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Original poster

A year in France...but not working

31 replies

Plastoslax · 07/07/2024 19:54

DH and I have always had a yearning to live in France. But like most we were (safely 😬) bound by family obligations, work commitments, mortgage etc.

A series of unexpected events has cancelled all of these "excuses" out and we have no reason to not try a year in France anymore, to see if it is best kept as a dream or if we should try to make it a reality.

So, we would not be looking to work, we have eu passports and enough income to afford 3/4k rent a month. (This will decimate savings etc but I feel a "pee or get off the pot" exercise justifies this risk plus we should be able to rent our home for the period). We both speak reasonable French though could do with improvement.

Questions are:
Would you stay in one place for the 12 months or would you break it up?

If so, would you break it up into 2 or 3 or 6 month blocs?

Where would you go (and why if you have time to say)?

Any tips about finding accommodation for 2 or 3 month stays??

If this was your dream, what would you be hoping to gain from the experimental year?

I'm at the "be careful what you wish for, you might get it" stage of wariness about this. We were always safe in our dreams: we could never have swung this til retirement but retirement was an ever moving (into the distance) goal in our case. So really, this is kind of a one off opportunity, I will have to get another job etc and pin myself down to life here again unless this year-long experiment is a success. Even still, if its not it would allow us to stop saying : if only we had moved to France....(which gets tiring!)

OP posts:
blackandwhitestripes · 07/07/2024 19:59

Are you in the uk now?

I'd do it, and head as far south as possible for the sunshine.

What area would you like? Id maybe do two locations 6 months in each.

SwedishEdith · 07/07/2024 20:01

Surely you wouldn't need to spend 3/4k per month on rent? Maybe somewhere central so you can go to coast or mountains for breaks more easily.

tarheelbaby · 07/07/2024 20:01

When you were dreaming about moving to France, how did you see yourselves spending the time? I love France! Why would YOU move there? If this is a retirement plan, I'd look for a med. sized town. If you need work, I'd think about tutoring in English - a friend in Montpellier did this for years and earned good pin money.
In terms of accommodation, I have a friend who spends 3 mos. in a city most years. She goes on AirBnb or similar and finds a flat to book.

DuesToTheDirt · 07/07/2024 20:04

If this was your dream, what would you be hoping to gain from the experimental year?

Well it's not my dream, it's yours - what do you want from it? It's not clear. Do you want to relocate there at some point? Or is it an extended holiday? That would shape my answers. If it's an extended holiday, I'd travel round as much as possible. If it's to relocate, I'd use it to scout out the most likely locations for a permanent move - and it sounds like you would eventually need jobs? In what?

hellesbells · 07/07/2024 20:07

Do you have an EU passport?

NormalAuntFanny · 07/07/2024 20:42

You'll find it very difficult to get anything except Airbnbs renting because tenants have all sorts of rights and the owners will want to make sure you can pay. You might be better off buying a campervan!

France is really big so moving round is the way to go, honestly the difference from north to south and east to west is immense.

You won't be able to stay in France for more than three months unless you have an EU passport of course so you'd need to plan for that too.

Good luck!

Lastminuteisinit · 07/07/2024 20:44

She does explicitly say they have EU passports in fairness!

OnlyFrench · 07/07/2024 20:54

That's a massive budget for a rental! I let my house at 500€ a month 😂
The issue you will have is getting accepted as a tenant without working history in France. There are special leases you can get with a restricted term which would probably suit you and a landlord better because you have to leave at the end of it.
There are two very helpful Facebook groups, Landlords and Tenants in France for the legal side, and Holiday Homes in France. You may be able to find something on there. It's been very quiet for gîte bookings this year, probably because of the weather and the elections, so lots of people (me included) are moving towards longer term bookings.
How do you see yourself spending your time? That would influence where I'd suggest you go.

Original poster
Plastoslax · 07/07/2024 21:37

So yes we do have eu passports but we also have favourite locations.
Biarritz mostly (hence the hefty rental allowance) but maybe we should chase some better weather too. So maybe Biarritz...Perpignan....and then Spain for a part. We have allocated 10 months from September.

We have never NOT been tied to work and have never had more than 2 weeks off so it's a case of suddenly being given the chance to step up to your dreams. That's in answer to what did we imagine...Well we've always had work, house and garden maintenance, kids, elderly parents and all that comes with that. We've actually never had much free time hence my slight panic about finding ourselves in a position to take time to ourselves...what will we do all day, every day???!! If it's not our house or garden it won't take up as much time.

Long term plan would be to live there, at least in winter time. Not work. We'd like to improve our French, Learn the rules of boules, dh needs to learn to cook, We'd both like to get back into running.
That's why I ask what you would do...am I missing something we should be looking into.

The property info is enormously helpful onlyfrench, would that be sorted by being able to pay the full amount in advance? We would want to be in a fairly built up area (like Biarritz or Bidart) where we don't have to drive.

I'll look at those two pages.

Any other places I should be looking for rentals?

OP posts:
Wherewhatnow · 07/07/2024 22:03

If you're wanting to see if you would stay there permanently/longer, I would suggest staying in one place for at least 6 months, if not the whole time. It's when you spend time in one place, putting down roots a bit more, getting to know neighbours, that you get a true sense of living there as opposed to being a tourist. The cultural quirks and community expectations in a country/region can be what can make or break the decision to live in a country for longer. Even if you eventually decided that town wasn't a place to stay in permanently, you'd at least have a good idea of real life there and have a clearer idea of what to look for in the future.

doubleshift · 07/07/2024 22:09

What about doing house sits in various areas of France? Something like Trustedhouse sitters or similar?

Taciturn · 07/07/2024 22:19

What would be your tax position if you are one year in France? I believe that France has a global wealth tax for residents, which you would presumably want to avoid.

OnlyFrench · 07/07/2024 22:39

You could try Seloger and Leboncoin for rentals. I don't think it's legal to pay rental up front, but that doesn't mean you won't find landlords happy to ignore the law!

Those groups will help you understand the different types of leases, eg the standard maximum legal holiday let is three months, but there are ways round it.

garlictwist · 08/07/2024 09:53

Be warned - you might find it hard to get rentals for a few months at a time. They will likely want you in for longer. You're probably best off doing Air BnBs and maybe seeing if you can get a longer lease on them

Icanttakethisanymore · 08/07/2024 09:55

get a campervan and travel around. I’d suggest the mountains in the summer 😊

Original poster
Plastoslax · 08/07/2024 21:05

Would I be liable for Tax if I'm not earning though?

We toyed with the camper van idea but I'm afraid I like my 4 walls comforts 😳 (especially in my old age)

Plus I do want to spend a bit of time in each place. I was thinking 3 months Bidart, 3 months Perpignan and 3 months Bidart again if we liked it first time around.

I suppose it is as a taster to retirement. We need a 3 bed rental as our children are still young enough to want to visit.

Re rentals for longer, I have been to Bidart often in the shoulder season and see lots of locked up holidays homes so my hope is some may be willing to rent for a relatively hassle free 3 months during their off-season.

OP posts:
Radiatorvalves · 08/07/2024 21:19

You might want to join some facebook groups. I’m on one called France 2nd home owners. It’s possible that if you decide on an area you’d find someone who might do you a deal. For example we are rarely in our house between September and November so might be open to renting… but (and not casting aspersions) renting to people over the internet is always going to be risky.

is it the seaside you like? And the Atlantic side? If so I’d try a couple of weeks in different locations on that coast. There are so many fabulous parts of France, but do remember they are likely to be very quiet out of season.

have fun!

Madamfrog · 11/07/2024 19:22

Perpignan is quite deprived, very RN, has quite a lot of crime. I'm French and I wouldn't wish to live there.

anterenea · 12/07/2024 10:23

Having grown up in Dieppe and the Basque country I would thoroughly recommend Normandy, it's gorgeous scenery, the people are laid back and the food is amazing: You're not far from Paris if you fancy a bit of culture
The Basque country is beautiful but has become horrendously expensive and the weather in Aquitaine is never guaranteed to be sunny even in summer! Bordeaux is a fantastic city if you decent income, not so much Toulouse
Lyon is very pretty too: I second @Madamfrog 's advice about Perpignan it's grim and even ugly: The Costa Brava on the Spanish side is stunning

Alltheusernamesaretakennow · 12/07/2024 10:36

Would recommend FB group LIFT (Ladies in France Together). There are lots of people from all over France who can advise you. I've lived in France and weather wise, we always found the weather south of Tours to be warmer/ sunnier.

FriendlyNeighbourhoodAccountant · 12/07/2024 10:44

Plastoslax · 08/07/2024 21:05

Would I be liable for Tax if I'm not earning though?

We toyed with the camper van idea but I'm afraid I like my 4 walls comforts 😳 (especially in my old age)

Plus I do want to spend a bit of time in each place. I was thinking 3 months Bidart, 3 months Perpignan and 3 months Bidart again if we liked it first time around.

I suppose it is as a taster to retirement. We need a 3 bed rental as our children are still young enough to want to visit.

Re rentals for longer, I have been to Bidart often in the shoulder season and see lots of locked up holidays homes so my hope is some may be willing to rent for a relatively hassle free 3 months during their off-season.

You are earning though, presumably you'll be earning 50% of the rental income from your UK home. As far as I'm aware with the UK/FR double tax treaty rental income in the UK is ignored for French tax purposes but it does still need declaring on whatever their equivalent of a tax return is.

You'll also be considered a non resident landlord in the UK. Most of the time this means a letting agent will pay you the rent minus an amount for basic rate tax deducted already, but it's possible to receive it in full and pay annually via self assessment (as if you were a resident), you'll just need approval from HMRC. NRL1i is the form you'll need to fill in to get this approval.

Oriunda · 13/07/2024 02:00

Check with an advisor, but afaik the tax thing kicks in after 5 years. At least it does for us. We do submit a joint tax return, as DH works, and we have to list all of our UK accounts, but no additional tax is paid.

Wherever you land, check out the local town AVF (welcoming committee, a bit like a WI but unisex). Ours is very active, and I’m on a sub committee that welcomes new arrivals to France and explains how stuff like healthcare etc works. We also run conversation groups where we meet weekly over coffee and chat for an hour in French and then English.

France is a huge country, so forget living in the middle in order to access beach or mountains …, just live where you plan to make the most of what’s around you.

garlictwist · 13/07/2024 05:18

Madamfrog · 11/07/2024 19:22

Perpignan is quite deprived, very RN, has quite a lot of crime. I'm French and I wouldn't wish to live there.

Sorry, what is RN?

whattodoforthebest2 · 13/07/2024 05:31

The National Front!

Caspianberg · 13/07/2024 05:38

Are you sure about not driving?

If you’re exploring an area for several months at a time, unless you’re staying zone 1 equivalent of a city, won’t you want to drive? It’s far easier to explore and go and see new areas and things if you can drive. Otherwise I imagine it’s fairly limiting