Sounds like you will be much happier in France. Good luck.
Until he tries to sell his house in France. Properties throughout South have become harder and harder to sell , combined with fact immobiliers charge 9%( we got it down to 5%, just sold two in Derbyshire at 1%)..some good news tho...if you do sell repatriating cash at moment is great. Just took us two years to sell ...brexit made us 19% with weak pound.
Mind if land is involved ( a big garden, allotment or field) you,ll have 3 months to wait for cash..whilst government decide if they want to buy the land ? ! ( seriously) Then there are notaire fees to pay..another 9%...oh and if you,ve made any cash after that they hit you with capital gains.. Yes France is great.. Well its sunny. Oh and if you had a survey when you bought, bin it now. Its not worth paper its written on..and another thing. Make sure your land is very well fenced off..our Marie decided half an acre of our land was owned by village...Pinched it back whilst we were in UK..hence the sale and about £15 k thrown away going to court. Yep he,ll love France.
Couldn't find any eu legislation throughout this French were willing to follow.
Loved time there tho, people friendly...windy sunny , food great. Its not uk tho..takes about 5 years. That's expectancy of ex pats in south France. I did 9.
And before somebody says why didn't you check deeds or landregistry on purchase. You cant. Notaire holds them, ones he had showed we,d bought land. The ones Marie held showed Village did...now guess who they believed..
If I were you derf I,d buy the suit of armour. You,ll have loads more fun and it will be cheaper.
Ps my story isn't isolated. Problems like this are common. One set of friends bought land already with planning permission. They planned on building 2 years before retirement. ( was to be in 5 years) All fine...6 months later they received notification their planning permis ran out in 2 months. Didn't have time to build, land dropped in value to tune of £40k. Another couple we know had a house built. On taking possession many faults were found. They took builder to court, he arranged bankruptcy. Firm went. He set up in a different name. House has now stood empty 4 years, cant be used pending investigation further court cases. It must be insured and tax fonciere must be paid..if not it becomes uninhabitable ( for good)under French law...(that's why you see so many uninhabited properties in France, well that and their odd probate laws) This couple are renting and paying for this one standing empty.
I,m not making any of this up, all 3 from our small village. Not making a point but all three cases mentioned are ex pat Brits.
Derf...I,m an out voter and the only delusional thinking I,ve ever done was buying a bloody house in France. Good luck with yours.