements are onerous. We had to have a whole new security system installed, with sensors and cameras,a contract with a 24 hour monitoring company and a neighbour willing to go around to the house if necessary and also take phone calls from the security company. Our des res was a very normal 4 bed family home on a quiet cul de sac, nothing special and it was also completely empty...

I'd probably get a pretty little barn conversion and have an above ground pool that can be emptied when I wasn't there. I'd probably also just rent a place for the month or so and save a load of headache and worry and money.......

BritinHK

Thank you all very much for your responses. The advice you have given will all be taken on board ... and indeed, you have covered other things which 'keep me awake at night'!
We have actually spent the past few years discussing our eventual retirement plans, so we won't be making any final decisions on a whim and, as each year goes by, we seem to have moved the goalposts somewhat, especially now that our children are adults, and bringing grandchildren into the equation! Having been expats for around 23 years, neither of us think we'll be able to settle permanently back in the UK (tried it once and it didn't work!). So, I think we are erring towards keeping a foothold in the UK, and maybe having a little place elsewhere to escape to whenever we please, rather than making a permanent move. We realize that things can be very complicated with regards to all the official stuff, so we'll be sure to take all the appropriate advice.

We won't be rushing into anything, and I'm sure I'll be back to ask more questions!

dmu

Glad to have helped! We were recently accused of going off on a tangent and giving unasked-for info....
Don't hesitate to come back with more questions, there are several members who live in the UK with "little places" here, who experience everything concerned with having holiday homes in France...
All the best!