Clé France

Rates, or Council taxes are another point of contention. These taxes in Britain are extortionate. You can only surmise whether councils and local government in general are incredibly inefficient, or if there is a great deal of corruption.

Britain certainly has a lot of grossly overpaid people in local government. It seems obscene that in Tower Hamlets in London, hardly a wealthy area, that there were nine council employees in 2007 earning over £100,000. Does anyone ever question what these people actually do for their money?

In London boroughs alone there are 194 people who are paid more than £100k and overall in England some 500 staff in local government receive over this sum. Mention this to a local government officer in France and you get whistles of total disbelief mixed with a lot of Gallic huffing and puffing. These are extraordinary salaries and they do not really match the job responsibilities.

In France they go out of their way to keep rates down to the barest minimum and yet they manage to provide as good if not better services than anywhere in the UK. The mayoral form of government in France works well. The mayor has the power, is usually well-known to his constituents, does not take freebies on the rates and in fact, gets a very small stipend.

Above all, the mayor is up for re-election every seven years so should he not get it right he is voted out. In most places the post is part-time and the mayor has to rely on his day job for a living, so helping the rates to be kept low.

In Britain the authorities are currently looking for ways to increase communal taxes, for example by charging for everyone’s view, which is, in all honesty, risible were it not so monstrous, but it could happen.

In France they prefer to look for ways to reduce the rates.

Fraser Blake, 70, author of 'Dear Chips' and 'A Rant Too Far?' grew up in Africa, was at school in Scotland, and worked for the British South Africa Police in Southern Rhodesia. He has taught English in Saudi Arabia and sold and renovated hundreds of properties in Northern France.

In 1998 Fraser was selling houses in the Mayenne department of the Pays de la Loire region and so was the obvious choice, when Cle France was started, to be their first agent on the ground in France. In retirement he writes, blogs, cooks, drinks wine, and hosts to dinner unlimited numbers of ex-pats.

Always on hand with a viewpoint, Fraser is going to share his views on France, the French and the British, and other people who buy in France. Sometimes informative, sometimes funny, painfully true, outrageously opinionated but always entertaining so we hope it adds a slightly different dimension to the usual normality of searching through the fantastic properties for sale on the Cle France website.

If you want more? then follow the links above where you can buy Fraser's published books.