Debra

You'll have at least six or seven weeks before you have to move, won't you?  My completion date was seven weeks after signing the compromis de vente and when I started nagging about an appointment to sign the acte de vente, they told me that the maire has two months to reply about whether he wants the property or not and it's not polite to chase him up.  So why say the acte de vente date will be 'no later than....' a date less than two months away?

I've been told I could have applied to be exempt from paying the TV licence because of low income but I'd have to visit the tax office to do that.  It's only automatic if you have zero revenue.

You can get a zero bill but still pay for your TV licence.  They handle this by putting a one in a column somewhere on the calculations and then refunding it to you in another column.  I know this because I haven't paid tax d'habitation for years but have always paid the TV licence part.  You need to have zero revenue before you are exempt from the TV licence part (barring other circumtances under which you can be exempt).  

Just wondering - did you put the full ten per cent deposit down?  Sometimes notaires will accept a lower percentage of deposit but you are still liable for ten per cent of the agreed purchase price if it is found to be you who is at fault in breaking the contract.

I'd write back to your notaire and tell him that as dry rot has been found, you consider the contract broken and require your deposit returned to you.   If he doesn't act, write to the seller, signed for, putting them under notice that the contract is broken and you require the return of your deposit. My buyer had the standard clause suspensive that said they could back out if they didn't get a mortgage offer by a certain date.  They were supposed to provide proof of lodging their mortgage application by one date and proof of whether their application had been successful or not by another date.  They didn't do either and ignored my emails asking them what was happening.  I had to send them a 'mise en demeure' letter asking them to confirm whether the clause suspensive had been realised or not, after which I was free to sell the property to someone else and pursue them for the deposit (notaire couldn't just hand it over, it had to be applied for via court) or sue them to get them to complete the sale.  However, suing them to complete the sale would have tied the property up until the case was decided in court. Your seller would have to go through this procedure and would have to go to court to get you to complete, being unable to sell his property in the meantime.  My notaire didn't answer me for ages about what I could do to get out of the contract and sell to another buyer.  In the end I sent a simple question 'what do I have to do now to progress this matter so I can be free to sell this property'.  She then told me about the need for the 'mise en demeure' letter.  So try asking your notaire the simple question 'what do I need to do now to progress this matter and get my money back'. 

Thanks.  The little job of updating the electrics just got bigger then :) I checked with the notaire before making my offer and it's registered as one address for tax foncieres so he said there is no problem about it being considered as two properties, so no separate tax d'habitation bill.   So you think EDF  may supply  both houses with gas and electricity and there could be just one standing charge?  Sounds good. The boilers looked fairly new so I'm hoping they're ok.  They may just look good in comparison to my ancient oil boiler though. :) I'm considering taking my range cooker from where I live now as I've just been told that there are jets to convert it for town gas in one of my kitchen drawers somewhere.  I could continue to run it from a bottle until I decide what to do with the kitchen.  I'd still need these taps putting on though or I won't be able to put the gas on to use the heating. So they actually have gas AND electricity artisans here?  I've not found one so far.  Now I know, I'll go and look again.......

The place I’m moving to has mains gas.  The diagnostic report says the pipes to the cooker need taps on them to isolate them in case the cooker is knocked or moved.  I haven’t got access yet but I’m not sure whether this means there isn’t a cut off at all and so the gas can’t be turned on until either a tap or a cooker is fitted.  I’d prefer to arrange for the taps to be fitted, since they’ve been recommended to be done asap. The report said that as the gas was turned off they couldn’t check the boiler efficiency so I think I need to get the boiler serviced.  It also mentioned something about there not being sufficient ventilation in the boiler room so I’m not sure if I need a vent or an extractor installing. Would I contact the same type of artisan for all of these things?  Is there something similar to a corgi fitter in France?  I’ve never had mains gas here before so I’ve never come across any of this sort of thing. Lastly, as I said in my other thread about the electricity, this is two houses that I’m going to use as one so I’ll have two separate supplies.  Do any suppliers have no standing charges or not, if would it be possible to arrange only one standing charge or am I stuck paying two complete sets of bills? I don’t want to change it to one supply as I want to reserve the ability to separate them again later on, when I may not have so many kids at home and might want to let one house.

[quote user="alittlebitfrench"]My wife has worked in Paris for nearly twenty years and will carry on doing so for the rest of her working life. Does that make her Parisien ? Her aunty is a nun and has lived in Paris for the last 60 odd years. Is she Parisien .[/quote]Apparently not.  However, as a local eleven year old told me, my neighbour, only having moved here to live with her Charentais husband after the war, in nineteen forty six, isn't Charentaise you know, but Parisienne.

I've heard of it quite a lot here in the Charente.  We used to get letters from the college saying that there was an epidemic in the internat so we could keep our externe kids home if we wanted to.  My step daughter caught it last year in the internat at lycee.  The treatment they dole out for it isn't very good, in my opinion.  It takes ages to get rid of it with the cream the doctor gives out.  I gave my stepdaughter an oral dose of injectible ivermectin (for cattle) and it was gone almost immediately.  It's a well known off label treatment for scabies and head lice.  She wasn't impressed with the taste of it but was impressed with the results and glad not to have to smother herself head to toe in cream like her peers had to.  Nobody else in the family caught it from her but then she was only home weekends and has her own bedclothes and towels always go straight in the wash after use, a habit taken up after primary school head lice epidemics and never dropped, thankfully.  Some people seem to be susceptible to these things.  My sons have never caught head lice but my stepdaughter caught them all the time.  Your friends should have been safe if they washed the girl's bedclothes when she left and as long as nobody else used the same towel as her.

Sorry - didn't realise he was only going to be visiting. Didn't know that about the ghost licence, is that a recent thing?  I wonder if France will start doing that?  Or have they already?

Found it and RSA is not recoverable http://www.social-sante.gouv.fr/informations-pratiques,89/fiches-pratiques,91/les-prestations-pour-les-personnes,1913/la-recuperation-des-prestations,12632.html In any case, it says that those aids which are recoverable are not recoverable upon sale of a property that you owned when you claimed the aid because your heritage has not increased.

ASPA is recoverable from the recipient's estate if it exceeds 39,000 euros though, so maybe I've missed something about RSA.....?  Can anyone find it?

What I have heard is that if you sell a property and put the money in the bank (or have any other money in the bank), they then deduct .75% of the amount on deposit from your quarterly RSA amount due.

[quote user="suein56"]They cannot prove residency until they have at least 1 years tax form filling under their belt. Sue [/quote]You prove residency by other means such as rental agreements or property purchase documents, tax d'habitation bills, EDF or phone bills.  You have to do this to prove you're resident after three months and you wouldn't have a tax return at that point.  In fact, even if you have more than five years worth of tax declarations, to prove that you have had a right to stay over the relevant period you still need to provide documentation like this to prove that you were truly and continually resident (otherwise someone could just submit tax declarations from a second home or leave for more than two years and come back, not admitting that they've been away). Steve, as has been said, if you are 'inactive' you cannot claim RSA until you have been continually and legally resident here, that is have had the 'droit de sejour' for that period.  However, though you don't have to set up a business to be a landlord unless you have more than twenty odd thousand euros a year in rental income, I believe it is possible to do so.  So you could for instance set up an AE and pay the relevant percentage of your rental income in contributions, thus you are no longer inactive and the amount of income you have is no longer relevant for whether you have a right to stay.  If you have other property that you don't live in, an assumed amount of rental income will be taken into account as part of your resources when they process your claim, possibly even when the property is uninhabitable and unable to be let.  I've never so far heard of anybody having to pay back RSA monies received, even if they own property and later sell it.  I realise that the above isn't what some people want to hear but I believe it to be correct.

Yes - and proving that and also that you're not entitled to healthcare from anywhere else can take a lot of effort and time.  CPAM aren't too bad but CAF is my personal nightmare.

[quote user="Sprogster"]The 5 year rule and S! is only relevant to long term (more than 10 years) EU resident retirees or early retirees, who are moving from one EU country to another, as there is an agreement between EU countries to pay for the health care costs of their retirees living in another EU member state.[/quote]I'm not sure what that bit was about, Sprogster, but five years is five years so you don't need to be here more than ten to be classed as a permanent resident under the five year rule - and in any case, for healthcare, the CPAM have reverted to the three month rule now, whereby you can join the CMU as long as you're legally resident.  Legally resident meaning you have a stable residence and have sufficient income to be sure you don't become a burden upon the state.  (the RSA plafond for your family composition)

I thought it worked the same way across Europe as it does here, in that you can drive with your valid EU licence in any EU country as long as you don't commit any driving offences which incur points gain or loss (depending on how the country does it), in which case you would have to exchange your licence in order to have the points gain or loss applied.

No, I used to be on an S1 because of his contributions.  The war pension is a separate arrangement that gives entitlement to use the NHS to any of his dependants and doesn't involve an S1. The CAF and Child Benefit offices are trying to sort it out between themselves and according to EU law, France, to whom I applied when the Child Benefit office stopped my claim after I told them of my change of circumstances, are supposed to pay 'interim payments' while they argue it out, but they're not.  They simply don't work that way.  It's the same for French nationals.  It can take months to sort a claim out after a change of circumstances.  At the moment my file is frozen because they're awaiting translation of the letter from the UK Child Benefit office that says I am no longer entitled to payment from them.  They've had that letter for five months now and all they will say is they are still waiting for the translation.  However, I know after speaking to the Child Benefit office that they're in contact with them and arguing that even though we're separated, my husband should claim child benefit for the children and I should then get a supplement (allocation differentielle) from France.  The rules say that if it's not sorted out within two months then France should pay me anyway and the UK should reimburse them for half of whatever they pay me.  It's difficult to argue that with them though when nobody here is admitting to me what the real problem is.  I also can't speak directly to the head office department at Child Benefit who are actually dealing with my case.  I have to phone the normal office. who can't ring them but pass a message on,  and they say they'll contact me within 7 days but they never do.  Someone should pay me eventually and I should get it back to the day I applied. However, CAF deal with all family benefits in France (so if they are my competent state then I will get paid backover) but in the UK the Child Benefit office and the Child Tax Credit office are separate and the latter says tough, if it's ever decided that the UK is competent then I will have to submit a new claim to them and won't get paid back to when they closed my case.  I pointed out the law that says they're supposed to pay me from when I applied to France if it turns out that the UK is my competent state but they say they won't and they work under different rules to the Child Benefit office.  They're not supposed to of course, according to EU law.  Meanwhile, I'm running out of things to sell.

I was in CPAM via my husband's rights, Idun, and had a right to a UK EHIC card, though as I said, I never got it even though they kept saying they'd send it out.  Now I am separated from my husband, I am in the CMU and France is my competent state so I have a CEAM card.  This could change as there is presently some argument about whether I should still come under the UK via my husband, even though we're separated.  CPAM haven't argued about it and let me in the CMU but the CAF are still mulling it over and I haven't had prestations familiales for the whole if this year while they argue out the EU rules with the UK.  There is a further oddity with my family in that because my husband is a war veteran with a war pension, we are entitled to use the NHS anyway, regardless of who is our competent state.  I assume this would change for me and my older children (from my first marriage) if I got divorced, but not for my stepdaughter and my youngest son.

That's what everyone got back when they were called 'E' forms, wasn't it Norman?  I remember getting a letter to tell me that the UK would now be responsible for issuing EHIC cards for my family and I could no longer use the CEAM cards.  I applied but they never arrived.  I imagine they had a rush on at the time and I never chased it up.

Which all sounds pretty much like they're following the EU rules in the same way that France are, except that only a year of lawful residence is required before they let you in anyway.

Also, it's not automatic.  That same page says: NHS hospital treatment in England If you move to the UK, you will not be charged for NHS hospital treatment from the date that you arrive as long as: you intend to live permanently in the UK, and you have the right to live permanently in the UK or have a "route to settlement" that will allow permanent residence in due course You'll be expected to prove that you meet these requirements. Your spouse or civil partner and children under the age of 16 (under 19 if in full-time education) are also exempt from these charges if they live with you permanently. If you're not entitled to live in the UK permanently but you've applied to the Home Office to enter or stay, you'll be charged for hospital treatment until: your application is granted, or you have 12 months' lawful residence in the UK If you have made a formal application for asylum, you will be exempt from charges as long as your application (including appeals) is under consideration. Those granted refugee status will continue to receive free NHS hospital treatment. If your claim for asylum is unsuccessful after all appeals, any ongoing course of hospital treatment will continue to be free of charge until you leave the country.  However, any new course of treatment will be chargeable unless you're in receipt of section 4 or section 95 UK Border Agency support. Waiting lists If there's a waiting list for the treatment you need, you'll have to join the waiting list. Proving your entitlement Hospitals are responsible for checking who should pay for NHS hospital treatment. The hospital will ask you for evidence to prove that you intend to live in the UK permanently. The documents that you provide will depend on your circumstances. Examples could include: documents showing the sale of goods or property overseas receipts showing shipping of goods to the UK evidence that you're looking for work evidence that you have bought property in the UK or have rented a property  papers that show you've applied for benefits evidence that your children are attending school in the UK  The hospital will also ask you for evidence to prove that you're legally entitled to live in the UK, such as: your British passport, or permission from the Home Office

Yes but Idun's experience shows that if you've lived abroad they're going to check to make sure that they are your competent state and if they're not, ensure that the actual competent state pays via the S form.  Seems to be a new thing, along with invoicing people who go to hospital.  The UK has been behind France in these matters but they seem to be trying to catch up. 

Back then wasn't it France that issued you with a CEAM card, Idun,? It wouldn't surprise me if they used the date on the form.  However, I'm struggling to remember but I think they might have only issued them for a year at a time rather than the five years the UK issued the EHIC card for.  It was after the 'new' social security regulation was finally ratified that the UK became responsible for issuing EHIC cards to those who they were the 'competent state' for, ie anyone with an S form or old E form.  I think that was in 2010.

[quote user="Chancer"]In theory yes, in practice I think that is no more than a belief adopted by forumites, repeated so often (with glee against those considering moving here) that in the end everyone believes it.[/quote]Not long after the 07 changes there was a circular produced to give guidance to local CPAMs about exactly what could be classed as comprehensive health cover because they went through a period of rejecting everyone.  Having joined the CMU recently myself I can confirm that they did want proof that I had been legally resident for over five years and that definition included sufficient income and continuous healthcover.  In my case it was easy to prove because I had the tax returns and had been with CPAM all that time. Someone said the UK just let you in the NHS based upon residence but that's clearly not true since Idun as already said that she had to get an S1 from France,  My son had to go to hospital on his last trip to his Dad's in England and because his address was in France, they were going to invoice him.  They didn't in the end because I explained why he was still registered with our UK doctor and that he was over there to join the army and his Dad's address was on his army file as his residence so they just changed his admittance record to say he was resident at his father's address.  Our situation is/was complicated though and if it was just a simple case of him living in France, France being his competent state, and visiting over there then he would have been invoiced if he hadn't produced an EHIC or CEAM card.