Vive la difference!

By ISABELLE KASSAM
Updated: 11:24 EST, 16 March 2006

SOARING property prices have prompted British families to up sticks, move to France and become Channel-hopping commuters.

The lifestyle change is particularly tempting for families living in the South-East of England where there is a shortage of new homes, and property values are rising faster than in other parts of the UK. Just across the Channel a better standard of living awaits.

Maggie Kelly runs L'Abri-Tanique Residential in Hesdin, near Calais, an estate agency that specialises in selling properties to UK families. 'Some of the properties we sell are for holiday homes, but many are being bought by families who have decided to move to France for good,' she explains.

'About half of those families have at least one parent commuting back to the UK for work.'

One of the biggest attractions for families moving to France is the size of the property they can buy for their money.

L'abri-Tanique has a two-bedroom townhouse for €145,000 (£99,560) which would cost around £140,000 in the UK, and a five-bedroom dwelling in the countryside at €117,000 (£80,334) which would be about £300,000 in Britain.

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Lower mortgage rates are also a big plus for families moving to France. While a big deposit - of up to 20% - is required, the interest rates tend to be lower than in the UK and within the 3.9% to 4.5% range. Rates can also be fixed for the life of the mortgage to make family budgeting easier.

It is possible to arrange finance in the UK before you start house hunting. Specialists in buying foreign property such as Hove-based broker Conti Financial can help. And if you are using the equity raised from selling a UK house, you should consider using a currency specialist such as Moneycorp to move your funds overseas. It can normally get a much better exchange rate than your High Street bank.

There are other financial considerations. Water bills and council taxes are much cheaper than in the UK. Healthcare has to be paid for, but around 70% of that can be claimed back if you are paying National Insurance in the UK and have an European Health Insurance Card.

Parents who have struggled to find a suitable school for their children in the UK can also see the attraction of France's tiny village schools. British children are offered extra French lessons to help them settle in and make new friends quickly.

KATE and Mark Graves moved their family to Le Quesnoy En Arbois last July because they realised they could never afford the same lifestyle in the UK.

They gave up their three-bedroom semi in Maidstone, Kent, for a property about an hour's drive from Calais which includes a three-bedroom house, two two-bedroom gites, three acres of land and a large swimming pool.

'Including taxes and fees we paid €250,000 (£171,699) for the property when a similar one would have cost £1m in England,' explains Mark, 36, a quantity surveyor. 'I still work in the UK, travelling back three times a week depending on my workload. It means I have a few long days when I leave home at 4.15am and don't get back until very late, but it is worth it for all the extra time I get to spend with the family.'

Mark makes use of a deal for frequent Eurotunnel users which allows him to travel from Calais to Folkestone for £12.50 each way instead of £40. His council tax and water bills have more than halved and eating out is inexpensive.

Karen, 35, looks after the two gites which are rented out for extra income. The couple's two daughters, Royan, nine, and Ciara, eight, recently received glowing reports from the local village primary school.