This week, we introduce you to Henry Howard-Vyse, who moved to Mortain in Normandy with his wife, Tessa, earlier this year.
The couple were already familiar with the area.
“We had been coming here on holiday off and on for the last 10 years or so and decided that this was the place we wanted to be, an area we knew and liked, with lots of interesting things for people to do when they come to see us.”
Henry says the decision to move to France can be traced back to a specific time in their lives.
“The catalyst was a combination of events back home in the UK, with both my parents passing away, Tessa’s father dying, us reaching a certain stage in our jobs and our children setting out on their own paths. We had always planned to retire abroad, outside the UK, and about 18 months ago we decided that France was the preferred option. We started looking for a property to buy in early Spring last year and were lucky enough to find this house relatively quickly. “
It was at the point of signing the Acte de Vente (completion of the purchase) for their house in France that Henry and Tessa realised they had a big problem. Fortunately, help was only a phone call away!
Richard Hammond, founder of French Connections HCB, first met Henry and Tessa at the ‘A Place In The Sun’ exhibition in London 14 months ago.
Henry explains, “Richard was speaking at the event and we had a long chat with him afterwards. He helped us enormously with general things to look out for when buying a house, plus things to think about with visas and cars and health care. After that conversation, we thought it probably made sense to sign up for the full Moving To France package and it has definitely proved worthwhile.”
The full package covers every step of the administrative journey and gives our clients access to the expertise of the entire French Connections team, as well as our trusted partners. In Henry and Tessa’s case, that support was crucial hours before they were due to take possession of their new home.
“We had a bit of a hiccup with the house purchase in that when we came over to France after signing the ‘compromis’, which is a commitment to purchase, we met the sellers and agreed that they would clean out the barn and the workshop of all their detritus.”
Unfortunately, things didn’t go to plan.
“When we arrived at the house in the morning of Completion, which we were due to sign in the afternoon, we encountered two issues. First of all, the sellers hadn’t cleaned out the barn and the workshop as agreed. They were both still full of all sorts of empty light bulb boxes, bits of carpet, old number plates and general rubbish! But there was also a bigger issue; the sellers had left hand-written instructions in the kitchen as to how to turn the heating on and make sure the hot water was working. We followed their instructions to the letter and suddenly had a flood, so we weren’t quite sure what was going on.”
Racing against the clock, Henry and Tessa were very grateful to have backup from the FCHCB team.
“The heating was flooding the house so we shut everything down and got straight on the phone to Richard at FCHCB, who was brilliant. He phoned our notary straight away and said, right, we’ve got a problem that needs to be resolved. Our notary, Maître Françoise Calmels, was absolutely fantastic. When we went through to do the signing, she and Juliette from FCHCB were both on the call, and Françoise told the sellers’ notary that we would agree to complete the sale but with a retention until these issues are resolved. The sellers were not happy, but they realised it was either that or we were going to pull out. From our point of view, the situation was extremely well handled.”
The support from the FCHCB team didn’t stop there.
“Juliette and Françoise were excellent in getting contractors to come and have a look at the problem and getting it solved. It was 2-3 weeks until we were able to use the heating in the main house and it was February, so it wasn’t ideal but the log burners in the house were working and our neighbour was very kind in helping us find a log supplier. Luckily, the house that we bought also has a gite and the heating was working in there, so we were able to trot across and have hot showers. Although it felt like we were camping for a bit, it was by no means unworkable. It was just (to use a favourite expression of my father’s) an ’embuggerance’!”
Like many people who move to France, the idea of running a gite was an integral part of the plan for Henry and Tessa.
“It was always our intention to buy somewhere with a gite attached. In fact, one of the conversations we had with Richard and Juliette quite early on was that, although we have come over on a retirement visa just to keep things simple for Year One, we would be looking to make sure we can operate the gite when we start the process of renewing that visa this autumn. At the moment, the gite is just sitting empty and is used as and when friends and relations come to stay, but the intention is very much to run it as a lettable property, so we need to be part of a visa system that allows us to do that. We’re aware that the French government is moving goalposts all the time and regulations change, but from what Richard has told us, it should be fairly straightforward.”
Five months into their French adventure, Henry and Tessa have been getting to know their neighbours.
“Our house is in a hamlet. The nearest neighbour is a retired French farmer and his wife who speak very little English but are very friendly and we get on well with them. There is a little holiday cottage directly opposite us, which has been bought by an English chap who has been in France off and on for 20 years and we think he is going to be living there on a reasonably permanent basis. We understand that he may be looking to put an extension on his property to house a classic car, so I’ve let Juliette from FCHCB know that we might need help with understanding how planning applications work in France, the legal notifications and that sort of thing. On the other side of us we have a French neighbour who has been very kind in helping me negotiate the purchase of a lawnmower and he brings us fresh eggs from his chickens. There’s another neighbour who has been away quite a lot, but we’ve established contact now. And then there are two other holiday cottages around, we think one is British-owned and one French-owned. While they didn’t initially make the first move, we have now established communication with most of them and they have been open and friendly and delighted to hear that we are here full time, rather than coming and going.”
Henry is fully aware that speaking a little bit more French will help a lot. “Our French is basic, but we started proper French lessons last week and we are going right back to schoolboy/schoolgirl level. We both understand much more than we can speak and Google Translate is our friend!”
As they live in a rural area, a vehicle is essential so Henry and Tessa enlisted the help of FCHCB to import their car.
“The HCB team have been brilliant in helping me import and register my old Landrover. They made an appointment for me with a local contrôle technique (MOT) centre, which identified a few minor things that needed to be done, basically swapping over the fog light and reversing light. When the work was complete, I went back to the contrôle technique centre and the FCHCB team sent off all the forms for me for the French registration. The entire process took just 7 weeks so now I have French number plates and a French carte grise. It was very quick.”
With visas and cars sorted, Lou from the FCHCB team is now organising Henry and Tessa’s French health cover.
“The process for applying for our ‘carte Vitale’ has begun. Last week we sent Lou an up to date utility bill, which is one of the required documents, so hopefully that will all happen just as smoothly.”
With French Connections HCB involved in so many areas of their lives in France, how important has the team’s support and expertise been to Henry and Tessa?
“Invaluable! Organising the retention money when we had that last-minute hiccup with the house purchase is a good example. In the very short time between identifying the problem and signing the completion documents, Tessa and I thought maybe 5,000 euros should be held back as retention, but Richard and Francoise very quickly said ‘No, in order to get this sorted fast and to make the sellers really think about it, we’re going to tell them 15,000 euros retention or you will walk away’. We followed their advice, and that retention money has now been released because both issues were resolved. The sellers arranged for friends of theirs to come and clear out the sheds and the heating problem was finally sorted. While the notary for the sellers did speak very good English, Juliette from FCHCB was in the room with Françoise to keep us abreast of what was going on. It was quite interesting to hear the legalese going backwards and forwards during the negotiations!”
Henry summarises his appreciation of the Moving To France services he has experienced so far.
“When you combine that last-minute hiccup with all the other help we’ve had from FCHCB in arranging not just our visas but health insurance, vehicle insurance, getting the vehicle imported and registered, as well as the knowledge that we’ve got backup support if our neighbour goes for a planning application, finding doctors, that sort of thing… French Connections HCB are a very friendly, approachable team at the other end of an email or a phone whenever we say ‘Help!’ Initially we thought the full service package looked expensive, but having bitten the bullet we are very glad we did. As well as the next stage of the visa application and the carte Vitale, we know we can rely on the FCHCB team’s assistance with any other issues, and that is very comforting.”
Henry has kindly agreed to chat to us again this time next year when he and Tessa will have had their gite up and running for its first season. We are very much looking forward to hearing their stories!
Meanwhile, if you are moving to France, or are already here and encountering some administrative challenges, we invite you to book an initial 30 minute one-to-one video consultation with Richard or one of our team. The consultation costs 90 euros, but that amount is fully deductible from the first service you book with us. You can also visit our YouTube channel for information, ‘How To’ videos and client interviews.
We look forward to helping you whichever way you choose.
