French Property

Property in France has been popular with the British for literally hundreds of years, whether by invading armies fighting over large portions of the country or as in more modern times by Brits buying in France property that gives tremendous value for money in comparison with Southern England. French property that has easy access to the channel tunnel is extremely popular with Brits who can commute to London more easily than from parts of England.

The British love of property in France is not confined to the areas close to Britain; French property on the French Riviera has long been a popular place among wealthier Brits seeking a better climate and a different lifestyle. Unlike most of the rest of France property on the Riviera is not sold to Brits because of its low price, French real estate here is far more expensive and yet there always seem to be buyers no matter what the price range. Perhaps it’s the popularity among the film and entertainment world of owning a piece of French property on the Riviera that also draws us mere mortals.

In 2006, the British bought more property in France than any other country, even outstripping that other favourite place for the British to buy property Spain. The attitude of the French people to buying property in France is very different to the British; the French prefer to buy town or city property whereas the British tend to fall in love with French property that’s rural with some land attached. Much of the French rural property is bought by the British who tend to buy larger property than their immediate needs and then use the remaining rooms as bed and breakfast accommodation to supplement their income.

Buying property in France is not the traumatic experience that it used to be; so many Brits have bought French property over the last twenty years that everyone from estate agents to lawyers to the public notaries speaks English or has English speaking staff. The whole process of buying real estate in France is documented in books, magazines and of course the internet, this can be a little dated at times but a good French real estate agent will guide prospective buyers through the whole process.

On becoming owners of one’s delightful French property with the help of all those English speaking estate agents in France reality sets in and the need to speak the language becomes apparent although more and more French government agencies are using English translations as standard with many of their forms etc. Even the French taxman has information in English to assist those owners of property in France to pay their dues.