Cost of French living

[Four Cofffee]

I know all about their horrendum taxes and paper work for business, but given house prioces there and here it appears that if I sold up I could possibly retire and not have all that business st. Their habitation taxes seem less (less than the £2200 I am paying in council tax for my 3 bed semi anyway) which is a start.

Has any body lived there and have an idea of the cost of real things and the hidden costs? How about the things we all have to pay : house insurance, car insurance, electricity, petrol, an average shopping basket, etc. What is cheaper and what is more costly?

I don't think I will ever leave blighty but it would be nice to know what I am missing/not missing.

[andy43]

One of the hidden costs of french living is those black and white stripey jumpers - the colours ALWAYS run in the wash. You'll be having to replace them on a regular basis.
On the plus side I suspect oignons and garlic are fairly cheap tho'.
HTH

[Four Cofffee]

andy43 said:

One of the hidden costs of french living is those black and white stripey jumpers - the colours ALWAYS run in the wash. You'll be having to replace them on a regular basis.
On the plus side I suspect oignons and garlic are fairly cheap tho'.
HTH

Ah! Never mind. At the rate I get through those jumopers it would be just too expensive.

[Simpo Two]

You could increase your popularity amongst the locals by calling your house Agincourt. Or Crecy, or Aboukir, or Trafalgar, or Sedan, or Oran, or Dunkirk, almost anywhere in fact!

[Globulator]

Simpo Two said:

You could increase your popularity amongst the locals by calling your house Agincourt. Or Crecy, or Aboukir, or Trafalgar, or Sedan, or Oran, or Dunkirk, almost anywhere in fact!

That's what happens when you mingle with cheese eating surrender monkeys.

[DBSV8]

break down for our cottage in Brittany As a guide 4 bed property with 1000m2 garden double garage etc.

In the UK as a guide say £300,000 it would equate to band F around council tax £3,000 per year

Whereas in France

two taxes to pay each year bills comes Oct / Nov

Taxe Foncière ( property tax ) 650 euros
Taxe d'Habitation ( council tax )300 euros

so around 950 euros a year .............much cheaper !!

and bins are emptied twice weekly !!!

http://www.shelteroffshore.com/index.php/living/mo...

http://www.french-property.com/guides/france/utili...

We are connected to the village sewage system , so no issues with fosse septic tanks .....check this out if your potential property is not connected it could be costly to connect ,in some remote cases where this is not possible allow extra costs for emptying.

water rates / electric rates a bit cheaper ,
food quality is better local produce ............downside difficult to get pasturised milk , no chedder .only Comte....
plenty of "roast beef" bbq's at midnight to tease our neighbours.
wine .....fantastic ....English bar in our village .....wish the git would stock real ale !!
income tax is excellent if your outside France for 186 days you dont pay French income tax ( better than UK 90 days ) .

I pay Russian income tax at 13% so its a very good deal, living in France, working in Russia ........speeding Visiting in the UK

French medical system buy into personal medical insurance , around the same price as UK BUPA ....only French medical treatment is very efficient you pay and claim back

overall

Edited by DBSV8 on Sunday 5th September 13:19

[Deva Link]

My company did a study on this a few year and came to the conclusion that overall it's similar to the UK. However the exchange rate was a lot better then - on a fixed UK income you'd get around 25% less for your sterling now, and, of course it was worse than that until a couple of months ago.

Your typical French worker hardly pay any tax or NI - the burden is largely shifted to the employer so the cost of employing people in France is immense. Apparently this translates into it being very expensive to get work done, and, while food is similar pricing to UK, most other things - colleagues have particularly cited things like DIY stuff and electronic items - are way more expensive.

[Four Cofffee]

Deva Link said:

My company did a study on this a few year and came to the conclusion that overall it's similar to the UK. However the exchange rate was a lot better then - on a fixed UK income you'd get around 25% less for your sterling now, and, of course it was worse than that until a couple of months ago.

Your typical French worker hardly pay any tax or NI - the burden is largely shifted to the employer so the cost of employing people in France is immense. Apparently this translates into it being very expensive to get work done, and, while food is similar pricing to UK, most other things - colleagues have particularly cited things like DIY stuff and electronic items - are way more expensive.

I had understod that it was the place to holiday or retire, not run a business. I would pay less council tax on a bleedin' chateau than I pay on my 3 bed semi here but the haeting costs seem high?

[Deva Link]

I would imagine the main problem with being retired there is that your income is fixed vs a variable exchange rate. If you can manage OK at £1 = €1 then you should be OK and anything better is upside.

There is a French PH section although it's not very active or you could ask somewhere like expatforum.com

[Puggit]

DBSV8 said:

Taxe Foncière ( property tax ) 650 euros
Taxe d'Habitation ( council tax )300 euros

so around 950 euros a year .............much cheaper !!

Ouch!!!

(paying 450 and 300 here )

[fulham911club]

DBSV8 said:

break down for our cottage in Brittany As a guide 4 bed property with 1000m2 garden double garage etc.

In the UK as a guide say £300,000 it would equate to band F around council tax £3,000 per year

Whereas in France

two taxes to pay each year bills comes Oct / Nov

Taxe Foncière ( property tax ) 650 euros
Taxe d'Habitation ( council tax )300 euros

so around 950 euros a year .............much cheaper !!

and bins are emptied twice weekly !!!

http://www.shelteroffshore.com/index.php/living/mo...

http://www.french-property.com/guides/france/utili...

We are connected to the village sewage system , so no issues with fosse septic tanks .....check this out if your potential property is not connected it could be costly to connect ,in some remote cases where this is not possible allow extra costs for emptying.

water rates / electric rates a bit cheaper ,
food quality is better local produce ............downside difficult to get pasturised milk , no chedder .only Comte....
plenty of "roast beef" bbq's at midnight to tease our neighbours.
wine .....fantastic ....English bar in our village .....wish the git would stock real ale !!
income tax is excellent if your outside France for 186 days you dont pay French income tax ( better than UK 90 days ) .

I pay Russian income tax at 13% so its a very good deal, living in France, working in Russia ........speeding Visiting in the UK

French medical system buy into personal medical insurance , around the same price as UK BUPA ....only French medical treatment is very efficient you pay and claim back

overall

Edited by DBSV8 on Sunday 5th September 13:19

The taxes depend on where you live. The costs depend on where you live.

Have a house in the south - taxe d'habitation, taxe foncier and wealth taxes are far more than my council tax in London.

Water is much more expensive as is electricity. Household goods - more expensive in France. Weekly shop etc - more expensive. Wine cheaper. Eating out cheaper. Just about everything else is more.

[anonymous-user]

Malaysia, no tax on pension income from overseas (legally), 10 year permit, 100K for a house and about 1/6th of UK cost of living, sun, speak English and no duty on imported car.

[francophile]

Here is an article about the cost of living with a breakdown of groceries, utilities, insurance, yaxes ...
http://socialising.posterous.com/cost-of-living-in...

[Shaolin]

Berets are cheaper than bowlers too - so there's an often overlooked saving right there.

[Rollin]

Ooh, quite fancy this now having had a browse. Needs work, but looks as if it's right next to the local boozer!

http://www.french-property.com/vp/nv/ds/auvergne-c...

[Globs]

Shaolin said:

Berets are cheaper than bowlers too - so there's an often overlooked saving right there.

And if you become an onion seller that saves trips to the supermarket.

[5potTurbo]

Puggit said:

DBSV8 said:

Taxe Foncière ( property tax ) 650 euros
Taxe d'Habitation ( council tax )300 euros

so around 950 euros a year .............much cheaper !!

Ouch!!!

(paying 450 and 300 here )

I pay about the same as you - but we have much cheaper booze, fuel and, if you're so inclined, tobacco & ciggies.
98 unleaded's currently €1.19/litre


ETA: And sooooo many more people here speak English than in France, if you can't speak French.

Edited by 5potTurbo on Monday 6th December 09:44

[Globs]

5potTurbo said:

ETA: And sooooo many more people here speak English than in France, if you can't speak French.

Less people are speaking English in the UK everyday. Innit?

[mybrainhurts]

Is it true that French letters are compulsory...?