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Could you live in France and work in England?
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Kent County Council recently suggested that commuters should consider relocating to north France, rather than add to the housing shortage crisis in the home counties.

Expressing concern at estimates that a minimum of 117,000 new homes need to be built, a large number of which will inevitably be in Kent, you could say the Kent CC have taken nimbyism to new extremes: a case of "Not In My Back Yard - stick them in someone else's back yard instead".

Their willingness and ability to 'think outside the box' should be applauded and encouraged, but in practice is this a workable solution?

Is a daily commute from northern France a realistic proposition?

***TRAINS***

If you are thinking of commuting by train, Eurostar runs a daily service from Calais to London with departures at 8.04am, arriving in Waterloo at 8.46 (don't forget, France is an hour ahead of us), at 14.31 arriving at 15.09 and at 17.34 arriving 18.13.

Unfortunately a standard 'business' single will cost you 187.50 pounds and a return 320 pounds. I have spoken to Eurostar and at the moment it has no plans to introduce a discounted season ticket.

This led me to check out cheap flights as an alternative. Until recently the low-cost airline with the most routes between the UK and France was Buzz. It has now been acquired by Ryanair, which has decided to keep 12 of the Buzz routes open - including flights to Brest in Brittany.

***DISCOUNTS***

The bad news is that flights from Brest evenings only, and flights from Stansted to Brest are late afternoon. However, the good news is that as I write Ryanair is substantially discounting the price of tickets on the previous Buzz routes, and you can get to Stansted from Brest for next to nothing.

So what do we conclude from this? In my opinion a daily commute might not yet be practical, or very cost effective.

However, with advances in technology, particularly the internet and email many more people are now able to work from home. For anyone who is able to combine this new technology with today's more flexible working practices a weekly, or even a more irregular commute, from France is entirely feasible.

It also highlights the fact that if you are able to locate within easy access of an airport served by a low-cost airline, all areas of France are equally commutable, and not just Normandy or even Brittany.

***COMMUTE***

Many buyers of French property have realised this possibility and many people now live in France, using the opportunity to work from home, and to commute to the UK on an occasional basis to keep in touch with head office, or with clients.

And of course, even those French property owners who aren't yet able to work from home know that France is an entirely realistic location for long weekends and other regular short breaks.

Like me, they are thoroughly convinced that France is:

O A great place to spend your holidays and weekends

O A great place to retire

O A great place to buy a second home which is also one of your top performing investments

O A great place to live (and work)

And as transport and technology improves I am sure that, many, many more people will take advantage of being able to live in France and work from home.

***INVESTMENT***

However, before they do so there are some fundamental questions and issues that need to be thought through to ensure they buy the right property for them. Readers of www.French-Property-Secrets.co.uk will already know that I think it is crucial that they also select a property which doubles as the 'best investment' in their portfolio.

There is no such thing as a risk-free investment and anyone considering a property in France will need to consider the cost before they start looking.

Here are the key things I recommend you consider:

1) I advise all " investors" to think about their exit strategy. Having a second home in the sun is most people's dream, but what if that dream turns into a nightmare and you have to sell and get your money out. How easy is that going to be?

To cover all eventualities you might want to consider buying a property you can sell easily - even if this means that you have to pass on your ideal.

For example, your dream come true might be a remote farmhouse miles from the nearest village, which you can buy cheap because it's been on the market for two years with little interest. However, financial security might require you to look instead at the development of identical 'to be built' villas on the coast which are selling off plan even before the construction has even started.

2) The French tax authorities can be more intrusive and demanding than our own. Just because you're from the UK and feel your spoken or written French is not up to scratch doesn't mean that you will be able to happily ignore the French tax system and continue of your merry way. When you buy a French property the taxman comes with it, automatically.

You will be expected to

O Pay two local taxes like our council tax, one as owner and one as occupier, unless you have full time tenants in which case you'll only pay the owners tax account for all rent

O Pay income tax on rent received, and even if you don't receive any rent, you've still got to send in a fully completed tax return or risk fines and punitive interest

O If your property  (and other French assets) are worth more than £295,000 you will have to pay wealth tax

O Pay various social contributions - a bit like National Insurance

3) Think about security. If you aren't moving out there full time, the chances are that the property will empty, although if you buy in the areas that appeal to tenants, possibly not that often and not for too long at any one time.

4) Think about what you need in the way of local amenities. There's absolutely no point in buying what would otherwise be your dream holiday home, if you love nightclubbing and eating out, and the properties located in the middle of nowhere an hour's drive from the nearest decent-sized town.

Or if you live on your own, you might not feel comfortable living in the middle of the country with no near neighbours.

If you opt for a property in a resort, make sure you know what it's like out of season. Some seaside towns can be like ghost towns in the winter when the holidaymakers have gone and local businesses shut down. You might like that. If not, it might come as a nasty shock when you spend your first winter there.

5) If you are buying as somewhere to go for long weekends, think about how you are going to get there, and how long it's going to take you. The best locations for  'long weekenders' are near the channel ports, or within easy driving distance of airports.

Even if you are buying to use the property for longer periods, like the fortnight family holiday in the summer, you'll still want it to be reasonably accessible, so that you don't have to spend most of the holiday on the motorway.

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