kazz4662

Hello France it's been a while since I last wrote . We are looking into the needs and musts or moving / living in France as we've sold STC , however we've been here before ! So were informed that end of Nov will see us handing over the keys !! We'll see everything X'd . As we've been trying to get to France for so long due to Brexit, Christmas 2019, Brexit, Covid and possibly Brexit again due to timing were going forward and move forward should be fun !!
Now I have been looking into what's needed and with your feed back found that very helpful thank you I'm trying to list what to do / need and the amount of Insurance seems quite scary ! Yes I know we have insurance here in the UK but I would like to know who people use that are reasonable ££ , provide a good service , maybe english spoken ( French not that good yet ) you get the idea.
My list consists of Car x2 and motorbike , however I understand that we could remain on UK insurance and pop back to UK every so often to begin until we are able to stay in France, the big one Health as were not retired so would have to get 100% private ? Does anyone still rtn to UK for Health Care ? House insurance fully comp to cover any accidents or incidents within the house, Life insurance, Construction maybe needed, if self employed need insurance for that !! Making me giddy . what do you actually need or not need ? insurance on top of other outgoings seem £££

EuroTrash

You have me confused.
Are you moving to France full time before the end of the year, or are you going to remain UK resident and a visitor in France for now? You say you are looking at moving / living in France but then it sounds as if you feel you're not actually able to do that yet.
After the end of this year, trying to keep a foot each side will almost certainly become uncomfortable. Trying to mix and match, telling the French authorities that you now live in France in order to obtain residents' rights in France while at the same time telling the UK authorities, your UK car insurers etc that you still live in the UK in order to keep your entitlements in the UK, risks backfiring big time. As a French resident you have to comply with French law, as a UK resident you have to comply with UK law. For instance French law (currently) says that if you live in France you must exchange your UK driving licence for a French licence within one year of arrival, register your vehicles in France within one month of arrival, etc. UK law says that if you live in the UK you must hold a UK driving licence and register your vehicles in the UK. It's not possible to do both.
Moving countries does tend to involve a certain amount of expense unfortunately, it's a big decision to make.

christmasoompa

Bear in mind you won't be eligible for the NHS once you're not a UK resident, so you'll need to be prepared to pay for any care in the UK.

dmu

Hi, take a look at #4 in the Read-Me: Moving to France FAQs, but which isn't up-to-date concerning Brexit.
- You'd need private healthcare insurance to cover the period between arrival and entry into the French S.S. System (you apply for entry after 3 months' residence, with documents justifying such healthcare coverage and Utility Bills to prove domicile, but it takes time for the System to process your application).
- Life Insurance is a personal decision and is usually considered a tax-free investment to pass onto the nominated beneficiaries.
- If one of you is intending to be self-employed for construction work, then a professional insurance is certainly necessary after having registered the business. If you employ an artisan for the work, then check that they are registered and insured.
All the compulsory insurances take out a large chunk of every one's budget!
HTH

G-J-B

My wife works for one of the relatively well known French insurance companies, and is fluent in English, but offices are very localised. Dealing with insurance companies can be frustrating, but I can tell from the stress and grief she gets, it's not pleasant being on the other side either. If you're based in Dépt 61 it may not help you much though, as she's based out of 87.
If you're a resident in France, I don't think you'll easily be able to stay on UK insurance for your vehicles after Brexit.

EuroTrash

Aha, I missed that.
There are certain Brit hotspots in Dept 61 where you will almost certainly still find English speaking insurance brokers etc.
Gers, Domfront, Barenton, Sourdeval, Mortain, Falaise, La Ferté Macé are places that would have sprung to mind 10 or even 5 years ago but the Brit population may have thinned out since Brexit.

kazz4662

Good morning France hope you are all well. We managed to get to France the week or rather 5 days ( come home early ) before your latest lockdown. We had a look at houses this was our 5th trip and we are buying in Normandy so long as ours sells but that's another story ! How exciting we decided to go ahead and go with the flow we know that we will not be there before 2021,the paperwork alone will take a few months apparently 'ainsi soit-il' there are many people from different countries and France that are buying rural properties to go to , escape from cities so were told. much of the necessary paperwork can't be done until were completed but maybe we will try for the visa see what happens. We are still on the search private health insurance until we can choose otherwise . So has anyone who may have private health insure any companies they could suggest in France ? The quotes from companies in the UK to cover Europe or world wide are shocking unless you've won the lottery or have a healthy income ! Thank you Karen

EuroTrash

Good to hear that your plans are taking shape, even if it's not the shape you originally imagined. It is true that the process of buying a house in France usually takes two or three months at the very least.
Re health insurance, when you get to the stage of applying for your visa you will probably find that the embassy is quite specific about the type of health cover they require. So it might be wiser to hold off committing yourself until you know exactly what's required for whichever visa you are applying for. Otherwise there is the danger that either you will feel obliged to buy an expensive all singing all dancing policy and then discover that actually, a cheaper and more basic policy would have done the job just as well; or alternatively, you might have bought what looked like a good enough policy and then find that the embassy won't accept it
In any case for the immediate future, as long as you're still UK resident what you need is ordinary travel insurance to cover you for your trips abroad. Travel insurance is a different product from healthcare insurance in your country of residence.
You may even find that after the end of this year UK insurers start introducing new products to meet the new needs of people in your position, because there will be more demand for these products in the future. So there may be more choice, when the time comes that you need it.
Good luck with your plans, and stay safe!

kazz4662

Thank you for reply very helpful

kazz4662

The house that wee buying needs to be rendered at rear and the gable end made good and secured. on asking the estate agent she says need to check with Mairie to see if permission was gained originally ( 10 yrs ). Anyone advise how we might do this from UK ? Were guessing that we would be able to complete the house but wouldn't want to buy something that we couldn't complete ?

cyrian

Hi Kazz
The rule in France is "buyer beware".
In the UK, you would normally get a survey done - full structural survey in certain cases.
In the case of remedial work needing done you would probably get quotes for the necessary repairs and take that cost into consideration in the offer price.
Defective render and a gable needing secured could be concealing further degradations.
Personally, I would not proceed with the purchase until I had established what work was required and if that is acceptable to the Mairie and what it would cost.
I also wouldn't be railroaded into a purchase by an estate agent suggesting that such properties are being "snapped up" by people wanting to escape the cities.
Properties can be on the market for several years in rural France.
Please proceed carefully or you could be making a costly mistake.

EuroTrash

If this is a renovation or a conversion, absolutely do not touch it if it has been renovated or especially converted without permission. Usually it's possible to obtain permission retrospectively, but it can be a lot of hassle and expense, and worst case scenario you wouldn't be able to live there and may have to pull down any new construction.
As for how to contact the Mairie, well I guess you could email them, or post a letter, or phone them up (check their opening hours). Whichever you prefer. Each way has its advantages and drawbacks. If it was me I would probably ring first, ask to speak to the "service d'urbanisme" which is the planning department, tell them what information I wanted and ask if they can tell me over the phone or whether they would prefer me to send the query in writing and if so, by email or by post, and get the name of the person who would be dealing with it. That would cover all bases I think.

EuroTrash

Ah, maybe I had misunderstood the situation, I see I have interpreted your question differently from Cyrian.

Is this an unfinished conversion/major renovation, or is it simply a house that people have been living in very recently but it is in need of repair?

The mention of "completing it" and "permission gained originally" made me think you are buying a project that needs finishing off, and the property has stood uninhabited for some time before becoming a building project. But if it's simply a case of a house that's been poorly maintained and needs repairs, I don't really see what permission has to do with it. Yes you need to get permission for any work you do, but they're not likely to refuse to let you patch up a house (although they might possibly say Don't do it like that, do it like this).

cyrian

Hi ET
It is difficult to reply without us knowing the situation but render can be used to cover up structural issues.
The most worrying thing for me was "the gable end made good and secured".
If that is the state of the building, is there a septic tank that requires upgrading or renewing etc etc.
My concern is that some estate agents are happy to find foreign purchasers to off-load otherwise difficult to sell properties.
I don't want to put Kazz off the dream - just to be very careful.

EuroTrash

Yes absolutely.
But I think there are potentially 2 separate issues here - firstly, structural questions and secondly, legal questions. If it's a project that's been started and almost completed without any of the necessary permissions and permits and insurance, it is probably a non starter from the legal perspective so there is no point setting off down the road of getting quotes etc.