Debra

[quote]Why don't you just leave them alone! One of our pleasures is to see herons flying and coming on the water near us. I shall try to find out if these two birds are protected and if they are I shall ce...[/quote] what about the pecheurs (or fishery owners - have you seen the price of fish to stock a lake?)?

[quote]Hello Look instead of going down the air rifle route why don't you get a professional in to control your problem. They understand what is needed and can solve your problem ni a quick and efficient ma...[/quote] Is there a problem or only anticipation of a possible one?  I've read that coypu are common in France but how common are herons and cormorants?  How would a professional do it?  I've heard with coypu they put poison down, which isn't very good when there are kids and other animals around (not sure about the legality of shooting these either though), but what would they do about herons and cormorants?

[quote]Because they were there first? Not to mention having no other means of feeding themselves or their family, unlike some....[/quote] I guess you must let the poor fox feed his starving family with your pet chickens then?

That's where I'm confused, Hegs, is the poster selling an 'idea' or a 'design'?  If the former, then is he looking for someone to come along and design and implement the idea? Or if he really has a design as per the subject heading, then how has he produced it and if using UML, is he just looking for someone to implement it so he can then sell the product himself, or for someone to buy the design and take over the implementation and marketing?  Or for both someone to help with each stage of development, and/also someone to invest in it, while retaining control over the product?

[quote]So far just basics, but the classes are only now restarting and the levels will alter in time. I am keeping in hand the idea of offering private lessons, have got all the details if I decide to go dow...[/quote] I'll bear it in mind - at least I now now its not a no-goer!  Thanks for the info and good luck to you.

Doesn't it just get shortened to 'Lance' nowadays?  At least that's my nephew's name and I assume that Lancelot is the original of it............

Its ok - got it eventually.  Tried to delete my last message but no 'delete' button appears!

Just tried this link to show my hubby, who was away when I viewed it before, but can't get it to work now - has it been removed?

[quote]Hi there,I teach IT skills, and business / general English. I had teaching experience in the UK, but they were more interested in my business experience. Touch wood and fingers etc crossed, things wil...[/quote] Nice one - I was looking at that area of teaching in the UK but assumed my qualifications and experience would be of no use in France, and luckily we aren't currently seriously considering working anyway.  However, its nice to think that if I concentrate on learning the language there may be a market for my skills if I do fancy working!  At what level do you teach IT skills?

[quote]I have a detailed concept and a primitive Excel version. Before presenting to potential investors or programmers I want to produce a 'demonstration' of the software as I see it in it's final state. ie...[/quote] What kind of system will it be on?  What did you use to produce your design?  A UML tool for instance (in which case the documentation that provides will be a big help)? Depending on what development environment is intended, to produce the 'final look' including screens etc, won't you practically have to do all the coding anyway?  Unless, as suggested, you simply mock some up in powerpoint.  When you say 'I have designed...' - what exactly do you mean by that?  Have you produced a detailed design or just have a detailed idea about a system that may be useful and an idea of what it would look like but are looking for someone else to do the detailed design and implementation (coding) of it?  Maybe its just me, but the question seems a bit vague to answer. 

Sure it doesn't mean that you're supposed to be there for more than 90 days??  Depasser translates as 'to surpass' among other things.  This would also make more sense from an insurance point of view.  If the original poster doesn't spend more than 90 days per year in his house, that could be why AXA wouldn't insure him, and would explain the clause in yours too, if it actually means you should be there for more than 90 days a year.  I would get this checked by someone else if I was you, because you may not be insured if you're not there for at least 90 days per year. We told them we intend to spend approximately 2 months in France and 2 months in UK, alternately, so we wouldn't have been affected by this rule for our 'holiday home policy'.  I'll have to check it out when we get the detailed policy document through.

Really nice to hear about your positive experience, Mel.  What are you teaching?  Presumably your UK qualifications were accepted or did you need to do some sort of conversion?

Hi Gill - nice to see a post about a couple enjoying fishing - rather than men escaping from 'her indoors'!

Becky, that sounds odd.  Not allowed to spend more than 90 days a year in the house?  Are you sure?  Surely its less of a risk to them if you spend more time in the house?  Our AXA holiday home policy simply specifies that we may be absent from the house for periods > 90 days - it doesn't say we have to be absent.  Our policy costs €50 more than the quote for us living there full time.

With three small children we have to wash at least every other day otherwise we end up spending days at a time doing nothing but washing and drying.  However, I have to say that I wouldn't want to waste time on holiday doing washing - or washing up; so I would much prefer to have a dishwasher than a washing machine.  We habitually take enough clothes for everyone to last the holiday - including extra for the children in case they get muddied up, and accept that when we get home we'll have to spend a few days doing washing, but that is preferable to us than spending time on holiday doing it.

The certificate d'urbanisation states what catergory the land is (PLU) and whether it can be built on and to what extent.  If the CU is positive this basically gives you outline planning permission, then when you want to build you have to submit detailed plans via a French qualified architect to get the actual planning permission.  The seller should have an idea of whether the land can have a permanent habitation built upon it, or the mairie may be able to give you an indication from the PLU, and if its being sold as 'terrain a batir' then this should mean that they have already applied for a CU and it was positive - but as a safeguard you should include a clause suspensive in your compromis de vente so that you can drop out if the CU does not indicate that you can build as you wish to.  We were advised to state a square metreage of the house you wish to build and also state that it was for permanent habitation, when applying for the CU. Note that there are rules about what you can claim against capital gains tax in the future, and if you don't use materials bought in France or French registered artisans,  you won't be able to deduct the costs of building from any profit and so could end up with a huge capital gains tax bill.  In your position, I guess this means you should become a registered artisan - there are lots of people on here who know about this and can tell you how to go about it.

Try asking estate agents - we just bought a house full of furniture via our estate agent in Montbron, who had sold the house for the owners and they needed it emptied within two weeks, so when we asked where the nearest furniture place was, he suggested we take a look.  Worth a try!  We're missing a dishwasher and washing machine but I guess you'll have already got rid of everything by the time we come back in December!

Did AXA say exactly why they wouldn't insure you?  Is it the isolation aspect?  They just insured us as 'owner with possible periods of inhabitation > 90 days' and the insurance includes all the cover we need, including theft cover.  However, our house is in a village.........

We just bought a load of old heavy wood furniture, which has woodworm in varying degrees - but then so does the house we just bought and that's where its going!  We were planning on bringing some treatment stuff over with us next time and just painting every bit of wood (house and furniture) with it before we leave, but my Mum tells me its much cheaper and you can buy it in huge barrels in France!  I wouldn't let furniture with woodworm in the house normally, in the UK,  without treating it first - but as the house already has woodworm and they don't seem too worried about it there I'm guessing it hasn't been treated so we just accept we'll have to treat it if we don't want to come back to a huge pile of sawdust some time!  How fast does woodworm eat away at stuff anyway???

For our purchase we negotiated the price including fees.  We found out that the agents fees were 6% of the net price.  Our notaire requested that we send 8% of the net price to cover his fees.  We've paid all this up front so we could get the keys early, before the final act of sale.  If it turns out we have paid too much it will be refunded by the notaire later - probably much later!  This was for a village house.  On our other property consisting of land and lakes, the structure was different.  The property cost 25% less than the house but the agents fees were double the amount than those on the house (18% of the net price rather than 6%) and the notaires fees 10% of the net price rather than 8%.

[quote]dave and jacqui Roussines (16) Great place to live, and a fantastic bar/restaurant www.davealexander.co.uk[/quote] We tried to eat at that restaurant on our second to last trip out.  We said our bonjours, asked for the menu - and sat around waiting for half an hour while the proprieter served everyone else in the bar (all French - seemed to be all English sitting separately outside) and completely ignored us. When we went back last week, I said we should try again since you had said it was a fantastic restaurant!  After all, it seems to be the nearest one to where we just bought a house and so seemed worth persevering. This time, we were served - very quickly.  Our first course was brought within five minutes and the next two immediately we finished each course.  The food and wine were very nice.  The waiter didn't seem to have time to be friendly and people didn't seem friendly in general compared to places we have usually eaten in Montbron.  (We did get some curious glances from other English people in the restaurant and wondered if one of them was you!).  However, since the food was good and the service quick we decided we'd probably try again later. We met the waiter later in our favourite restaurant in Montbron and he was very friendly and helpful.  Perhaps he was just too busy to be friendly while working or maybe the management frowns upon it? So - we went back the next night.  Asked if they were still serving food and the girl behind the bar looked at the proprietor, who gave an abrubt 'non'.  OK - we orded a shandy each, rather than leave immediately.  We were served it in very small glasses which contained half shandy and half froth (and the shandy was mostly lemonade).  We were slightly flabbergasted at this - the proprietor noticed and never commented.  We drank it straight down, asked for the bill - 4 euros for this less than half a pint of shandy.  After the small fortune we'd spend the night before we really were not impressed. So - after three attempts, we've decided this 'fantastic restaurant' is not for us!  You must just be a very favoured and regular customer, Dave!  Any other recommendations in the area?  

 We run a BB in Le Lindois.............................As I am in the uk........................ er - how do you do that?  Do you have a manager or something?

I'm not on AOL but I didn't get any yesterday - then dozens arrived all at once.  Must have been a slight glitch with the forum somewhere along the line..............

This site details the changes that were made in 2004 (including the change from 22 years before its free to 15 years) and does the bit about social charges imply that they might only refer to residents?  Not sure...........  A lot of sites and information, I know, but it does say on all of them that this is not an easy subject and you should get professional advice! http://www.headdonconsulting.com/images/English/NewsItems/080104Changes%20to%20IT%20&%20CGT.htm The tax rate is now fixed at 16%.  This rate also applies to those vendors who are residents of an EU country.  For those sellers resident outside of the EU, it is believed that the rate will continue to be 33.33%. (NOTA: It should be borne in mind that there will be liability to social charges, certainly for residents, which will amount to about 10%, bringing the total bill to about 26%).

according to this site it depends whether you are an EU resident, rather than a resident of France.  http://www.frenchentree.com/france-tax-advice/DisplayArticle.asp?ID=2254 EU residents who are not French residents pay tax at 16% on French gains. Non-EU residents pay tax at 33.33% on any capital gains. Note that they don't mention the 10% social charges.......