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PROPERTY IN FRANCE

PROPERTY

The joys of living in an ‘expat no-go zone’

British expats in France tell us the benefits of living in some of the country's "expat no-go zones", areas where the expats are few but the quality of life competes with even the most popular regions.

The joys of living in an 'expat no-go zone'
Verdun, Lorraine, a huge region in north-eastern France with few expats. Photo: Antonio Ponte/Flickr
Late last month, we took a look at where exactly all the Brits live in France.
 
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the stats from France’s National Statistics Agency INSEE showed of the almost 160,000 Brits in France, most congregated in places like Paris, Poitou-Charentes and Brittany while almost ignoring other areas completely (see the map below for exact details).
 
But the Brits living in those areas, which we dubbed the "expat no-go zones" of France, have contacted us to tell us why they love their corner of the country. 
 
 
(NB: The number for Poitou Charentes should read 16,300)
(The map above shows exactly how many Brits live in each region)
 
Rebecca Pintre – Location, location, location
 
Rebecca Pintre says she is delighted to be among the 850 Brits living in Lorraine, where she's just a five hours' drive from Calais and thirty minutes from Luxembourg airport.
 
"Lorraine is big. I am in the corner which borders Luxembourg, Germany and Belgium. We came here from Paris for one reason: Luxembourg. We joined the army of cross border workers – over 100,000 of us cross into Luxembourg every weekday morning, and back again in the evening," she tells The Local.
 

(The town of Nancy, in Lorraine, south of Pictre's home. Photo: MorBCN/Flickr)
 
"The houses here are rented at approximately half the price they are in Luxembourg, so we chose to live in France. We are at the heart of Europe – Paris, Frankfurt, Brussels, the Black Forest, Alsace, all within a three-hour drive. We live in a very rural, quiet village with all the advantages of a capital city just 20 minutes’ away (ahem, outside of rush hour!)
 
"The local history is fascinating, and the architecture, food, and the local dialect (le Platt) is influenced by the neighbouring countries. We also have good wine. And lastly, the best fish and chips I have ever had on the continent was just 5km from my home, over the border in Luxembourg. Not the same, of course, but is it ever?"
 
Lesley Polley – Why return home?
 
Facebook follower Lesley Polley is among the 2,300 living in Burgundy and she says it has been a "fabulous experience" so far. 
 
"We are Brits living in Burgundy," she says. "And we absolutely love it."
 
"We've been here nearly nine years and despite being of a 'mature' age I found work teaching at the university in Dijon almost from the beginning – even though I wasn't a teacher in England. My husband is kept extremely busy cooking for the guests at our Bed and Breakfast – La Bagnosienne. I'm also on the municipal council. Any support we have had comes mostly from our super French neighbours and we have no intention at this time of returning to the UK. 
 

(The courtyard of Polley's Bed and Breakfast. Photo: La Bagnoisiene)
 
Pat Green – Escaping the Brits
 
Pat Green in Haute Cote d'Or, Burgundy, says she chose the area because "we didn't want to be surrounded by Brits". 
 
"We had plenty of support from the French when we arrived and I was voted on to the municipal council within the first six months. We do also have British friends and enjoy the variety," she adds. 
 

(The Dijon prefecture. Photo: Christophe.Finot/WikiCommons)
 
Tracy Thurling – Who needs other expats?
 
Tracy Thurling in Burgundy says she also loves living in an area that's not "overrun by expats".
 
"I count myself as an immigrant, not an expat, as I chose to live here. Our children were born when we lived in Chamonix where one in five of the residents at the time were non-French. It made it tough for them to learn French. Here in a Catholic school of 1,300 children, there is only one other English-speaking family.
 
"We enjoy the French lifestyle and culture precisely because it is very different and not British whereas in somewhere like Chamonix, it was perfectly possible to live a totally British lifestyle. This lack of French language and culture (along with inflated property prices) led to a great deal of resentment from the local people as all Brits got lumped together while here in Burgundy we are still novel enough for people to chat to us to find out why we came here. 
 
There are plenty of English-speaking people in the season as Beaune is a popular tourist destination (indeed I work in tourism offering tours at Burgundy By Request) but out of season we turn our heads and stare when we hear someone speaking English. I love it – I have no intention of ever going to live in the UK again."
 

(Stunning Beaune. Photo: Mkfsca/Flickr)

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PROPERTY

French property: What is buying ‘en tontine’?

If you're buying property in France, you might be thinking about buying 'en tontine' - this has advantages especially when it comes to France's strict inheritance laws, but can also have tax implications.

French property: What is buying 'en tontine'?

What is it?

The ‘clause de tontine’ sometimes also known as a ‘clause d’accroissement’ is a clause that is inserted into the property deeds when you are buying a house or apartment.

It can only be inserted during the purchase, and cannot be added later.

It’s basically a ‘group purchase’. It’s most commonly used by unmarried couples who are buying together but it can be used by larger groups too – for example a group of friends buying a holiday home together.

You will have to ask a notaire to draw up the tontine clause during the property purchase and it can only be used if 

  • the parties are equally involved in the financing of the purchase
  • the parties involved have a roughly equal life expectancy (for this reason tontine clauses may be rejected if there is a significant difference in age between the purchasers)

What’s the point of it?

The main reason that people use it is to sidestep France’s strict inheritance laws, which assign that a certain portion of every estate must go to children, at the expense of a partner. 

READ ALSO How France’s strict inheritance laws work

For this reason it is particularly used by couples who have children from previous relationships.

On a property with a tontine clause in effect, when one owner dies their share of the property passes in its entirely to the other member/members of the tontine.

This cuts out children from inheritance, but means that a surviving partner is not evicted from their home in favour of the children of the deceased. 

It also has the advantage of making the intentions of the deceased clear, to avoid arguments among heirs after their death.

It should be noted, however, that the tontine clause only takes in the property that it covers – other assets may be subject to French inheritance law so it’s therefore probably wise to arrange a will, to ensure your wishes for your estate are met.

The surviving party can ask a notaire to update the property deeds to show that they are the sole owner, if they want. Be aware there will be a fee, which could reach four figures for the privilege – and it doesn’t actually involve any change to the property title.

Drawbacks

The advantages of the system are clear, especially for blended families, but there are some potential drawbacks too, which mean that anyone considering buying in this way would be well advised to take proper legal advice before they start.

Inheritance tax – while a tontine will help you to avoid restrictions on inheritance, it does not exempt you from inheritance tax. French inheritance tax is structured according to your relationship to the deceased, and people who are neither married nor related to the deceased pay an eye-watering inheritance tax rate of 60 percent.

The only exception to this top rate of inheritance tax is if the property is your main residence and it is valued at under €76,000 – in that case, tax is paid at a rate of 5.8 percent.

Married couples and family members pay a much lower rate or not tax, but if you’re not married to your tontine co-purchaser, be careful that you’re not lining yourself up for a massive tax bill in future years.

Wealth tax – depending on the value of the property, it could tip you over into the ‘wealth tax’ category when you inherit. France’s wealth tax is a real estate based tax and is levied on anyone who has real estate assets (property and land) worth €1.3 million or more.

The calculation includes property held en tontine.

Tax savings – you might hear tontines being advised as a way to limit your French tax liability.

While this used to be true, changes to tax laws means there are no no significant tax advantages to buying this way – the same is true for buying a property via an SCI, which used to represent a tax saving until the law was tightened up.

Disinheriting family membersOne side effect of the tontine clause on mixed families is to effectively disinherit any children of the first person to die.

Because the property passed to the survivor, under French law, only their direct descendants – rather than any family by marriage – are entitled to automatic inheritance.

That means that the children of the surviving partner will be entitled to the statutory share of the entire asset (between 25 and 30 percent depending on the number of children), but the children of the first person to die will be entitled to nothing. Obviously you can choose to leave them something in your will, but you can only leave them some or all of the estate which is not automatically given to the children on the survivor.

Divorce/dispute – if the members of the tontine split up or (in the case of friends) fall out, then they can either sell the whole property or agree to buy each other out.

However, if one party refuses to sell, then you have very limited legal options – unlike a standard property purchase a tontine is not regarded as joint ownership, so one partner cannot be forced to sell as part of a divorce procedings, for example.

Basically the tontine can only be ended or changed with the agreement of all parties – so if you can’t agree between yourselves then you may be stuck with it.

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