overmonnow

Leading and dynamic estate agency in South West France is recruiting for independent negotiators across the region. This is a self-employed position where you will be responsible for your own social charges, taxes and running costs - in return we are in a very strong position, unlike many agencies, to provide you with the most important commodity for a negotiator - clients! You will receive full training from the start - we will not just send you out into the wilderness saying "Come back when you have sold a property..." We will support you every step of the way, including applying for your carte professionelle - ultimately if you are successful, we are successful. We are looking for dynamic motivated individuals to mandate new properties and eventually to visit properties with international clients. We are not a small, parochial agency content to sell a dozen properties a year - we are very ambitious and expect good results from those individuals we work with. If you have sales experience or at the very least are a good "people" person with great communication and interpersonal skills, and speak a reasonable level of French, please send your current CV to: [email protected] Alternatively please call Alistair on (0033) 6 50 39 77 79 for an informal chat about the opportunity.

Does one have to fill in form 2047 ("Declaration deas Revenus encaissés à l'étranger") if you have received an income in the UK, a straightforward salary, and already paid income tax on it at source? Do the French authorities need to know this, and is it any advantage to me to tell them if I only earned €2k in France that year (Nov and Dec), but joint income in same year in UK (Jan to Jul) was €22k gross?? Thanks

What is the difference between a 3P apartment and a 3PC? Thanks

Hello What happens if you are French resident, tore up your NHS card, and then go back to the UK for a visit and fall ill?  Is there are E111 equivalent for going from France to the UK? I assume E111 is a european-wide form so the question is where do I get one from? Thanks, Emma

Is it possible to rescind an act changing one's marriage regime to "communauté universelle" - if one wanted to go back to owning a property 50:50? Thanks  

Hello I am trying to establish the minimum requirements for a carte professionelle as an agent immobilier.  I have a UK law degree, LLB Hons.  According to the FNAIM website it seems to indicate that if I have a law degree or equivalent, I can obtain a mauve carte professionelle without needing to show any experience in the industry.  As it happens, I have now been working for 12 months as a salaried negotiator for an estate agency.  My employers think that I need a minimum of either 18 months or 2 years' experience to get a card but the law degree factor might make experience a moot point. Can anyone shed any light? Thanks

No, not a SIPP related question...    Does anyone have any experience or knowledge of how an occupational pension scheme would invest in property, be it residential or commercial, regardless of country? (Obviously France-related knowledge gratefully received!) Thanks in advance Alistair

Amazing...a question about property and pensions, but NOT SIPP related! Does anyone have any experience of an occupational pension scheme in the UK investing in property, be it residential or commercial, regardless of country? Thanks in advance Alistair  

We are in the process of closing the HSBC £ account we have had for years because we are fed up with certain things...but this leaves us without a sterling account. What are the chances of us opening up another sterling account with a UK bank given we do not live there, have no proof of residence, no UK pay slips etc...I think minimal. Or can I open up a sterling account with a French bank (we bank with Caisse d'Epargne here) just so that we can have a chequebook and card for the occasional sterling purchase we will need to make at Xmas etc? Thanks

Established agence immobilière with 6 offices is looking to recruit an enthusiastic and bi-lingual individual to work in their office on the Charente/Dordogne border.  The role will initially entail answering emails, uploading properties onto the website, arranging appointments and assisting in the valuation of properties.  It is envisaged within a very short space of time that you will become a negotiator with your own clients, appointments and mandates.  You therefore need to be not just an administrator but also someone with good commercial and business sense and ideally some experience of working in a sales environment. You will need to be extremely IT literate as you will be responsible for maintaining the office's online portfolio of properties and assisting less IT-literate colleagues!  Crucially, you will need to be FLUENT in both French and English and will be asked to demonstrate this at interview.  A love of all things property-related wouldn't go amiss either... Full time hours, SMIC + commission. For details of how to apply please send a PM through this website.

The problem is, being British nationals, we are not entitled to a livret de famille... So would therefore need some form of permanent proof of birth etc.  Hence getting the British birth certificate.  Not only that, but we have to register the baby with the UK as well as France otherwise we would not be able to bring the baby into the UK - one can't get a British passport without a British birth certificate...  And we have to go to the UK 3 months after the birth for work purposes...  So in answer to your question, no, you can't register the birth when visiting the UK in order to save money as the baby wouldn't be allowed in in the first place!  They've changed it these days so that babies/minors have their own passports and cannot travel under their parents'...

Thanks for that TracyK - it seems a real faff but we're going to have to do it so that she can come with us back to the UK in January!! But like you say, if she wants British nationality at some point in the future, then we'll have paved the way... We already have a name sorted so no worries about that...  We've been told we have to go to the Mairie to register the birth rather than them coming to us, but luckily I won't need to get out of bed as apaprently, because we're married, my husband is deemed capable of doing it on his own... One thing I don't understand - if the French birth certificate is only valid for 3 months, why do they issue it in the first place?!  What use can it possibly serve?  Does one need to keep on renewing it or do you just forget about it after the first one?! Emma-Jane

Hello We know that in France a baby needs to be registered within 3 days of the birth. We have been told by the hospital to bring a "livret de famille". Not being French, we don't have one. So instead have gathered together copies of everything we can think of that they might ask for namely: our birth certificates, copies of OUR parents birth certificates, copies of our passports, proof of address, marriage certificate My mother-in-law has now chipped in and said we need ORIGINAL birth certificates for our parents as well as us. Is this right? Many thanks, Emma-Jane  

We are both British born so that's not an issue.  I and my husband personally don't mind either way but the grandparents are making a big hoo-ha out of the whole thing, being terribly patriotic and all that, so I thought I'd find out the answer rather than continue to wind them up...  So many thanks for clearing things up for us!  I guess I just have to try and sort out a British passport for her from over here...  That'll be fun no doubt!!  will start investigating THAT this afternoon... Emma-Jane ps. thank you also for the document links - my French is not up to scratch but my husband is bi-lingual so will have a look through them tonight...

Hello My husband and I are British nationals permanently resident in France.  Our first baby is due in a month and we have to go back to the UK in January.  Do we need to get a British or French passport?  And what will her legal nationality be?! We've been getting conflicting answers to this for some time now (from neighbours, both English & French) but it would be great to have the discussion finally clarified! Many thanks in advance, Emma-Jane

Hello We're currently with Wanadoo and although it's working perfectly well for us and doesn't seem too expensive, I was wondering if anyone would recommend another provider?  At the moment we pay c. €25 a month for 90 hours of internet time.  The other options (when we sorted it out nearly a year ago) were €20 a month for 60 hours or €15 a month for 30 hours...  While we CAN manage on only 30 and/or 60 hours a month we prefer the freedom of knowing that there will always be plenty of time...  Does anyone pay anything which works out cheaper than this?  We have to either cancel or renew with Wanadoo in October so I thought I'd find out some basics from people on this site first, before trawling around to find out specifics closer to the time... Many thanks in advance, Emma-Jane

Hello Thanks for such a quick (and promising) reply - how do I prove my mileage?  I'm not planning on cheating the system, but it seems like that's a major opening for abuse... Emma-Jane

Hello I am a salaried estate agent in 24 - does anyone know if I can use my petrol receipts to de-fiscalise for Income Tax purposes? Any and all thoughts will be appreciated! Many thanks, Emma-Jane

Hello We will soon be re-doing our terrace and have to decide between gravel and calcaire, a product we have only encountered since being in France... Calcaire seems cheaper and looks quite nice but does anyone have any advice either way? In particular, would calcaire impact properly if one was laying it on top of a membrane (as one would use when laying a gravel area)? Many thanks, Emma-Jane

Hello Has anyone had any experience of the use of a trust in France? My understanding is that trusts themselves are not recognised in France in the same way that they are in other countries, or are interpreted in strange ways. However, I have also read that foreign trusts ARE recognised by the French government - so, if I was resident in the UK, and wanted to buy a property in France to put in trust for someone, could I place this within a UK-based trust, for example, a Self-Invested Personal Pension? Many thanks, Alistair

Hello Has anyone had any experience of the use of a trust in France? My understanding is that trusts themselves are not recognised in France in the same way that they are in other countries, or are interpreted in strange ways. However, I have also read that foreign trusts ARE recognised by the French government - so, if I was resident in the UK, and wanted to buy a property in France to put in trust for someone, could I place this within a UK-based trust, for example, a Self-Invested Personal Pension? Many thanks, Alistair

Hello there I am interested in knowing whether anyone else, who is bored SILLY with their own video/DVD collection, would be interested in swapping it with ours for a month or so... Frgality in France necessitates spending less (well, actually, nothing) on Amazon, and we were big film buffs in the UK. Have not sorted out telly yet and and we are really struggling to be inspired by our own collection of 300 films...anyone else out there in a similar position? Please let me know if someone has already set up an exchange system for films - but if not, I live in Northern Dordogne and would be interested to hear from anyone who thinks this is a good idea! Please send me a message or email me at: [email protected] Thanks in advance Alistair

Hello We are completely BORED with the video and DVD collection we brought over from the UK - around 300 in total - and it is now a struggle to choose a film. We have not sorted out telly yet, and were big film buffs in the UK - but frugality in France necessitates not spending so much on Amazon!! I was wondering if anyone in a similar situation would be interested in swapping entire video collections for, say, a month at a time - rather than doing it piecemeal, make a long list of all (or most) of your films and agree to swap with someone else relatively local so that we can get to watch some different films!! If someone has already set up some sort of exchange system for this please let me know!! I live in the north of the Dordogne and would be interested to hear from any other film lovers who are bored with their collections and fancy a temporary swap for a while, to get some new blood into that video cupboard! Please send me a message or email me directly at: [email protected] Thanks in advance Alistair  

Hello I'm due to have my first baby (a little girl) in about 4 months and am starting to look at making a few purchases...  We've been to the bigger shops and a lot of the stuff is really expensive and I was wondering if there were any charity shops that I could start looking in as well... We're in the northern Dordogne so have relatively easy access to Angouleme, Perigueux and Limoges if that helps!  Admittedly, we haven't tried the bigger towns yet, I just thought I'd ask before potentially wasting petrol!! Thanks in advance, Emx    

Hello I live in 24, am pregnant with my first baby and due in September.  We have a French social security number by virtue of my husband's work and so far we have had two visits to the doctor, one ultrasound, one scare and have sent (we think) all the required forms to CPAM Dordogne. 1. We think that so far we have ticked every box that needs ticking...  But hey, this is France!  We aren't really being told anything by the doctor in terms of the process, preparation for the birth, etc. and are a little scared at our ignorance...  As I type, all we know is that I have to have a certain number of pre-natal exams and two more ultrasounds and that is where our knowledge ends.  I am reading postings about reserving hospital placings but wasn't aware this was necessary in the Dordogne (just to confuse things our nearest hospital is in the Charente and this is where the doctor said I will be taken to give birth) and also the doctor doesn't seem to be very keen to have discussions about pain relief (yes please, all drugs accepted) etc If anyone can help allay my fears, particularly if you know how it works in the Dordogne, I would be very grateful!! 2. We have a letter from CPAM that seems to cntradict itself - one part says that medical fees for pregnancy are covered 100% after the 4th month and elsewhere in the letter it says after the 6th month - does anyone know which it is? 3. As we are paying into the French system are we entitled to the equivalent of Family Allowance, and is any of this payable during pregnancy (my hairdresser who is from somerset has implied that it is!!) If you've read this far, thank you!!  I do hope someone can help as I feel totally clueless!  Many thanks in advance... Emma-Jane x