lynne

Just to say I am still paying class 1 NIC however my husband hasn't paid any for a few years so he will have to piggy back on me.  Yes I do know about  the Group Strep B support group my brother ran both the Great North run and London Marathon in support of them. I appreciate all you say but for goodness sake I only asked if anyone had experienced the same callous behaviour as we had.  I am not going to tell all and sundry via this forum about my financial circumstances but safe to say the only thing I have learned from the postings is yes it does happen. The rest I was already fully aware of I doubt there is any where in the world that could be described as utopia, however there is one thing I do know never believe anything you read in news papers or see on tv. So as someone says shit does happen but that doesnt mean I will do the same to anyone,  Onwards and upwards with plan c.Bye

We have plan A,plan B and plan C.  I have done my research about the 2 years before I have to pay into the scheme. I am not selling up in the UK my daughter will still be here at home, I've fortunately come into some money and its now or never.  I am suprised though by the fact the forum has such a lot of unhappy people living in France.  I must confess its a while since I've been in the South and understand it to be very expensive but having looked at Noemandy and Brittany in depth it seems to be on par with the UK.  I'll give you an example of the NHS in our area.  My young friend had a baby he lived 11 hours why because he hag Group B Strep something a mother can carry without knowing, if a simple swab test costing no more than £30 was done she could have been given anti-biotics and he would have been fine.  The NHS is so stapped for cash they wont offer them free.  Icould go on but theres not enough time.  After all its not known as Rip off Britain for nothing.

Morning Having slept on things and having added up the true cost in excess of £370 I have to accept that not everyone is like me.  I turned down an offer on my house to await the offer from a couple who were madly in love with my property. I think it was the reaction from the French Immobiler who herself was in tears at the way things had been handled, who had the full story and said they could have waited untill today.  After all they have hedged their bets who knows I may have fallen head over heels about the place and offered them more than they have. Wounds licked onwards and upwards start looking again.

NormanH is that euro's or the good old GBP

I agree with what you say but I live in a detatched house with a postage stamp for a front garden and a postage stamp for a back garden.  Even if the bills are the same surely the open spaces make up for it. I have a caravan in France have had for the last 20 years ok its out in the sticks but there's never anyone pushing in front of you in the supermarket.  The campsite owner can't understand why everyone is so security concious do you have a lotof caravan theft in England says he.  Thats a laugh.  He quite often leaves the car unlocked and keys in the ignition overnight. Shock of shocks I'm on a water meter,   Any how it dosent look as if its going to happen because if the business about the house wasn't bad enough the comments on the forum have really put me off. It's a world recession I know and year on year we've seen how far our euros go I'm not completley green.

Thanks

That's a good question.  We both have a work pension but would like to do some kind of work.  My brother and his wife who will be coming with us will eventually need to work. It just seems that having spent the last 25 years visiting france everyone seems to have a negative approach to life in France,  We have several friends who live in different departments who love the place.

wow thatseems an awful lot more than most of our friends who live in France pay.

Yep in that the vendor would have known that they intended to sign a contract and would have put this to the prospective buyer.  Otherwise there may well be a littigation case for loss.  So in other words if this had happened here I would have been advised to put in a claim for financila loss against the vendor, ie my fares from yorkshire to stanstead and back, flights ,car hire and hotel.  It makes them stop and think about riding rough shod over people.

Missing grandchildren I hope they'll come with me but I do see what you mean. I don't really know how I feel at the moment.  I certainly can't throw any more money into it this year.

Thanks I think I'll spend my money on a motorhome don't think the nerves can stand much more. I'ts nothing like buying and selling here in Yorkshire.  It sounds very much likedog eats dog.

  Council tax 1200 per year, Electricand Gas150 per month Water £32 per month.  It's cold and wet the NHS is crap. I know this may seem a daft question but why are people wanting to leave France?  Surley it's not to return to the UK. If it is there in for a nasty shock when they get here.

Sorry I've not been very clear about it.  I've just spent 6 weeks out in France looking at houses. Prior to that we had the first let down, prior to that 3 weeks at Easter and a week in February.  This one was a bit special and it was a case of flying out tomorrow returning the following day. Even the immobiller told the vendor they were dispicable, all this was only arranged on Saturday so obviouslly they knew then what was happening.  I don't know how they sleep at night,  Can I just add its land and a lake no house so it's not as though they needed to sell up to move,  

Can anyone tell me if they have come across this before and what can I do to safeguard myself. I should have been leaving Yorkshire to view a property near Limoges tonight at 12.20, viewing booked for 2pm the following day. The immobilier contacted me at 4pm less than 24 hours  before the viewing to tell me the vendors had been in touch to say that they had signed a contract to sell, but didn't tell anyone until the deed was done just incase it fell through! I've just lost around £250!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is the second time this as happened at this rate I wont be able to afford to buy a house.  I might add they were both ex-pats.  Is this the norm in France am I better spending several months out there house hunting?

Thank you so much for this information.  Its great.  Im getting back to the immobiler and Marie see if it makes any difference.

Thank you for your response.  However I can assure you this is not something we want to do on a whim, family comitments have stopped us doing this before now.  We have kept our caravan in France for the last 10 years and spend on avarage 10 weeks in France each year.  We have visited several sites like the one we are hoping to run.  Have you ever heard of the term CL site it is a term we us in the UK.  Our site would be similar to one of those.  The fosse is no issue it is possible to have one for up to 20 persons(maximum capacity of the campsite) and the house hold.  We would offer our customers fosse friendly Biodegradable (green products) free of charge for use whilst at our site.  For further information have a look at La Bucaille website.  We visited here at Easter and Mark and Melanie were very helpful. Which department do you live in?

Thanks for this info.  We have been told that a new septic tank needs to be put in the house anyway so we thought we would have one to cover the house and campers.  I think we have been misled somewhere we've spent the last 20 years visiting Normandy and Brittany and were led to believe that the Marie's were welcoming young people with open arms especially in rural areas and those who are willing to help the ecconomy and not those simply wishing to retire there.  My brother, his wife and 13 year old son are comming with us.  Obviously this does not apply in this particular department.

Thanks for your replies.   The immobilier tells me the land is NR and not Leisure land this is the reason he will not allow our project to go ahead. Would it be easier to buy a leisure lake which only has a chalet on it that we can live in during the season plus a home for the family close by.  

Hi Can anyone help me. Weve just found the perfect property for our family near Josselin.  We asked the immobiler if she could getin touch with the Marie to see if he would allow us to use some of our land as a Aire du camping Natural for 6 caravans or maximum of 20 people.  The reply was no.  The immobilier implied that we may find this throughout Brittany.  We are gutted can anyone tell me why this should be the case.  I thought they would be pleased that anyone would be bringing money into the French economy.