French Homes

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To welcome in strangers/travelers

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Can I just say that there are some misconceptions here, in that the people who settle in France have to pay French taxes or they would be sent to prison. There are local taxes to be paid such as residents’ tax and council tax if they own a property, which everyone has to pay whatever their nationality. Banks and tax authorities now exchange information and the tax authorities are able to track down evaders wherever they are.The only British people who do not pay Income Tax are those who have such a low income that they are exempt. They still contribute to the French economy in that they also pay TVA (VAT) on most goods that they buy in France. British builders who have settled and reside in France and carry out work for other expats are taxed like French builders. They have to be registered with the authorities and it is not black labour. Road tax does not exist in France so nobody pays it. If an English person commits a driving or parking offence in France the police can track them back to Britain and even force them to pay fines.
There also is a misapprehension on the part of other people answering your question. In fact there are huge numbers of French people now living and working in the UK in all walks of life. They do integrate with their colleagues or in the establishments where they work, run businesses such as bakeries or hotels and they pay British taxes exactly like the British people do. They rent or buy properties where they can find them, and this may be a very long way from where other French people live, with the exception of South Kensington in London which has a large French enclave due to he presence of the French Lycée, the French embassy and Consulates. The difference is that the French do not cluster like British people who retire in France and who tend to purchase properties in areas where there often are already other expats settled there as it gives them a feeling of security, especially if they are not fluent in French. This is also due to the fact that English people liked to do up old and therefore cheap properties in old villages , whilst the French who sold these moved to brand new premises with modern facilities. However the cost of living has escalated enormously in France and there has been a tide that has run backwards as British pensioners find that their pension is no longer sufficient to live comfortably in France. The houses that they are selling are now being snapped up by Germans, Dutch, Belgian or Scandinavian people.

It is an absolute myth that French people hate the English and vice-versa. Some English tourists give the others a bad press by drinking and misbehaving publicly and make no effort to speak the language, but the others who live quietly in France, give no trouble and are accepted. There is even a Brit who has been elected Mayor and his French must be superb as French bureaucracy is quite something! One reason the French do not retire in the UK is that the climate in France is kinder. However there also are quite a few of us who married partners from the other side of the Channel and live happily in each other’s country.

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IN 1999 10% of the French had a second home and it dropped to 9.7% in 2004.

Sorry I can’t find anything for 2005.

The location is mostly on the coastlines but also in the country around the cities.

Note that more and more Brittons, Germans, Belgians and Swiss buy a second house in France.

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I guess that you are American, or at least have no experience of Britain and Europe.

In Britain in the last few decades it has been most people’s ambition to own their own home, and the proportion at the age of, say, 30 was probably higher in Britain than in Germany and France, whwere such a tradition had not grown up. In the last few years the proportion of homeoweners has dropped because of financial constraints. Certainly 100 years ago the proportion renting was much higher in Britain than recently. In recent times many Britons have viewed their houses as ‘investments’ and hope to move several times during their lives, making money on the property each time; it is called ‘the property ladder’.

Homes in Britain, especially the most recent, are smaller than in the USA, probably smaller than in much of Europe. We like our individual houses(if terreced or semi-detached) where possible in Britain, the continentals are more content with apartments.

Sorry, I can’t give you any figures.

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Here’s a picture and article.

Http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.newlifeinfrance.co.uk/images/15859.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.newlifeinfrance.co.uk/buying-a-new-house-in-france.html&usg=__qGEJZi63NzzITca6Yd4jxxlgrxI=&h=260&w=200&sz=16&hl=en&start=14&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=cJrt0_kxEMR1vM:&tbnh=112&tbnw=86&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dnew%2Bhomes%2Bfrance%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26tbs%3Disch:1

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Hi there,

it’s not a French movie, but German-Austrian : The Edukators (2004)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0408777/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Edukators

Mike Dennis.

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Hi Lovable Nocturne,

That’s nice that you want to learn French. There are many ways to learn from home. However there are very few ways to learn effectively. You could find some free content (like the french.about.com mentioned in another answer), listen to some french radio or watch french tv shows (like TV5 on cable) but I haven’t met anybody yet who learned french this way in a reasonably short time.

My advice is to get yourself plugged into a program that will allow you to have some sort of tracking system to make sure that you will learn French as a kid would do it. Listen to French CD but make sure you associate that with the transcripts and more importantly with pictures and real situations. This will help you remember.

Many up to date French language software have that included with lessons, interactive quizzes and games.