End to ‘bill shock’ as EU mobile roaming charges are slashed

New rules that slash roaming charges for using mobile phones in other European countries have come into effect.

Controversial roaming charges holidaymakers pay to use their mobile phones in another European country will come down dramatically and are set to disappear altogether from 2017 following EU intervention.

For several years the European commission has been battling with the big mobile providers to force through cuts to the cost of making cross-border calls and using data in another country – the much hated roaming charges that leave many in “bill shock”.

Following lengthy negotiations, the EU announced in October last year that it will ban these charges from June 2017. Monthly call allowances will then apply across the EU as if the user were in their home country.

In the interim, the EU has put a cap on the amount operators can charge – which has just come into force. A roaming surcharge can now be no more than:

• €0.05 extra per minute for calls.

• €0.02 extra per SMS sent.

• €0.05 extra per MB of data.

Previous reductions have already seen the cost of roaming within the EU fall by 75% since they were first brought in, the European commission says.

Today’s changes mean EU roaming charges will fall by at least a third. Call costs will go down from around 16p a minute – typically what is added to cross-border calls – to a more palatable 4.4p. Data charges – the cost of accessing the web with a smartphone – will typically come down from 17.4p per MB to 4.3p. Such charges have often caught out unwary travellers, landing some with bills running into thousands of pounds.

However, it should be noted that contrary to what is said on the big phone company websites, roaming charges are levied on top of the cost of a UK call. So if you make a five-minute call from Madrid to Manchester, five minutes of your calls allowance is used, plus you pay the top-up rate of 4.4p a minute – a total 22p to the UK operator.

If you’ve used up your monthly calls allowance it starts to get very expensive. Most of the big operators – EE, Vodafone and O2 – typically charge 40p-45p a minute for calls made outside the allowance, so those roaming can be paying almost 50p a minute to call home.

Make a pay-as-you-go call and you’ll be charged around 30p-a-minute plus a 4p roaming top up.

The cost of receiving a call from the UK while you are abroad has also come down from around 4.4p to either 1p a minute or free, depending on the operator. EE charges 1p a minute while Vodafone, Tesco and O2 have scrapped them entirely.

Mobile phone users will now have to decide if it is worth their while paying extra for holiday roaming deals or bolt-ons. For example, EE offers unlimited calls and 100MB of data a day in Europe, but that costs £4. It remains a good deal if you make lots of calls – but if you are only making the odd call and not accessing data the extra expense is not worth it.

Other big firms offer similar deals – check out the best ones offered by your provider before you head to the airport. Data deals are particularly good value if you don’t have Wi-Fi where you are staying, and still want to update Facebook or search online.

If you roam a lot you may be better off switching provider. Three has led the way with its Feel at Home tariff which won’t charge anything extra to call or text the UK or for data use in 18 countries, including many in Europe, the US, Australia and New Zealand.

Carphone Warehouse-owned iD network is also worth considering for frequent travellers looking to avoid roaming charges before 2017. Its TakeAway tariffs include free roaming in 29 countries including the whole of the EU, the US and Australia. Plans start at £12.50 a month for a sim-only 12-month contract.

Tesco Mobile announced this week that it is scrapping extra roaming charges for its customers travelling to any of 31 European countries between 23 May until midnight 3 September.

Note, most of the above prices only apply if you are visiting another EU country, which excludes a number of popular tourist destinations – for example, Turkey. Visitors there this summer will typically pay £1.20-£1.50 a minute to make calls, and a frightening £6 per MB of data downloaded. Tourists to other non-EU countries face similar charges. You have been warned.

What you will save

Let’s assume that Jane is heading to Paris for the weekend. She makes three five-minute phone calls to home in Manchester, sends five texts and uses her banking app, checks the weather forecast and gets around the city with a mapping app, adding up to a total 20MB of data.

Let’s also assume that Jane is on a Vodafone pay-monthly contract with a certain number of minutes and data, and that she hasn’t exceeded her monthly limits.

Last week in Paris she would have had to pay £2.47 for the calls, 25p for the texts and £3.48 for the data – a total of £6.20.

From this weekend she will pay 64.5p for the calls, 4.5p for the texts and 86p for the data – £1.55 in total.

So from Saturday she’ll be saving a total of £4.65. Happy holidays!

Part of the content of this blog was originally posted on the Guardian website.

Blog submitted by: Alex at The French Property Network - Cle France.

EU Referendum – will all British expats be included?

Judgement on British expats’ right to vote in EU Referendum is delayed for further consideration.

The Conservative’s 2015 manifesto, which was the backbone of their successful campaign and lead to the formation of the first Conservative majority government since 1992, included a pledge to scrap the rule that prevents British expats from voting in UK elections once they have lived overseas for 15 years.

However, no proposals have yet been made to change the legislation, so British expats who have lived overseas for more than 15 years who wish to vote in the June EU Referendum will not be able to do so.

At least that is the current situation. If 94-year-old Harry Shindler, a Second World War veteran living in Italy, and lawyer and Belgium resident Jacquelyn MacLennan are successful with their challenge, at least two million more British expats may be able to vote on 23 June.

Both claim that under the EU Referendum Act 2015 they are being denied the right to vote on the UK’s continued membership of the EU. Lawyers representing the expats took the case to the High Court in London on 20 April to seek a judicial review of the legislation.

If Successful

If successful says Richard Stein of Leigh Day, the lawyers for the claimants, “the judicial review should require the Government to rush through amending legislation to change the franchise for the forthcoming referendum in June 2016.”

During the court hearing on 20 April, the QC representing the government told the court that if the claimants won their case, it would be impossible to implement all the necessary steps needed to include them and still keep to the planned for date of 23 June. (QC is Queen’s Counsel – a senior barrister who has shown outstanding ability in complex cases and is awarded Queen’s Counsel status.)

In answer to questions as to why an expat who has lived overseas since for more than 30 years really cares whether the UK votes to stay in or out, the claimants’ QC told the court that his clients are, “not ex-pats but Britons in Europe” and that it was “not that they had left or given up on the UK, but every day of their daily lives they are relying on the fact of their British citizenship and membership of the UK in the EU”.

At the end of the High Court hearing, Lord Justice Jones and Mr Justice Blake told the government’s QCs that due to the complexity of the case they would need time for further consideration, but that they appreciated the “importance and urgency” of the matter.

Certainly, if a decision is not made soon there will not be time to set up the systems required to gather and record potentially two million more overseas votes.

Part of the content of this blog was originally posted on the Anglo Info website.

Blog submitted by: Alex at The French Property Network - Cle France.

Brits Can't get Enough

Despite doubts over UK citizens about whether to stay in Europe, when it comes to European real estate, the Brits can’t get enough.

That’s the conclusion from the latest Top of the Props report from leading consumer property website 'The Move Channel', which saw Europe take five out of March’s Top 10 destination places.

The survey showed that demand for European real estate rose, led by France with Spanish property in second place and Portugal in third, even though the pound has recently declined against the Euro due to the uncertainly over the Brexit vote in June.

At Cle France viewing trips are up by 37% year on year even with April showers!

Despite Brexit doubts, Brits still love European Property.

Spanish property drew 5.63% of total activity on the website, up from 3.48% in February 2016, while Portugal accounted for 2.86%. Turkey is in fourth on 2.86%, re-entering the Top Five for the second time in the first three months of 2016.

North America property also made a strong showing, with USA remaining the top destination, accounting for 13.45% of all enquiries and Canada also holding steady in fifth place on 2.61%.

The Move Channel Director Dan Johnson says, “Britain may be debating a Brexit, but buyers are still in love with European property"

“Despite the pound weakening against the euro in recent months, demand remains strong for the continent’s familiar holiday home hotspots, with Spain, Portugal, Italy and France all still in the Top Ten destinations"

Ask Cle France a Question.

Cle France have Property for sale in France through a large network of around 150 Cle France Agents who are French Registered Estate Agents.

Cle France add hundreds of new French property for sale added everyday! SIGN UP to our mailing list to keep up to date.

We have over 8000 houses for sale in France ranging from cheap houses to renovate right up to Luxury Dream Homes and perfectly charming Holiday Homes for sale. Countryside, town, village and coastal property for sale.

Create an account so that you can Save individual Properties and Searches on the website. Any updates to those properties and searches will be emailed to you on a regular basis.

Blog submitted by: Alex at The French Property Network - Cle France.

Changes to Notaires’ fees makes buying a French Property cheaper.

Recent reforms to Notaires’ fees will be coming into effect on 1st May 2016 and they will allow Notaires to be able to offer discounts to French Property Buyers, making your French property purchase even cheaper, yes that means you!

More Good News.

The reforms are part of the "Loi Macron" which has the aim of making French Property more commercially competitive and this is always welcome news for British buyers of French property especially as compared to the UK, French property is amazing value already.

Maximum Fees in place for the first time.

From 1st May 2016 the maximum fee a Notaire will be able to charge is 10% of the sale price with a minimum fee of 90 euros. This could result in substantial savings of up to 70% on low value property purchases.

As an Example - Buying a plot of land for €3,000 will now only incur a Notaire’s fee of 300 euros instead of the previous 900 euros.

For sales of 150,000 euros or more Notaires will be able to offer a discretionary discount of up to 10% of their fees. A key point however is that they are 'not required to tell the buyer' that this discretionary discount is available and so buyers should establish if this discount is to be applied at the outset and obtain written confirmation of any discount given.

However don't get too excited as these discounts only apply to the actual "Notaire’s fee" part of the Notaire's fee, let me explain...

The discretionary discount is available only on the part of the Notaire's fee that the Notaire earns, not to the taxes and charges which the Notaire collects for the government on completion. The term ‘Frais de Notaire’ (Notaire’s Fees) includes these taxes and charges and so the discount doesn’t apply to the whole amount.

So good news, we all like a discount and a saving after all and as a general point this change will only make the cost of buying a property in France cheaper than before so that is a welcome step.

Ask Cle France a Question.

Cle France have Property for sale in France through a large network of around 150 Cle France Agents who are French Registered Estate Agents.

Cle France add hundreds of new French property for sale added everyday! SIGN UP to our mailing list to keep up to date.

We have over 8000 houses for sale in France ranging from cheap houses to renovate right up to Luxury Dream Homes and perfectly charming Holiday Homes for sale. Countryside, town, village and coastal property for sale.

Create an account so that you can Save individual Properties and Searches on the website. Any updates to those properties and searches will be emailed to you on a regular basis.

Blog submitted by: Alex at The French Property Network - Cle France.

This week the Government provided every household in the UK with a leaflet that sets out why the Government believes that voting to remain in the EU is the best decision for the UK.

The leaflet was delivered to households in England from 11 – 13 April, ahead of their local election period and in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland throughout the week commencing 9 May to avoid disruption ahead of their local elections.

If you did not get the leaflet then download your own copy here.

Keep up to date with the EU Referendum debate and all manner of news by visiting the Cle France 'News in General' Blog pages.

Or Visit GOV.UK for more information and to access the source information for the EU referendum leaflet.

Blog submitted by: Alex at The French Property Network - Cle France.