Early stages of considering a French small property purchase

[Nemophilist]

We are in the very early stages of planning a French property purchase.
It would be in Normandy, not coastal.

I’ve been playing around with budgets, funding and finance options using Perplexity pro (mainly so I don’t get laughed out of the door when I get told it’s totally not possible when progressing this through to reality)

I know that buying in France isn’t as simple as it used to be, I know it’s not going to make money (this isn’t for investment purposes) , we just happen to be in a situation where we have a lovely house we’ve extended in an expensive part of the UK that’s always been well within our means and with some recent job changes we have the ability to buy a holiday house.

By this I mean a house for us (and maybe some trusted friends/family) use for holidays, it’s not for living, not for renting.
We had previously considered buying a lock up and leave type place in England somewhere we love but Normandy seems to be the place that we’ve decided on.
We can speak the language and our children are getting there too.

To move this onto the next step are we best to speak to our existing mortgage adviser (we haven’t the full capital to fund it up front yet) or something else?

If anyone else has done similar since Brexit any advise would be most welcome

[Nicetobenice]

The french have some pretty strict lending rules so might be easier to use your UK property as the security

And don't forget the 90/180 rule if it applies to you

[The Leaper]

I suggest that before you purchase, you have a good understanding on what happens to any assets especially property in France on death according to French laws. It is very different to that in England

R.

[grumbas]

I've got a place in the Alpes, it has it's challenges.

Firstly, banking in France is still very branch based, which we found challenging being remote for the bulk of the year. I switched a few years back to Britline which is a brand of CA Normandy and made life much easier. They keep marketing mortgages to me so probably worth an enquiry.

The biggest issue is the quick odd jobs you do at home become a nightmare. You either need to find good local trades, and you'll probably find this easier than me as my French is very much 'advanced tourist', or you'll loose a chunk of every trip dealing with the list. At least with an apartment we only have to deal with the internal stuff, finding a reliable gardener etc could be a challenge.

We Airbnb ours for the peak weeks, finding someone reliable to deal with cleaning, linen, etc is always a challenge, and we're in a tourist resort. We've recently started using a very established rentals management firm rather than side hustle type people. The cost is eye watering and means I've stopped letting for a couple of nights, but the quality and reliability of service are worth it. If you're renting to friends/family depending on where you are finding something similar for low volume could be a hassle.

Overall, go in with your eyes open, it's worth it, but not without it's hurdles.

[ClaphamGT3]

Another vote for Britline - they are very good and, if you need a mortgage, they apply lending criteria that are closer to the UK’s than France’s - much stricter - ones

[rdjohn]

Britline are good. France also has a very easy system for getting a 6-month visa to use during the summer months.

Bureaucracy needs some getting used to, but once you get the basics of the language, stuff becomes much easier.

You just need to go with the flow, immerse yourself and enjoy each day.

[Nemophilist]

Thanks everyone so far
Especially to hear it’s not a potential disaster for others who have done it

I will look into Britline initially

[ooid]

Harry has a new thread here, though mostly about renovation not sure if there is any other info (transaction costs, finance and the deeds...)

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...