Debra

Yep - lost a few of mine too!

I posted on this last night but its since disappeared!  So here it is again: so if 'her indoors' likes fishing does that mean 'him indoors' will be banned from your club?!

If a dog is exercised regularly it shouldn't poo in the house.  It really shouldn't be left alone long enough to be that desperate.  You can train a dog to poo where you want it to - I've done it (a necessity when you have small children who also play in the garden) but I wouldn't have attempted to train it to do it in a litter tray!  If its going to be left alone for long periods then I don't think its fair to leave it out on a small patio.  You can get a dog flap, incidentally.  If you got a dog from one of the animal rescue places in the UK they would do a home check, and I doubt they would let you adopt a dog if you didn't have a decent sized garden.  A dog requires a lot of commitment in time and money to care for it properly.  Are you sure you don't just want a dog for the security aspect?  It would be cheaper and simpler to instal an alarm system!

Incidently I tend to broadly agree with Richard with his answers to Mr Angries  original post.   Mr Slob whose idea of a perfect break is to stay in bed all day, presumably thought that as he had paid for a bed, it didn't require a doctors sick note to entitle him to do so and also didn't realise that it was subject to a timetable.  Even if its against the rules and mentioned in the booking information?  Shouldn't we always check the small print??!!

Good luck!

[quote]I am almost certain that the poster who said his French insurer wouldn`t let him cancel his ins , was correct, at one point we owned 2 cars ,but only wanted to use one of them....the other was for sal...[/quote] Same again, with a British registration but no British tax?  Isn't there some way of the French authorities knowing that a car is insured in France but not registered there?  I didn't realise that the DVLA could check whether we are insured online now (and apparently French insurers can be included in their database if they wanted to) as we still have to produce our certificate of insurance at the post office - but it seems that even though the post office issue a tax disc from the certificate, the DVLA still check on this database to make sure its valid.  It makes sense, since you could either not renew your insurance or cancel it once the tax disc was there so they need to be able to check the current status.  Can the French not do this also or do they not have a similar system yet?  Does noone get stopped by the police and asked for their documents?  Good to know that about the insurance Mrs O.  We want to change one of our cars, so it seems clear the best thing to do is sell one here and buy one when we come over and make sure we transfer the one we're taking with us straight away.

[quote]You know what I find interesting is that the originator of this post has only ever posted ONCE and it was to start this thread. How odd (and no it's not me).[/quote] lol - so do you think it was just to start a debate off and then disappear, or that they are now sitting in deep despair at all the dire predictions about what could happen to them?  I don't think they were after sympathy, since they posted as 'learnedmylesson', but maybe they were hoping for some better news?

[quote]My bike is French and French registered so none of that should matter[/quote] Thats what I was referring to, if you don't insure an off road vehicle in the UK its at your own risk and not illegal, but are the regulations the same in France?  They may be different and your insurer may be correct.

Oh yes - and as another poster pointed out, its also a finable offence not to notify DVLA of your new address, as well as not to inform them that the vehicle is off road, so you might get done for that too, or is it registered to someone else's UK address?  The more you look into it or think about it, the more 'stuffed' seems like the right term!

So to the original poster - you'll have to contact DVLA and be honest, unless you want to try saying your car has been off the road in France all this time, because it looks like you wouldn't have been able to get UK tax under your circumstances anyway, but you need the new registration document for your car.  If the French authorities find out what has happened - it may be them who will prosecute you.  If you had a French MOT equivalent done and had French insurance, its whatever else you should have had from the French requirements that is relevant - and you may be expected to pay backover for that.  If there is no French equivalent of the UK road tax, what else should you have had but didn't?  Does anyone know the  penalty for driving a car in France which isn't registered in France and should be?

[quote]Yes I agree Debra but that was what I was told by my agent in Civray, naming no names but I wont be using them again[/quote] Sorry - I may be wrong (I was talking about SORN in the UK): that is the rules in the UK but you should check the rules in France, which obviously may be different.  If you look at this site, http://www.vehiclelicence.gov.uk/EvlPortalApp/application;JSESSIONID_EvlPortalApp=C3GkVfNDJ3ldU1Yw6vlNCrt9Sy5NN4hKV1pVh5YxKyvbTjbVHMIV!626476071!-114161062?origin=commonquestions_en.jsp&event=bea.portal.framework.internal.portlet.event&pageid=Common+Questions&portletid=commonquestions&wfevent=insurance&EVENT_SUB_TYPE=FAQIF&FAQ=ins&language=en , it says you can't get a UK tax disc on a vehicle which is covered by an insurer outside the UK system, unless they have entered the scheme which records all their insurance details on the MIB database, which they can do - but it also says that no foreign insurers have chosen to do so.  

[quote]Suprised to see you were able to cancel you insurance when you took your car off the road, when I tried to do this with my motorcycle I was told by the agent that it was a legal requirment to have any...[/quote] To the best of my knowledge this is rubbish - but a good way of the insurance company retaining business!  As long as its off the public road and you have a SORN declaration in place, its up to you if you want to risk it being stolen while having no cover for theft.  What about when you cancel your insurance to go with another insurer?  They don't ask for proof that you're insured elsewhere.

This is getting a bit heated but I think its partly a misunderstanding.  Richard, I think you are missing half of the point - that there are rules that Miki and his colleagues have to follow, set down so that their business does not encroach on that of the hotels.  It sounds like a Chambre D'Hotes business has to be a distinct entity - providing a different service to a hotel and therefore not directly competing. The other main point is, that whatever the rules are, within those rules Miki is entitled to operate how he wants to - to fit in with his life: that is his  prerogative.  If he didn't, he and his family would have no life and end up giving up on this type of business anyway.  As it is, his place is full all the time and therefore he is as successful as he can be, while operating on his own terms, so your argument is surely irrelevant? Customers can listen all they like to the providers, but if at the end of the day the product is not good enough then they will go else where. It seems that in this sub forum there is a lot of patting on the back but perhaps not enough input from the client side. Exactly - I was speaking as a customer and I now know that if hubby and I want a mucky week away, where noone is bothered if we stay in bed all day if we feel like it, then we shouldn't go to a Chambre D'Hotes (or at least Miki's place!) - but I don't think Miki is that bothered about that, since he is full anyway: of people who do need the kind of service he supplies.  

Well those that are with GdF have to act in that way. British B&B's here we know, do more than they should do but that is not our problem. It was ruled like that, so as to not affect local restos and hotels which do not like the CdH's too much anyway as they naturally fear loss of trade, so regulations were put in place so CdH's do not act like hotels or hotel/restos. Ah, now it makes sense. Methinks either Richard is just winding you up - or he doesn't know this either? Gay - if we can work the dates right, once a year hubby and I get a holiday without our kids (who came on our honeymoon with us!), and its a real novelty to be able to stay in bed!  However, now I know the rules I'll know where and where not to stay! We are not Blackpool landladies as was mentioned before, where guests are thrown out after breakfast and banned from the house for the day Definitely not Blackpool then!  But as hubby is from there, its the last place he would want to go (must ask him about these famous landladies though!) I repeat, GdF state in their guide books, that you are not booking in to an hotel but in to someones home and so please treat the owners house as you would your own home Maybe this bit in the guide needs to be changed?

[quote]Then if it is not your kind of relaxing holiday, then you would not book in to a B&B, surely ?Read the post before, we cannot legally do lunches and we do not do so. We have keys to the front door and...[/quote] Well I guess not, in France, if that is the way a Chambre D'Hotes works.  Thanks for clearing that up for me so I know what to avoid!  Assuming that is the way all such enterprises work?

[quote]But if you stay in your room all day, then waht are the owners meant to do ? Tey are now prisoners in their own home. Many of us have appointments still to make, perhaps even a lunch date, do you sugg...[/quote] Bit of a cross post there.  I see your point, but as I said, this is one of the reasons I shied away from starting such a business.  However, the place I looked at that was classed as a B & B in the UK had a communal entrance and living area and the guest rooms had individual keys and the guests could also have a key to the front door.  Access to the owners private part of the house, including the kitchen and dining room, was lockable, so it would have been possible for the owners to go out without too much worry - I guess they felt it unlikely that guests would carry furniture out and made sure no valuables were in the communal area. I've stayed in more hotels than B & B's in Europe but those B & B's I have stayed in have been set up in a similar way.  I guess this is not common for Chambe D'Hotes in France?  In other words, they are not the same concept as a B & B in the UK?

oops - I'm glad that response wasn't to my question!  Miki, are you talking about the last day of a stay (in which case I don't know of anyone who would dream of not being 'out' by the time stated) or every day?  It just seems odd if its the latter - not a very relaxing holiday if there are restrictions on when you can be in your room during your stay.  I know it might be awkward for you if people hang around all day - but that is one of the reasons I shied away from doing a B&B type venture in the UK a few years ago, because its very tying.  I'm just interested in knowing if the concept of a Chambre D'Hotes in France is that you have to vacate the premises during the day, for the owner's convenience.  I mean, 'bed and breakfast' doesn't necessarily mean that you can't stay in your bed all day, does it?  Just that if you haven't booked lunch and dinner, whether because you didn't bother or because its not available, then you can't expect it.

That one sounds too small for the one that was on TV doesn't it?

I've stayed in B&B's and hotels and in my experience, in both, if you stay in your room all day (which is acceptable) you have to accept that either your room will be cleaned around you - or it isn't at all and you get no clean, dry towels and have to live with a full bin and no refreshed tea/coffee facilities.  But isn't a Chambre D'Hotes in France different to the B&B or hotel concept?  There seems to be a lot of emphasis on the fact that this type of accomodation is based around staying in someone's family home.  Now, does that mean the guest has to vacate the premises for the day to give that family some space, or that they are treated as part of the family?  If the latter, do family members have to vacate the premises for the day? Not trying to be mischevious and spark a debate, just curious about the concept!  

Saw an ad the other night on my illegaly set up sky television That was for an  automatic £80.00 fine for not displaying a tax disc.....so what is the fine for not owning one?Mrs o According to this site: http://www.avonandsomerset.police.uk/InfoCentre/ItemDetails.aspx?ItemID=545#8 "You may be prosecuted and liable to a fine of £1000 or five times the amount of duty chargeable, whichever is the greater. In addition, you will be ordered to pay a further penalty equal to the duty owed." If the vehicle is found on the road in the UK with no disc displayed, it can be clamped and confiscated and if you don't produce a valid tax certificate within 14 days you will be prosecuted. 

Really ! the only ones I ever met were bent or dozy so and so's (although I am told there are some good straight ones, just never been fortunate enough to meet very many I guess!) mmm - after being married to one for a long time, who was employed in both the North and South of England, I can concur.  I think I did actually meet one or two of the latter type, but my memory, probably overwhelmed by the majority, fails me!

I think the only objectionable bit about this (if you forget you are in 'the lighter side....' is that it says for GB.  If you read the poem as it was intended, referring to US schools, I think you'll find its an ironic reflection on what is really happening in US schools (from my opinion gleaned from reading a lot about the reasons for a huge increase in homeschooling in the US) rather than a joke - the poem reflects the majority of the views expressed by homeschooling parents in the US. 

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Sounds as if she implied she would change it and then didn't mention the 600 euros until you'd already committed to your date!  Not nice, but also not worth falling out over when you're relying on her to leave the house in a nice state when she leaves - and the neighbours with a nice opinion of you!  You may even find if you just say, oh dear, we have no money left to pay 600 euros - 16th it is then: she may say she'll change it anyway!  Try letting the notaire know on his return but keep smiling politely and hope for the best.  Whichever way, it'll all be over soon and you'll be starting your new chapter.  Good luck.

Can't you change your completion date in England?  If not, you're also guilty of arranging a date without checking further down the chain - something you wouldn't do in England and there is even more reason not to do it when you are moving to another country.  Failing that, if you are using a removals company they can store your stuff for a couple of weeks - its not that expensive compared to the rest of the removal (in my experience, not as much as 600 euros).