Lavenderlady

Val, I was reassured to read your final comment about renting your property in the UK. We currently have a tiny house here in the UK, which is almost paid for, and we bought our property in France with a mortgage. We are hoping to make the move in about 5 years. So many people have suggested selling up so we will have the cash in France, either to pay for the French house outright or as a big chunk of money to keep us comfortable for a bit. But I'm adamant I don't want to sell: by renting it out we will get a small (and unreliable) income, which will act as a bonus for us while we are in France, certainly not intended to be our main income. Secondly, and more importantly, if it goes pear-shaped we will have a safety net without the impossible task of getting back onto the UK housing ladder. So thanks for reassuring us with the same view.

The house we bought has a wood-burning stove with glass door (=insert) but after we came home and started thinking about it we wondered where the chimney was...?! In the room immediately above the stove, there is no chimney stack/recess but there is a small grate in the floor. A bit worried now, sounds daft but it never occured to us there was no chimney! Presumably warm air comes up into the room above, but where does the smoke go?! The house was previously inhabited by a young couple with 2 little ones, and there are charred letters in the stove so we know they used it. We've studied our photos and can't see any flue-type thing outside, and don't remember seeing one. Please tell us this is normal?! We won't be going back until Jan to reassure ourselves!

First of all, congratulations on your recent marriage! I would advise you to make sure your documents show the correct name before you start buying in France. We had to provide copies of passport, utility bill and bank statement with name and address on in order to open a bank account. Also we had to provide 17 (yes 17!) documents each to get our mortgage!!! The bank was confused enough because of middle name, they thought it was my maiden name and it confused the system and printed out all my details in the wrong name. As for changing your name, well you must have done it at one point if all your stuff is in your previous married name, so you'll know how to go about it. But as a priority I'd start with your passport, bank and main utilities (ie gas/elec). Hope this helps.

Sorry if this has been covered, the search facility will only show me 10 posts. We have a few bits of furniture/books etc to take over to our house in 84. Probably enough to fill a transit van. Is it cheaper to hire a van, pay channel crossing, possibly overnight stay, diesel and motorway tolls right down to Vaucluse, or does anyone know of a removal firm that specialises in small loads which would work out better value? We're in Yorkshire by the way. Thanks

Graham, Try www.taillissime.fr. They're the high and mighty fuller-figured amply proportioned section of La Redoute.

We're about to set up our forward contract with HIFX for our mortgage. Question is (crystal balls at the ready please) should we fix the rate for 6 months, a year or 2 years? As the rate is so bad at the moment, should we assume (or hope) it might get better and just fix for 6 months? Then again, could it get even worse? Financial experts or clairvoyants please reply!!!

Just a tip... we fell for this last week... don't phone utilities on numbers beginning 0810 from a UK mobile in France - VEEEEEEEEEEEEERY expensive, cost us £15 to phone EDF! Ouch!

The way I understand it (and I'm more than happy to be corrected) is that if you do nothing, when the first spouse dies (assuming you are married) the house will not automatically pass to the surviving spouse. If the one who died has children from a current or previous marriage or even surviving parents, the house will pass to them. Previously these inheritants could chuck out the surviving spouse, but I believe the law was changed last year to allow the surviving spouse to remain in the house until they die. If you have communauté universelle, when the first partner dies the house passes to the remaining spouse. No tax is payable. When the remaining spouse dies, the house passes to joint children or parents, or children of the spouse who died, and tax is payable. That's how I understand it but it's very complex and someone may prefer to clarify. SB as I know you speak French, have a read of the article I mentioned a few threads back, it explains it quite clearly and might help you through the minefield! Just a thought though... am I right in thinking this is your second house purchase in France? If so, when you bought the first time, did you buy it 'sans contrat de mariage'? If so I'm not sure whether it will be more complex to change it at this stage... but again I'm willing to stand corrected!

SB, I'd agree with WJT. There's no reason why the notaire would bring it to your attention, it's up to you. I emailed our notaire up front and explained our marital situation and asked for advice. He came up with the best solution for us. It cost 350 euros and we signed it the same day as the acte de vente.

I'm really sorry, but I'm not going to have time to translate the document for you at the moment... tomorrow is my last day at work (and therefore on computer) before we go to France for a week to get the keys and it's all a bit hectic. Sorry about that, I'll try and do it when we get back. Otherwise everything I've read on this thread seems correct to me: changing to Communauté Universelle would appear better than Tontine for tax purposes. We hope to discuss it further with the notaire next week so I'll let you all know if anything else comes to light. Get our 100 square metres of La Belle France in ONE WEEK'S TIME!

Hello Frenchy In the end our notaire has decided we should go for "communauté partielle s'appliquant aux immeubles situés en France avec clause d'attribution intégrale au profit du survivant des époux". Quite a mouthful! But I think it makes sense. If you can read French try reading this http://www.santemagazine.fr/websante/modele_fiche.jsp?file=Fdroits_regimes_de_communaute I thought it explained it very well. Let me know if you need a translation.

Jennifer, you're moving tomorrow but are cool enough to be lurking on here?! Think I would be running round like a maniac and/or have already packed the computer by now! I wish you and your family lots of luck and happiness anyway.

I work on a Mac too Dick, and it's exasperating sometimes. Can't do internet banking, for example. Some sites work, some don't. Anyway it wasn't my choice, it's because I work in a design studio (although I'm not a designer!) When I click on people's names at the left of their message, above the avatar, I get a strange empty box. Dare to click again, and I get unceremoniously thrown out of the internet altogether! Same thing happens when I click on the control panel.

I came across this explanation. It's in French but I found it very clear and it's certainly helped to clarify our own situation. Our notaire had suggested "communauté partielle avec clause d'attribution intégrale au profit du survivant des époux" and this article explains very clearly what this means. http://www.santemagazine.fr/websante/modele_fiche.jsp?file=Fdroits_regimes_de_communaute

We went there for our honeymoon last year and loved it. Absolutely beautiful and great for walking. Snag is it takes ages to drive anywhere as the roads are so wiggly and there tends to be a mountain/valley in the way. But would love to go back, especially to stay in the same gîte where we had a fantastically warm welcome with wine and fruit and were invited for apéros as well as being driven up into the mountains in a 4x4 for breathtaking views. Really nice people in our opinion.