Coronavirus Travel Update

As of 17/03/2020, the UK Government is advising against all non-essential travel abroad for an initial period of 30 days.

At the moment most cross channel services are still operating including Brittany Ferries, DFDS, Eurostar and The Shuttle, albeit on reduced timetables, in both directions.

However travel in France is severely restricted by Presidential decree: people are not allowed to leave their homes or be on the roads unless they have a printed off declaration with them, to explain why they are out.

There are five reasons the general public are allowed outside their homes and they are as follows:

- travel to work, only if working from home is impossible.

- going to pick up essential supplies, from Government approved establishments.

- for health reasons ie. doctor or hospital appointments (though increasingly patients are taken to hospital by the army).

- for family reasons, to attend to someone vulnerable, either a dependent child or elderly relative.

- taking a dog for a walk, or individual exercise but people must remain close to home to do this.

In terms of travelling through France (say driving off the tunnel or ferry), this is only permitted under the following circumstances:

- If you are returning to to your main residence.

- Essential work in France.

- If you are medical staff.

So yes, you can enter for those reasons but once there must abide by the restrictions above, which initially remain in place for two weeks.

So at the moment in France, every time you leave your home you need to fill in a form, and it needs to be a new form for each trip. The form can be downloaded here (although the Interior Ministry's site was clearly struggling with traffic levels on Tuesday morning).

Hope that helps to clarify the position, we will keep you updated as the situation develops, and of course keep sending you lovely properties so that you can enjoy browsing from home for the time being!

Stay Well and if you want some interesting reading then you can of course Get Your Free PDF Guide to Health Care in France here

Kind regards, 
Sharon Evans 
Founder of Clé France.

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Coronavirus Update

As most of you will be aware President Macron has issued a Presidential Decree that all non essential business in France be closed for the next two weeks.

This has meant that estate agencies in France have closed, and property viewings are currently suspended, with estate agents working from home.

However, the Clé France office is continuing to work normally: our website is being continually updated, we continue to advertise our listings on major property portals, and we are available to clients as usual on email (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

Our service remains uninterrupted, so do please continue to browse the website and send in your enquiries as usual, we will respond to them as quickly as possible.

We will keep you updated via our newsletters on the situation in France, and our agents, who will of course strictly follow all government directives in these matters, hope to resume property viewings as soon as the current restrictions are lifted.

A lot of our clients at the moment are taking the opportunity of downloading our Free PDF Guides covering many aspects of buying and selling property abroad. The guides give you expert advice about the buying process in France, Brexit, French Healthcare, Currency Exchange and much more.

Most importantly, I wish all our clients, colleagues and their families well.

We are all in this together and we will get through it together.

Kind regards, 
Sharon Evans 
Co-Founder of Cle France.

Brexit: No Changes during transition period

As Brexit day approaches the UK Government and official bodies remind those living in and travelling to France that current rules relating to passports, healthcare rights, pensions and travel remain the same throughout 2020.

Whatever changes take place will only happen after December 31st 2020 so plenty of time for the continued #Brexodus of people, possibly like yourself, spurned on to make the move to France and achieve settled status in 2020.

If it is a holiday home you desire then no change there either, we sell as many French properties to Americans, South Africans, Australians etc. as we do to Brits! and they were of course never in the EU.

But with only Days until Brexit. What Next for the Pound?

After a strong performance last week, the Pound now sits just below highs for the year against the Euro.

With only days until the Brexit process starts there is a lot of uncertainty around what will happen in the coming weeks and months, and is likely to trigger much volatility in Sterling.

If you’re making a transaction soon, or are worried about future rates, please do get in touch for further guidance, simply reply to this email or to find out the latest exchange rates, simply request a quote below.

Why not grab a quote from one of my colleagues at Key Currency, they offer a best rate guarantee.

Click here for a Quick Quote.

Kind regards,
David Evans
Co-Founder of Clé France.

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