Just wandering if there is anybody on Locostbuilders who has either moved to France or researched it and then decided against it ?
Be interested to know any experiences or info
Particularly interested if anybody has either started or bought a business over there.
Few things in the pot at the moment and this is one of them 
Please U2U if you would rather
Thanks as usual for any help 
We have some friends tat moved there 11years ago for the lifestyle and because it's a proper socialist country (their deluded thinking). After
trying to run a few businesses they are back because the taxes are horrendous (basic tax is 48% iirc). Needless to say they'll probably still
vote for Milli (backstabber) Band.
I know of at least two others that went around same time and they are back too.
ATB
Simon
MikeCapon on here is one of a number of the collective who are in France.
We have good friends who retired to live near Cahors.
Three years on it's 90% positive though they tend to find negotiating/employing local labour for their restoration project difficult and have
ended up employing East European labour (no change there then!).
The French health service seems better than ours but you need to make sure you'll qualify for treatment.
Bereaucracy is a bit of a nightmare.
Helps if you speak French of course.
HTH.
Cheers, Pewe10 
The French healthcare system only pays 70% of the bill and not all are eligible so when the taxes are higher already I'd say
"different" rather than better
quote:
Originally posted by BenB
The French healthcare system only pays 70% of the bill and not all are eligible so when the taxes are higher already I'd say "different" rather than better
It's something I've looked at several times & have friends who own French property etc. I'm still here in the UK so guess which way
I jumped!
The taxes & paperwork involved in running your own business are huge, IIRC several years back I worked out I would need to earn around £300 a week
(I mean earn, NOT turnover) before I would actually earn a penny for myself - it put me off somewhat to say the least! I doubt it's got any
better since I was looking!
That said I know people & know of people that have gone over there & made it work, property is stupidly cheap, for what you could get for an
average 3 bed semi over here (say a bit over £200k) you could buy a large property over there with gites on the land etc. which could be a ready
source of income, but again it's not the popular holiday destination it was maybe 15/20 years ago, apart from obvious coastal hotspots &
skiing areas etc. but property prices are far from cheap in those areas.
If you're able to do part of the year in France & part in UK & thus pay taxes over here, could be a whole different ball game
I believe from talking to friends that because taxes are so high there is a massive black market for cash in hand labour & therefore cash
purchases - different people will have different views on whether they find that acceptable or not & whether they want to be involved in such
things
Something else worth bearing in mind is that with the current QE in Europe I would expect the Euro to go into temporary freefall for a while, so your
Euros earned over there will buy a lot less over here! See Link
Overall, I would say much like any move abroad whether temporary or permanent it works for some, doesn't work for others, needs a lot of thought
& research before making any jump!
Lived in SE France since 97. Started a business of my own in 2011. Better than UK? No idea as I've no comparison. It works for me and my own set
of odd needs.
If you want to be in business over here you need very good spoken French and the ability to forget about how things work in the UK and then re-learn
how the work here.
The health thing is a non-issue really. You just need a 'mutuelle' which is a health insurance. Employers have recently been obliged to
provide health insurance but the employee pays a little towards it.
As said I'm happy over here and my business is flying, but then as my teachers at school said, I am a special case...
Here's my french website: Shock Factory
Any questions shout.
HTH
Mike
We came to France 12 years ago, now we're going back.
Thanks everyone, some really good advice and it is appreciated.
That's why i love this place, You can ask a question on just about any subject and there's always plenty of help & advice
My brother has lived in France for almost 15 years. He and his wife run a Gite business and have four sons, three who were born out there.
they love living there, but there are huge cultural differences to overcome.
First is you must speak French, if you don't you will never fit in really. Second you must become part of the community, if you do they will
accept you and embrace you. A good tip was to make contact with the local Mayor who is invaluable to have on your side.
forget everything you think you know about the way things work. Tradesmen are slow, there is no urgency to anything and all the laws that they sign up
to in the EU, they ignore if it does not suit them, so do not expect anything the law covers to be there fully.
They do have high taxes unless you have kids where you get so many extras back.
Health service is second to none. Private health is not huge and every family takes out cheap top up insurance which covers all medicine needs. My
brother was taken ill with an infection and taken to Chatebrieant, he got worse and was airlifted to Nantes where he was in intensive care for 4
months, the care was 100% all the time. He jokes that it is harder to be allowed out of a French hospital, than it is to get into an English one.
They will never come back, but people who have moved out there they have known have moved back. His view is that they never wanted to integrate.
Community is very strong to them so being a little Englander is never going to work.
As for Business, small business is easy enough to run, but as soon as you start employing over a certain number, it gets very hard. If you make
someone redundant, you have to pay their full wage for a year if I recall correctly. If you get over 50 staff, a board member must be a member of the
shop floor, so you see a lot of 49 staff companies as a result, because the hoops become much harder to jump through.
If you make a move also remember, you will struggle to get any special self built car registered. Caterhams, and one Westfield model can be done, but
cannot be altered. Many who have specials keep it British registered, returning once a year for that purpose.
quote:
Originally posted by spaximus[/I]
If you make a move also remember, you will struggle to get any special self built car registered. Caterhams, and one Westfield model can be done, but cannot be altered. Many who have specials keep it British registered, returning once a year for that purpose.
