Hi all,

I have a question which has not been answered properly up to now.
I'm living in Switzerland with a B permit and I'm non EU. Am I allowed to buy an apartment/house in France? Does buying a place mean I can live there? (Since France is so close and nice, I might be thinking of living there as well).

Thanks,

I don't know if you can buy a place there without residency. But I do know your Swiss permit does not give you any rights to live in France. You must apply for a resident permit in France.

Additionally you should be aware of the capital gains tax in France on property sales...

Is it possible, can I apply for a resident permit in France with my job in Switzerland?

I don't know. You should try a French expat site as well as trying to search on here. www.expatforum.com. Choose France up at the top.

buying a property in France is easy, taxes & costs of 5 year old or more will be about 10%, You don't need to be a resident.
Capital Gains tax on second home between reduces from 5 to 15 years, the liability drops 10% a year. If it's your main home for 2 years then there is no capital gains tax.
In France there is a tax d'habitation & tax d'fonciere to pay in any case.

I prefer Italy, but I'm waiting for the country to become bankrupt and for its return to the Lira. Then it will be the right moment to buy my retirement villetta

I can reaffirm my commitment to purchase property at the right moment in bankrupt Italy
Barclays Says Italy Is Finished: "Mathematically Beyond Point Of No Return"

Do you happen to know how much these taxes are, or have any links to sites that explain them?

I'm sorry but I don't think it will work to live in France. You would need a visa long sejour (long stay visa) and apply for it from your home country (or last country of residence might be possible). You have to have a good reason for living in France and working across the border won't work - we have some American friends working in Basel who wanted the same thing but they're restricted to living in Switzerland.

I'm married to a French so I'm able to live in France but it was still a lot of paperwork and run around! At best, you can buy property but only live there 3 months at a time. I'm sure people find illegal means of getting around things.

That sucks! What happened to the human rights? I should be able to live and work wherever I like as long as I obey the rules of the community and not disturb others

I'm not willing to do it illegally anyway.
Thanks for the help to all of you.

That's what all those Mexicans in the U.S. would be saying as well, wouldn't they? And they have a point. But it's not how immigration law works.

The agent will have details, in a Ski resort a studio flat both taxes could be 1000 euro, a nice house with a pool in the middle of nowhere could be less! So you have to ask the specific question. TV tax is 123 euro a year.

I think our total taxes on our (rather large) house in Alsace are something between 1500 and 2000 Eu per year. Some of them have been factored out independently in recent years, like water/drainage and rubbish collection (now weighed on collection) so I can't be sure.

Although I think your "human rights" plea is a bit lame, I don't see why you shouldn't try to apply for a permit. The only thing they can do is say no. You can apply from Switzerland as that is your country of residence.

I know, I'm being a bit sarcastic on this as well

But I will try & apply, I cannot lose anything other than my time in the end.

You can own a number of flats in any EU state where foreigners can buy, but you MUST have a Swiss residential address.

In other words there is nothing illegal if you own a secondary residence in France.

P.S. address in Geneva can be as much as 400 fr. nowdays.