People particularly prefer to visit the French Alps in summer than during the winter season. This is the time when the ice and snow have melted and one can see the beautiful hills and blossoming meadows and just inhale the pure mountain air.

France is blessed with a rich and varied countryside that incorporates stunning beaches and coastline on its Mediterranean and Atlantic seaboards, spectacular mountain scenery in the Alps, Pyrenees and Massif Central, and a mainly temperate climate in which to enjoy such diverse splendor

The French have a strong appreciation of the good things in life, and are considered to be amongst the most cultured of people. Good food and fine wine are held to be their right, and a relaxed pace that affords them time to enjoy such fruits of life fully is sacrosanct.

The price of experiencing life in a more measured and relaxed manner is cheaper than in the UK, but not as inexpensive as it was a decade ago. France has seen average property price increases of 80 per cent since 1997, and prices continue to appreciate by approximately 10 per cent annually.

However, it is wholly possible to pick up a stone house – the very epitome of France – in a rural location, overlooking sun-kissed, rolling hills, for £30,000. It may well require an additional £70,000 of work to make it habitable, but £100,000 for your very own piece of the good life doesn’t seem an awful lot to pay, does it?

In preparing this guide, we trust it will help you decide whether France is the country in which you wish to buy a property.

Popular locations – an overview

France, of all nations, really does have the lot: cultured cities, great beaches, awe-inspiring mountains, rolling hills and meandering rivers. Broadly speaking, the northwest regions of Brittany and Normandy are remote, with rocky bluffs and windswept beaches, while the Côte d’Azur, on the Mediterranean south coast, is incredibly beautiful, with golden sand beaches, ritzy restaurants and million-pound marinas. Most of France lies between the two geographical and cultural extremes.

Paris

Paris is the capital and pacesetter for the rest of the country. France’s significant business is conducted here, its government and political powerbrokers residing in the northern city. Culturally, Paris is home to several museums, opera houses and galleries, and countless cinemas and theatres.

Much as in any major city, property prices in central areas are expensive. One would be hard-pressed to find a studio priced at less than 150,000 euros (£103,500), but 30 minutes from the city centre by train, for example, 100,000 euros (£69,000) buys a one-bedroom apartment close to Disneyland Paris.

Central and southwest France

Heading south, the Loire, known for its vineyards, chateaux and rivers, is a land where time seems to have stood still for a couple of centuries. Still further south is the Dordogne, in southwest France. Given the sobriquet Little Britain locally, the region is picture postcard pretty, chock-full of butterscotch-coloured stone cottages and green hills and dales.

Property in the Loire can be bought for 170,000 euros (£120,000) for a two-bedroom house in good repair. A character period house costs from 400,000 euros (£275,000), depending on condition. In the Dordogne, a picturesque three-bedroom cottage in a pretty village costs around 500,000 euros (£345,000).

The south coast

Travelling eastwards towards Italy, bypassing the cosmopolitan cities of Montpelier and Marseille, one comes to the shimmering Côte d’Azur and inland Provence. For many people an idealised France, the region is the height of sophisticated living, be it dining in a quayside restaurant, or sipping a glass of wine in a hilltop café overlooking the sparkling blue Mediterranean.

It would not be unusual to pay 1 million euros (£690,000) or more for a villa located inland with views, and considerably more for one close to the sea and with sea views. That said, a one-bedroom apartment in the centre of Nice, for example, can be picked up for 150,000 euros (£105,000).

The marvelous French Rivera is an attraction worth viewing and taking in the beauty. A must visit for tourists to Monaco, France is the Oceanographic Museum. The building which has been built on the cliffs and its aquarium and museum are all just stupendous. After enjoying the sights in the morning, people generally head towards the restaurant on the terrace for lunch. It is said that a person who has not visited Paris once in their lifetime has missed out on something. The architecture and landscapes are famous the world over. The most famous landmark in France is the Eiffel Tower and together with the many chateaus, perfume houses and the wineries, all combine to make it perhaps the most loved and certainly most visited destinations in the world.

Buying Advice France

When a British citizen purchases a house or apartment in France, he usually regrets the fact that the transfer of the property is subject to French law. The latter provides for forced heirship in favour of the owner’s children – a constraint that does not exist in British law. Source French notaire

Peter Smith, a British national, married Pamela Stowe, who thus became his second wife. The marriage took place in Saint-Jean-de-Luz on 21 October 2003 without a pre-nuptial agreement. The couple resides in England. Mr Smith would like to purchase a second home in France and set up the transfer of this property in favour of his wife. He has three children from a previous marriage and owns both real and movable property in England.

Determining the applicable law

In such a case, the situation is said to include elements of foreign origin: foreign nationality and foreign residence of the persons concerned. Before proposing a few solutions, we must analyse the situation and determine the effect of these elements of foreign origin on the law that applies to the marital regime and to the future succession.

The marital regime
The French notaire must determine the applicable conflict rule and, based on that, must then identify the law governing the marital regime (régime matrimoniale, i.e. the set of legal rules that applies to spouses and their property).

The Hague Convention
The spouses were married after 1 September 1992, the effective date in France of the Hague Convention of 14 March 1978 regarding conflicts of laws pertaining to marital regimes. The determination of the law which applies to the marital regime must therefore be made based on the terms of this convention.

The law of the spouses’ primary residence
Pursuant to Article 4 of the Convention, failing designation of the law prior to the marriage, the marital regime of the spouses is governed by the law of the habitual residence subsequent to the marriage. The spouses are therefore subject to British law. The place where the marriage occurred has little significance. The fact that the law recognised as applicable is that of a country which did not ratify the Convention is also irrelevant. In British law, the notion of marital regime does not exist, and the basic principle governing the financial relations between spouses is that of absolute separation of property.

Law applicable to the succession
Article 3, paragraph 2 of the French Civil Code stipulates that real property located in France, even if it belongs to foreigners, is subject to French law. Other assets (bank accounts, securities, furniture and so forth) are considered as being located in the place of the deceased’s last residence.

French and British law
Real property acquired in France should therefore be transferred according to the rules of the French Civil Code. The rights of the surviving spouse to said property will be those arising from the law of 3 December 2001, codified in Articles 756 et seq. of the French Civil Code. Real property located in England will be transferred according to British law, as will all movable property regardless of its location, provided that the deceased resided in England at the time of his or her death.

Gifts between spouses
Gifts of future property between spouses are not prohibited by British law. In accordance with French law, the forced heirship of children must be respected. The surviving spouse may therefore receive benefits, but only within the limits of the disposable portion between spouses.

Change of marital regime
In French private international law, change of marital regime is subject to the law governing the original regime – in our example, this is British law However, British law is very permissive: the spouses could therefore change regime and governing law, opting to be ruled by French law and the French regime of their choice without judicial approval, given that British law does not provide for any regime. This change of regime and governing law will apply to all their property, whether it is located in France or in England. This may not be the choice made by the Smiths, who may simply wish to settle the legal status of the property located in France.

A limited change of regime
The Hague Convention allows a rather strange transaction. It involves a sort of “dissection” of the marital regime: the real property in France would be subject to French law, while the rest of the parties’ estate would continue to be subject to British law. During the course of the marriage, the spouses may change the law which applies to their marital regime and adopt i) the law of the country of which one of the spouses is a citizen at the time of the designation, ii) the law of the habitual residence at the time of the designation, or iii) the law of the place where the real property acquired or to be acquired is located.

The real property in France would be jointly owned
Article 1397-3, paragraph 3 of the French Civil Code, derived from the law of 28 October 1997, therefore allows spouses to choose the marital regime of their choice directly within French law. For example, they could decide to establish joint ownership of the property located in France and include in this arrangement a clause whereby the property would pass to the surviving spouse. This would not require judicial approval since it entails application of the Hague Convention and Article 1397-3, paragraph 3 of the French Civil Code, which authorises such a decision between spouses.

Forced heirship of the children
The clause establishing joint ownership, even if limited to the home located in France, constitutes an avantage matrimonial (i.e. a benefit not subject to inheritance tax). The children born of Mr Smith’s first marriage can claim their forced heirship by bringing a divestment action (action en retranchement, i.e. the right to claim the avantages matrimoniaux received by the surviving spouse). The way to prevent the children from bringing this action would be to adopt them, since after the adoption, the children from a spouse’s first marriage will be considered as “born of both spouses”. Unfortunately, British law, which is applicable to the conditions of the adoption, allows adoption of minor children only. Adopting the spouse’s children will thus not always be possible.

Property investment partnerships and their tax disadvantages
As stated above, the transfer of personal property, with regard to succession, is subject to the law of the deceased’s last place of residence. Under French law, shares in a company or partnership interests are considered movable property. If, upon the death of the pre-deceased spouse, the latter resided in England, this property may be transferred in accordance with British law, which does not include the notion of forced heirship. One possibility, therefore, is to advise Mr Smith to create a property investment partnership and to make a will bequeathing the shares to his spouse.

Estate taxes in France
Article 4-g of the Franco-British Convention of 21 June 1963 regarding inheritance taxes stipulates that shares of a property investment partnership are taxable in the place where the real property is “used”, namely in France.

Income tax in England
British tax law regards property investment partnership as joint stock companies and taxes the advantage derived from the gratuitous provision of the residence by the company to its partners as income tax in England. This income may exceed the real market rental value (Income and Corporation Taxes Act of 1988, Articles 145 and 146).

Preference given to a change of marital regime
These two serious tax consequences prompt notaires to advise their clients to make a partial change to their marital regime rather than automatically resort to a property investment partnership. However, in making the decision, one must take into consideration the value of the real property located in France, which may be less than the €76,000 tax allowance. The impact of the taxation in England must also be weighed against the notional income from the real property in France.