Overseas property buyers 'need to do research'

Those moving abroad to countries such as France need to do plenty of research to make the move work, it has been advised.

Rhiannon Davies from Shelter Offshore told the Daily Telegraph: "Assumption is an expat's potential downfall."

She added: "Anyone thinking about going to live abroad needs to do masses of research before they commit to the move if they want to avoid all nasty surprises."

One of these is that anyone moving to France usually needs to prove they own a French property before they can open a bank account there.

Another recommendation offered in the paper came from Danny Cox, a chartered financial adviser at Hargreaves Lansdown.

He explained that those looking to make improvements to a French property and seeking to use equity release to pay for it will find a three-month application process to be the norm, as is the requirement to stipulate what the money will be used for.

French property prospects may have received a boost following a recent International Monetary Fund report.

It said that the country will see its gross domestic product increase by 0.9 per cent in 2010, compared with 0.3 per cent for the eurozone overall.

Like this? Then share with your friends and colleagues!