Well, you can't just pack up and move to France without an approved visa or citizenship in an EU country, for starters. The French Government won't have a problem with you buying property there, but it will have a big problem if you just think you can move in and reside there permanently without proper documentation.

And IMO it's beyond wishful thinking at best that two people could live in France on 1,000 GBP a month. Our utility bills, insurance payments, mutuelles, and local taxes alone come to that or more (and our house has been paid in full for 22 years).

There are infinitely more complications involved in your plan, but I'll leave it at this for now.

 

Not possible, 1000 GBP is way below the minimum wage in France.

 

Just a point of reference - GBP1000 = € 1164 or so as of today. The current SMIC (French minimum wage) is €1747.20. (All figures are monthly amounts.) Generally speaking the required income for a long-stay visa is a function of the SMIC at the time you apply. It's not necessarily twice the SMIC for a married couple, but it will be something more than the SMIC for just one. And over the next couple of years, the SMIC will rise, depending on economic conditions, cost of living, etc.

The French government is also not keen on your running down your "nest egg" in order to live in France. Ideally you would be earning some sort of income on it - investing, bank interest or whatever - and you would be living off that rather than running down your original balance. The other factor you may be overlooking here is that you will need a private health insurance policy for your first year in France - and once you are resident in France for 3 months, you can join the national system - for which you are charged a percentage of your annual income until you start drawing your retirement pensions. If you have "pre-existing conditions" that first year policy can get expensive, but even after you join the national system, you'll need a mutuelle to reimburse what the national system doesn't. Those costs can be a real shock to those coming from the UK.

You may want to do a bit of research - both online and ideally with one or more reconnaissance trips to Brittany to get an idea of the current costs of day to day living expenses, including things like the cost of car ownership, utilities, insurances and all the other expenses of actually living here. There may well be a way to carry out your plan, but you need to determine what your actual costs and requirements are going to be.

 

Three points
You do realise how much land is an acre don't you?-what are you planning on doing with it and do you really NEED an acre?
You will need a source of income equivalent to SMIC so could you rent out your UK house?Bear in mind that you will not be able to work in France
Any GBP based income will always be at the mercy of exchange rates (just think how Liz Truss trashed the pound)

 

Thank you all for your info, It seems France is a long way off. All i wanted to do was to retire to France and not have to work.
I can afford to buy a property with land outright and thought my £250000 left over would see me through, but obviously not.

I realize and looked into the Visa side, but it seems there are more things to this than i knew about.

How come its so expensive to live in France, I can survive easy on £1000 a month in the uk which covers all my bills etc.

Perhaps i wish just wishing. Thanks again everyone. looks like im stuck in the uk. Oh joy.

 

The amount France has set for a visa is to ensure you meet the visa requirements and are not a drain on the country.
in Spain where we are its €26,000 income or a mix of that and savings for a single person and another €6000 odd for the next. The savings must remain untouched.

Most countries have a minimum and the UK is no different for someone wishing to move there..
For the Uk its a minimum income of £18,600 a year (single applicant) and an amount in savings that cannot be touched (think its about £16,000)...

Thats the thing most dont get, it doesn't matter how much YOU can live on, its the minimum level a normal French Citizen should expect to be able to live on....
My son is still in the Uk and doesnt earn £18,000 a year... But he can still live on what he earns.
Lets just say the figure is used as a filter to ensure only serious people will move to whatever country..
Something I approve of.

Besides you stated you have a 1/4 of a million... Just stick that in an account that generates enough an income and you may have enough to apply for the visa...

 

I think the point is not how much you can live on, but what thew French govt. deems necessary to live on.

I can live on almost nothing, but the French govt. would require me to have an income of 1,700 euros a month, just like all the wild spendthrifts out there.

Then there is all the stuff about pensions, health insurance etc etc.

Think about it from the French govt. point of view -- would they really want a lot of foreign cheapskate OAPs turning up, buying a house, and then getting free healthcare from the state for the final decades of their life? I dont think so.

 

I may have missed something here but what are you intending €1000 a month to cover?
UK state pension is £10, 600 per pension per annum so for 2 people that would be £21,200, which is considerably more than the €12k you are talking about. If you or your partner do not qualify for a basic pension then see how many additional years you need and pay the NI to the DWP to make them count. You will soon get that money back once the person who is deficient draws their pension.

Why is it so dear to live in France?
I think one could get a degree on that subject! However having a well enforced minimum wage, a culture that values quality over prices and the general population having no desire to work all hours of the day unless it's really essential are certainly factors.

1 acre is roughly 0.5 hectares which is quite large even for most older properties and impossible for a new build following modern planning guidelines. Be prepared to compromise on the size as legal fees can soon cost more than the worth of a plot.

 

Rick, don't abandon the plan so quickly, you're not that far off. We're at almost the same stage as you, hoping to move over next year with very similar parameters, and once the house is paid for, the monthly bills shouldn't be way above what you are hoping. Yes there are some hoops to jump through to get the first and subsequent one year residential visa, health cover etc and renew a few times before applying for permanent residency, but the minimum wage stipulation is only a little above your target - as i understand it it's assessed year by year for each VISA, so the 200,000 in the bank more than makes up any marginal shortfall of a couple of grand - of course long term that's not perfect, as stated some investment income from the capital would serve you better, but the UK pension hits 10,000 or more next year once the next triple lock rise comes in (matching 8% average pay rises it seems, following this year's 10% inflation match), so on its own is quite close to the minimum wage requirement. Just as in the UK, if the state pension is your only income, that's still pretty subsistemce-level, but assuming some extra income or capital it's a good base to start from.

Health insurance is definitely an extra cost but should reduce after the first year once you get in to the French system - I'd certainly like to see a list of living costs that total £1,000 a month if anyone has them please - local taxes, house insurance, utilities, broadband, car & fuel, there's a few lines on the household budget that are still a bit vague (and of course vary wildly by house size, lifestyle, region etc). Does anyone have an 'average' household budget planner please?

 

Could we keep in touch just so I can see how you get on please. Thank you for your support.

 

Does anyone have an 'average' household budget planner please?

You can look at a cost comparison website like Numbeo (my favorite by far)...

Cost of Living in France

Average prices of more than 40 products and services in France. Prices of restaurants, food, transportation, utilities and housing are included.

www.numbeo.com

.

or Housing Anywhere...

Cost of Living in France

Average prices of more than 40 products and services in France. Prices of restaurants, food, transportation, utilities and housing are included.

www.numbeo.com

.

or International Living...

Cost of Living in France 2025: Example Table of Monthly Expenses Included

France offers a high quality of life at an affordable cost. From housing to healthcare, see how expats enjoy a rich lifestyle without breaking the bank.

internationalliving.com

 

I don't have a planner, but here's our average monthly expenses the past year (and I've probably left something out -- in fact it doesn't show some of the BIG expenses, like having trees felled and trimmed, general repairs, re-graveling the driveway -- you know, the sort of thing one absolutely has to expect if one buys a property with land in France).
This is obviously before food and supplies and travel and other frivolities.

EDF — 220
SOGEDO — 45
WIFI/TV — 83
Cell phones — 48
Mutuelles — 180
Taxe d’hab — 104
Wood — 100
Gas for car — 56
Car insurance — 82
Assurance vie — 70

 

Think about it from the French govt. point of view -- would they really want a lot of foreign cheapskate OAPs turning up, buying a house, and then getting free healthcare from the state for the final decades of their life? I dont think so.

This is a big part of the issue. Healthcare in France is not free like it is in the UK. The national health care system only covers a portion of your healthcare costs and you're pretty much expected to take out a "top up" health insurance to cover you for the rest. Figure 100€ per month per person covered for a couple nearing pensionable age, depending on the services you need and your location (how close you are to hospitals, specialists you might need, etc.).

There are also the taxes on your home - taxe fonciere once you buy your place, for one.

Brexit has been something of a shock for many Brits who delayed their big move to France (or Spain or Italy) or who simply hadn't reached pension age by the time it finally happened. Losing that Freedom of Movement thing puts the Brits on an equal footing with the Americans, Canadians, Aussies and Kiwis - who aren't generally used to having to deal with visas and residence permits and that sort of thing.

 

About the only expense I can reliably budget for is car insurance. I pay electricity and gas via a monthly plzn but since there's no longer a restriction on what suppliers can charge, that arrangement is likely to be totally inadequate and I could find myself with large bills when the annual account is adjusted.

Home insurance costs are set to go through the roof, especially in light of climate change related claims in France.

Those are far from the only increases in cost of living that are anticipated in France.

 

Brilliant, that is so useful, thank you Agatha's Human and SaintCirq!

Cheers,
Mark

 

Of course, one major reason why France is expensive is the VAT.

 

French and UK, where OP is currently residing, VAT rates are both 20% which is 1% lower than the EU average. Switzerland, not EU, has a current nominal rate of 7.7% rising to 8.1 from 1st Jan 2024 and I can assure you CH is not a cheap place to live. So I suggest you can’t ascribe VAT as a primary factor.

« The EU countries with the highest standard VAT rates are Hungary (27 percent), Croatia, Denmark and Sweden (all at 25 percent). Luxembourg levies the lowest standard VAT rate at 16 percent, followed by Malta (18 percent), Cyprus, Germany and Romania (all at 19 percent). The EU’s average standard VAT rate is 21 percent, six percentage points higher than the minimum standard VAT rate required by EU regulation »

 

I know we have a tendency here to all jump on someone who has a plan that seems to provide problems to overcome. In some cases it's because we have run into precisely those problems and have the battle scars to show for it.

But in the present circumstances, where you will need long-stay visas and residence permits to settle in France, you should seriously look at postponing your big move (and selling your UK home) until you are eligible to start drawing your pensions. Early retirement in France has always been a huge problem for most early-retirees from non-EU countries. Once you are within spitting distance of drawing those pensions, the process gets considerably easier.

You'll still have to find private health cover for the 1st year - but after 3 months of residence you'll be eligible for the national program with the UK picking up the tab because you'll have your S-1 (or whatever it's called these days) attesting to your rights based on your UK coverage. With your pension statement there's not really any quibbling about your "financial resources" and quite a few parts of the whole immigration process will get quite a bit easier.

Meanwhile, use the time you have until retirement to make periodic visits to the area you're interested in and do your research on how the various systems here work - especially the property markets, the health care system and whatever other aspects of Life in France appeal to you. You'll be making the transition much easier on yourselves than if you rush it and run into obstacles with the bureaucracy based on doing things "too early" or in a way that will make your application somehow suspect. (The French administration doesn't go for thinking or doing things "outside the box.")

 

I know we have a tendency here to all jump on someone who has a plan that seems to provide problems to overcome. In some cases it's because we have run into precisely those problems and have the battle scars to show for it.

But in the present circumstances, where you will need long-stay visas and residence permits to settle in France, you should seriously look at postponing your big move (and selling your UK home) until you are eligible to start drawing your pensions. Early retirement in France has always been a huge problem for most early-retirees from non-EU countries. Once you are within spitting distance of drawing those pensions, the process gets considerably easier.

You'll still have to find private health cover for the 1st year - but after 3 months of residence you'll be eligible for the national program with the UK picking up the tab because you'll have your S-1 (or whatever it's called these days) attesting to your rights based on your UK coverage. With your pension statement there's not really any quibbling about your "financial resources" and quite a few parts of the whole immigration process will get quite a bit easier.

Meanwhile, use the time you have until retirement to make periodic visits to the area you're interested in and do your research on how the various systems here work - especially the property markets, the health care system and whatever other aspects of Life in France appeal to you. You'll be making the transition much easier on yourselves than if you rush it and run into obstacles with the bureaucracy based on doing things "too early" or in a way that will make your application somehow suspect. (The French administration doesn't go for thinking or doing things "outside the box.")

Thank you very much great advice.

 

In my opinion the biggest problem with the op's plan is the insistence on home ownership. He could keep the house in the UK and rent it out to generate income or he could sell it and invest the proceeds to generate income, if he knows how to do this.

I understand that breaking the middle class of their attachment to home ownership is like taking the dog's bone away, but in retirement renting may make more sense. When we are young and at the early stages of our working life we may expect an investment in a house to pay off in the long term. Once we enter retirement, there is no long term anymore. It's the here and now from here on out. The long term gain in the house, if any, is likely to go to the heirs. Meanwhile the retirees are living on bread and water for the benefit of their children. Makes no sense to me.

Another point is that the future is likely to be even less certain than we are accustomed to, which puts a premium on flexibility, i.e renting rather than owning.

Good luck with your plan in any case.

 

Retiring to France and not having to work was perfectly feasible pre Brexit.we did it and lived the "self sufficiency" dream but to do so we only really needed a quarter of an acre.You will certainly find housing with some land in Brittany but the better ones went after COVID as young professionals moved out of the cities so you may have to look at places that need work which is another expense-so looking at a work round-
Compromise on the amount of land size of house and the location-look at the Monts D'Aree
Do you have any occupational/private pensions that you can take early?-ANY pension qualifies you for "free" healthcare in France but you will still need the top up
Can you "downsize" in the UK ie sell your house, buy a small place to tide you over, and then rent that out to fund your move?
What you are wanting to do is not impossible but will now need good planning on the financial front but come back with any questions as people on here have done/are doing it

 

Yes I do have pensions, but they are over the amount you can take early. I shall have 250000 in cash to live on and that is after I have bought a property. I was looking to spend around 200.000 on a property and land.

 

One thing you can start on right away is to check out the various immobilier websites (immobilier = estate agent) in the areas in which you are interested in Brittany and see what is available for 200K GBP (about €233K) in terms of a house with land. You don't say what you are planning on doing with an acre of land, but that's a little over 4000 square meters, which may be difficult to find, depending on what you want that much land for (depends if the land is buildable or for agriculture).

There isn't a nationwide (or even region wide) listing of properties for sale, but you can get an idea of the general sizes of houses and of land parcels, which should allow you to fine tune your requirements for both the house and the land. Also gives you a chance to start practicing a bit of French and learning real estate terms as you search your way around the immobilier websites. (Or use a Chrome browser where you can get translations of webpages on the fly.)

 

One thing you can start on right away is to check out the various immobilier websites (immobilier = estate agent) in the areas in which you are interested in Brittany and see what is available for 200K GBP (about €233K) in terms of a house with land. You don't say what you are planning on doing with an acre of land, but that's a little over 4000 square meters, which may be difficult to find, depending on what you want that much land for (depends if the land is buildable or for agriculture).

There isn't a nationwide (or even region wide) listing of properties for sale, but you can get an idea of the general sizes of houses and of land parcels, which should allow you to fine tune your requirements for both the house and the land. Also gives you a chance to start practicing a bit of French and learning real estate terms as you search your way around the immobilier websites. (Or use a Chrome browser where you can get translations of webpages on the fly.)

To be honest we just want to grow our own stuff and keep busy. So half acre is great. We are not the sort to lay around, we must be active in the garden etc. We have been learning French for the last 3 months, but got a bit down by some of the comments, so did not do it last night. We have done an hour a night so far for 3 months . Some people are giving us some hope back a little bit.

 

A half-acre is still a lot of land. We have two potagers, about 3 X 6 meters each, that supply us with all we could ever need in the way of vegetables, plus a huge herb garden, and multiple fruit and nut trees on a parcelle (well, two parcelles) that don't produce much that we can use except bountiful quantities of figs and mirabelles. It's damned hard work, with the recent intermittent droughts and torrential rains, to keep up with Mother Nature around here.

You've probably been reading too many Peter Mayle and other romanticized versions of life in France. You need to ground yourself to the day-to-day realities. Learning French an hour a night for 3 months is admirable, but it's going to prove paltry when you're on the ground and have to deal with plumbers and electricians and wood-suppliers and gutter-cleaners and the Préfecture minions and your mayor and the folks who have to come and get rid of the fouines in your attic and your neurologist.

As for the VAT, yes, it constitutes a fairly alarming portion of every purchase in France, but don't you just sort of assimilate it after awhile and not even think about it? As an American, I was used to every price tag having the actual price of the item on the tag, followed by the amount of state tax -- added together it could be alarming or inconsequential, depending on the state you lived in. Here in France, after so many years, the VAT never crosses my mind. I guess I just bow to the system and pay the price.

If I were you, and I am NOT, I would spend a significant amount of time in the area(s) you think you want to live in and get a realistic idea of what life there is actually like. Not saying what I did was the ideal scenario, but I made at least 25 trips to France, 15 of them when I had narrowed down where `i wanted to live, before I stumbled upon the ideal home in the paradise that I now live in. And I grew up speaking French.

So in my mind, your plan seems kind of helter-skelter and dreamish, which also in my mind doesn't bode very well for a truly realize-the-dream future in France. But you can manage that with dedication and perseverance.

 

A half-acre is still a lot of land.

Half an acre is still 2000 m2, which is generally quite a bit more than you'll get with a normal type house - in Bretagne or anywhere else in France. Taking a quick look through some real estate ads online, you're probably looking at something more like 350 to maybe as much as 500 m2 for the lot that goes with the house (and that includes the land the house is built on). But that is definitely enough to raise some veggies. We've got the plot next door to our house, which is 1300 m2 (roughly) and includes a significant garden plus grazing area for the two donkeys. Concentrate on finding a house that meets your needs and is within your budget and the garden will resolve itself (there are even some towns in France that have communal garden areas, not to mention friend neighbors who share their garden produce and some newer "sharing" programs).

VAT is pretty much a non-issue as posted prices include the VAT for regular consumers. You can safely draw up your budget just by using the listed prices online or in the shops. But it's always a good idea to make several successive "visits" to the area(s) you are considering - covering all seasons and all weather conditions to try and get an idea of general living conditions. Coming from the UK, you're much better able to make this type of reconnaissance run than most other potential anglophone immigrants. If nothing else, you can wander by the windows of the various estate agencies to get a feel for availability and prices for homes in the area. (And in case you have missed prior posts on this subject, estate agents work very differently in France than they seem to do in the UK or other English speaking countries - more on that when things get a bit closer for your purposes.)

 

Half an acre is still 2000 m2, which is generally quite a bit more than you'll get with a normal type house - in Bretagne or anywhere else in France. Taking a quick look through some real estate ads online, you're probably looking at something more like 350 to maybe as much as 500 m2 for the lot that goes with the house (and that includes the land the house is built on). But that is definitely enough to raise some veggies. We've got the plot next door to our house, which is 1300 m2 (roughly) and includes a significant garden plus grazing area for the two donkeys. Concentrate on finding a house that meets your needs and is within your budget and the garden will resolve itself (there are even some towns in France that have communal garden areas, not to mention friend neighbors who share their garden produce and some newer "sharing" programs).

VAT is pretty much a non-issue as posted prices include the VAT for regular consumers. You can safely draw up your budget just by using the listed prices online or in the shops. But it's always a good idea to make several successive "visits" to the area(s) you are considering - covering all seasons and all weather conditions to try and get an idea of general living conditions. Coming from the UK, you're much better able to make this type of reconnaissance run than most other potential anglophone immigrants. If nothing else, you can wander by the windows of the various estate agencies to get a feel for availability and prices for homes in the area. (And in case you have missed prior posts on this subject, estate agents work very differently in France than they seem to do in the UK or other English speaking countries - more on that when things get a bit closer for your purposes.)

Thank you for your comments. We will be looking to go more rural than in town. We have seen many properties that meet our requirements and for our budget.

 

@rick.xanthe6 -- Don't give up hope; what you are planning is very doable. "Where there is a will -- there is a way!" As has already been mentioned, renting vice buying and living off the income generated off your "pile of cash," when you sell your UK property, might set you over the threshold to qualify for a visa.

Alternately, you might consider using some of you proceeds to form a French company: https://france-visas.gouv.fr/en/france-visas/international-talents-and-economic-attractiveness . You only need 30,000 EUR paid in capital to qualify. Sure your goal of not working goes out the window -- but you can also be a "partner" in an on-going concern to qualify (where you can be more of an investor vice active participant.) Basically, you need to study all of the visa/resident permit options and make yourself "fit" into one of them. Just look at it as a separate task over and above moving to France.

My wife and I have taken the recommendations from this forum and have delayed our own move to France (until I take my State pension.) Bottom line, you have many options -- don't give up your dreams because an obstacle appears in your path. Cheers, 255

 

Your a diamond and give us hope thank you.

 

You only need 30,000 EUR paid in capital to qualify.

Are they requiring 30,000 € in capital these days? I know back when we had just set up our company here (nearly 30 years ago now) they dropped the minimum capital requirement for setting up a company. But I can well understand if they reinstated a minimum - the rules regarding maintaining at least half your original capital balance get really tricky (well, actually, more "annoying").

Just one small caveat about going the route to set up a company to qualify for a visa - there is a whole lot of bureaucracy and paperwork that goes with establishing a company - and then more of the same when you decide to dismantle the company later on. Consider seriously whether you want to put yourself (or yourselves) through all that vs. maybe waiting a few years until you're closer to collecting your pensions. (Full disclosure here - I was the one who did all the accounting, taxes and various filings for our business while we were doing that here. I learned a whole lot, but I can tell you that it's really difficult in the early years and definitely time consuming. Then, too, I was at a decent level in French when I got here, but the beancounting vocabulary and the French take on what I thought were "simple" concepts can be maddening.)

 

I have lived in Brittany for many years on half the above mentioned £1000 a month. Perhaps that think that figure is too low are living a lifestyle I can only imagine and have expensive tastes. Of course my situation is far from typical and much wouldn't work today. UK was still in the EU when I came over. No visa necessary, etc. I bought my first place (in 2.5 acres) for €13k. No job, no pension at the time, and very little in the bank. No cash from the sale of a house in UK like pretty much everyone else had.

Where ther's a will, there's a way.

 

I have lived in Brittany for many years on half the above mentioned £1000 a month. Perhaps that think that figure is too low are living a lifestyle I can only imagine and have expensive tastes. Of course my situation is far from typical and much wouldn't work today. UK was still in the EU when I came over. No visa necessary, etc. I bought my first place (in 2.5 acres) for €13k. No job, no pension at the time, and very little in the bank. No cash from the sale of a house in UK like pretty much everyone else had.

Where ther's a will, there's a way.

Your my type of person. You ve done amazing. At last someone who with my way of thinking. Thank you

I do agree things have changed since Brexit and suggest anyone planning a move to France is aware of the rules gleaned from official sources. But don't be put off by claims of needing high incomes to exist here. My wife has just returned from a week's visit to UK and the prices in shops for things she has seen reinforce my feeling that I/we couldn't afford to live there on our state pension. We are doing just fine living here in France on what some would think an impossibly low income.

Sounds good. I have been given a bit more hope lately.

 

Of course my situation is far from typical and much wouldn't work today. UK was still in the EU when I came over.

Brexit changed things for lots of people and for lots of reasons. There is/was no "minimum income" requirement for exercising your EU Freedom of movement rights. But non-EU nationals are expected to have a minimum income or some sort of financial resources, if for no other reason than that they can be assessed some sort of fee for the health care system (i.e. CPAM/sécu social) at least until they start drawing a pension.

And, in these inflationary times, you do need to give some thought to what sort of lifestyle you are looking for when moving to France. I lived on a real pittance back in the US in my university days - no car, no requirement to have health insurance combined with reasonably good health in my youth, simple tastes, etc. Nowadays I couldn't live that way - not in the US and certainly not here in France. Where there's a will, there's a way - for sure. But somehow you need to deal with the current rules in place.

 

I do agree things have changed since Brexit and suggest anyone planning a move to France is aware of the rules gleaned from official sources. But don't be put off by claims of needing high incomes to exist here. My wife has just returned from a week's visit to UK and the prices in shops for things she has seen reinforce my feeling that I/we couldn't afford to live there on our state pension. We are doing just fine living here in France on what some would think an impossibly low income.