Once again, Michael Taylor joins us from the French estate agency, Properties in France. Michael is a regular contributor. Hello Michael. So what is on the cards for today?

Hi everyone. Today, I thought I would touch on the cost of living in France. I have chosen the theme following a question from one of our prospective clients who was worried that, as they were retired, they might not be able to afford to live in France.

Of course, I disabused them of the idea, as I believe it is substantially cheaper to live in France than in the UK.

I suppose the biggest gripe that most UK residents have is the Council Tax – do you have similar taxes in France.

Yes we do, except they are substantially lower.

We do in fact have two taxes payable on a property. The taxe d’habitation and the taxe fonci�re. These pay for the local services. Things like refuse collection, schools, community services as well as contributing to departmental and regional expenses for road construction and so on.

The taxe d’habitation, which is the residence tax, is payable by whoever is living in the property on the 1st January of each year. The tax is paid in arrears, generally in the autumn – I have just had mine for this year!

This tax can vary considerably depending upon location. You will inevitably pay more if you live in a town or city than if you live in a hamlet or the countryside. Let me use my own circumstances as an example. I live in a large farmhouse, built two hundred years ago, that is fully restored. We have a large lounge, large country style kitchen, two bedrooms, both en-suite.