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Eslier

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Everything posted by Eslier

  1. If the person you bought it from didn't have the Carte Grise then how do you know that the car was his to sell ? How do you know it wasn't stolen ? Hopefully, at the very least you have a correct name and address for the person that sold it to you. I'm surprised you even managed to insure the car without the CG. You will need to contact the prefecture in the dept. that the car was registered in (the last two numbers of the registration plate). You'll probably find it much easier to visit in person. Explain the problem to them and hope for the best. If all is well with the car, you will have to obtain a new Carte Grise (which will cost you probably a coule of hundred euros ish) and then you will be able to apply to the DVLA to import the car into the UK. Before you can obtain the Carte Grise you will almost certainly have to get a new Controle Technique unless the old one has at least 18 months to run or the car is less than four years old. Prepare yourself for a costly exercise !
  2. This sort of thing baffles me somewhat. Let's just forget about any rules you might have made up for a moment. If your property sleeps six, the guests have paid the full price for the property and there are only six people staying there - what exactly is the problem ? It doesn't seem too much to get worked up about. Now back to the contract issue. Why do you feel it is necessary to have the names of all the guests listed on the booking form ? From a contractual point of view, it is beneficial to make it clear that the contract is with one single named person. That way there is no doubt that everything and everyone is one persons sole responsibility and that person is solely liable for any damage etc. If you start to muddy the water making everyone jointly responsible then in an extreme case you might have to take them all to court if they trash the place. Much better for it to be a one to one contract. My advice is don't let it worry you. No harm is being done and they'll all go home at the end of the week ! It really isn't worth the stress - open a bottle of wine and relax.
  3. Try Bellier in Combourg which is pretty well situated between the two locations. http://www.voyages-bellier.fr/
  4. How depressing to be thinking of shutting the pool down for winter when it's still August ! Oh well then, this is what I do . . . First I give the pool a really good final clean (pumping the "prise ballet" to waste. Then I empty about one third of the water pumping to waste so that the water level is a good 500mm below the skimmers. Next I empty a 5 litre container of Everblue Hivernage fluid into the remaining water. A run of special interlocking weighted floats is then put diagonally across the length of the pool and various plastic bungs etc. are placed in the skimmer downpipes. Then, to complete that stage of the job, the winter cover is put in place. Next it's over to the heat pump which needs to be drained and cleaned off carefully on the vent side. The inlet and outlet pipes then need to be replaced to ensure no rodents decide to make the pipes their winter home. Finally, the diatemous earth filter is stripped down and thoroughly hosed out and cleaned, replaced and all the stopcocks closed. All very sad ! During the winter, I keep an eye on the water level in case any needs pumping out. You would be surprised how much the level can rise ! The whole system needs starting up again before the end of March in order to catch it before it all goes too green ! Well there you are - that's my story but I expect Andrew will be able to give better advice specific to your pool. Hopefully he won't tell me I'm doing it wrong !
  5. There is a huge range of furniture in every price range available over here. The problem seems to be that holiday home owners don't have the time to seek out the best places to shop. You may have to head towards larger cities to find the best choice however. Electrical goods again are not a problem and are best purchased in France as warranties aren't usually transferable to other countries. In most cases English TVs will be PAL only (with some exceptions on newer models) which will work fine with UK satelite systems and dvd players but won't work with French terestrial TV. TVs seem to be so cheap in the hypermarchées anyway that you'll probably find them to be cheaper than in the UK anyway. It is important to remember that it is always preferable to suppport your local economy wherever possible.
  6. Section "B1h" of the "freesatfromsky" Terms & Conditions certainly implies that you may be right in your assumption that the card may become invalid if the digibox is not left connected to the mains for any length of time. Your card, however, will work in any Sky digibox so why not take it home with you to the UK and plug it into your box there from time to time. Better still, take the digibox too and change the lnb on your home dish to one that provides two or more outputs and install the second box in another room of your house !
  7. There are many people that will tell you that the market in Brittany is saturated. This is because there are a huge number of British owned, very basic gites in the central areas which are less popular with tourists. Many owners of these properties are struggling to let the number of weeks they used to enjoy. Brittany has always been a popular holiday destination with the Brits due to its closeness to the channel ports as well its charm and natural beauty. Brittany has benefitted from a longer season than many areas of France because it is easy to get to for a one week holiday at any time of year. For many years a "gite in Brittany" offered a good value low cost holiday and there were always reasonable deals available on the ferries. Now, ferry prices have increased in price and low cost airlines have offered more exotic destinations to the low cost holiday traveller. Having said all that, there are still a huge number of people choosing to holiday in Brittany each year, probably more so than in any other region. The type of holidaymaker is starting to change however with people becoming more discerning about what they are looking for and where. For gite owners with high quality properties in the best locations, business is booming. Speaking personally, I have properties which have been let for up to 22 weeks this year. To achieve this, you have to have something a little bit special and offer the best facilities - a heated swimming pool is a must. You need to be aware that with just one gite you are not going to have a huge income wherever you are but it should provide you with a bit of extra spending money. Just don't rely upon it as your sole source of income. Good luck
  8. For those holidaymakers that want to spend their time in a mobile home there is a huge choice available on pleasant sites offering great facilities in superb locations. Take a look at the websites for Eurocamp, Haven, Keycamp, Ian Mearns etc. to name but a few, not to mention those offered directly by many French 4 star campsites. Those people that enjoy a caravan type holiday without staying one of these busy sites probably already have their own touring van. My instinct tells me that the only way you would let your mobiles would be at very low rents and even then don't expect more than about six weeks rental. You would need to ask yourselves if an annual income of say 2,500€ (being generous)per unit would cover your costs. I suspect not especially after you have installed electricity supplies, mains water supplies and drainage to each unit. You would need to get planning permission to site mobiles on your land and you may find that you run into even more red tape. If you seriously want to research this further then make an appointment to see you Maire. He will be more than happy to offer you constructive advice as more tourists staying in his commune means more money into the local economy - not to mention more taxes from you !
  9. You will find that where you advertise is most dependant upon the market you are aiming at. What works for some people won't necessarily work for others. We have three gites which we market towards the top end of the UK market. We advertise in Cheznous and The Lady and, together with repeat bookings, this has accounted for between 14, 20 & 22 weeks let per gite this year which I am quite happy with. (The one that is only 14 weeks is a huge place that sleeps 14 so I wouldn't expect to get as many weeks for that one.) Our outlay on advertising is around 5% of our income which is excellent, and even after adding other marketing costs such as the website, uk telephone number, brochures, etc. it is still only around 7%. The cost of advertising is much more cost effective when you have a number of gites to let. With just one gite your costs will be much higher.
  10. There are currently discussions taking place with a number of interested parties to operate a service to Le Havre when P&O pull out this October. Norfolk Line has been suggested as a likely candidate and, of course, Brittany Ferries may well put together a successful bid for the route. Brittany Ferries original plans to take over the route, including the charter of the existing ships and at least 200 of the current P&O staff was scuppered by the UK Monopolies & Mergers Commission. When it became clear that their investigation and report would not be published in time for Brittany Ferries to take over the service earlier in the year (in time for the lucretive summer season !) Brittany Ferries pulled out of the deal. However, once P&O has pulled out altogether, there is nothing to stop Brittany Ferries putting in a bid to operate on this route without being obliged to take sub-charter ships from P&O and employ ex-P&O British staff which may well seem like a much more attractive option. It will also be interesting to see what transpires with Transmanche Ferries next year. They are soon to take delivery of two new ships to operate their service between Dieppe and Newhaven. As yet, they have made no announcement regarding their plans for the existing two ships that operate on this route. To conclude, it is unlikely that October will mark the end of ferry services from Le Havre - or certainly not for more than a few months. That being said, increasingly, ferry companies are finding that freight is providing the backbone of their income and freight only services are much cheaper to operate. Whilst we are likely to see ferries continuing to operate from Le Havre, there can be no guarantees that this service will be open to ordinary passengers. Brittany Ferries have already announced that the Poole to Cherbourg route will be "freight only" for three months this winter and we will soon discover what their future plans are for other routes, in particular Plymouth to Roscoff where winter services have been sparse in recent years.
  11. [quote]I've said it before but make no apology for saying it again. English plugs and an adapter are a real no-no for anything that draws power toasters, power tools, TVs, kettles, washing machines, fires...[/quote] The advice you give is sensible Andy but it is only fair to correct you on the power consumption of a TV. TVs consume a fairly small amount of current contrary to what many people believe. Take for example a Sony 32" Widescreen TV (much bigger than probably most people have), this only has a maximum power consumption of 134watts (0.6w in standby). Apply ohms law (amps = watts divided by volts)and you will see this is only 0.61Amp I would say that anything up to 5Amps should be safe to use with most adapters although you should always check the rating of the adapter first. Even if the adapter states 10A or 7A it's probably best not to exceed 5A. When you first arrive in France it is very useful to have a stack of them to use until you can chage all your plugs over. Reasonable quality adaters can be purchased on-line from CPC in the UK at 49p to 82p each depending upon quantity. For details see: http://cpc.farnell.com/jsp/endecaSearch/partDetail.jsp?SKU=PLTRAV&N=411
  12. Is anyone able to clarify the legal implications of doing this ? If I take someone in my car, and they pay me money to do so (as a contribution to the cost), would that be deemed as "hire or reward" as far as my insurance company is concerned ? If so then my insrance would prsumably be invalid whilst the passenger was travelling in the car. Also, as a resident of France, I am concerned that the minute I take money off someone for such a service that this could be seen as working "on the black". If this is the case then both the driver and the passenger would technically be breaking the law and subject to huge fines. It would be useful to clear up these issues for everyone - does anyone have the answer ?
  13. With good quality equipment you might just about manage to get a weak signal at 30m providing you aren't trying to go through granite walls ! It's possible to connect an external, directional high gain antenna to some wireless routers/switchers/adsl modems which will extend the range but these can be of significant cost (200€+)but this would achieve your aim without too much problem. As well as providing shared internet access you will also be creating a network through which computers on the netweork can communicate with each other. To protect your own computer you will need to make sure you have a good firewall installed - something like Norton or Mcafee. Don't rely upon the Windows XP Firewall or anything that you get as a free download. Assuming you are in a remote rural location it would be safe enough to offer an "open" network. If you are in a town or village centre then you may have to consider how to protect your network from unauthorised use. Given that your guests are only likely to be using the internet access for occassional use you shouldn't have too much of a problem. I have two computers working regularly at the same time sharing a 1Mb connection and we have no problems whatsoever with bandwidth issues. Good luck
  14. Really this is heading into the unknown without any of us having the opportunity to look at the problem. It could easily be nothing to do with the fosse and there could just be some sort of dead animal rotting away somewhere. I do have a few observations however. Firstly, if your house (and presumably the fosse) is only a year old then there certainly shouldn't have been any need to pump it out providing it has been looked after. Secondly, you talk of putting mastic and expanding foam around the "joints" but I am surprised that there should be a joint where the pipe passes up through the interior. The pipe comes in pretty long lengths and it should have been possible to avoid joints. Thirdly, when your fosse was pumped out, was it filled with a reasonable quantity of water afterwards to provide some coverage for what was soon to pass into it, and did you re-start it with a good dose of Eparcyl or similar. Fourthly, (as has already been raised) have you been treating your fosse with a weekly sachet of Eparcyl - this is especially important in the warmer summer months. With gites it is better to use the weekly treatments rather than the longer lasting stuff as you have no idea what your guests will be putting down the sink or toilets.
  15. I'm fairly sure that you will need to set up a French "branch" company as the basis for your building activities in France. This would be very similar to setting up a stand alone company and you would, of course, be required to meet the same standards as French companies and provide the same insurances etc. On the plus side, you can become TVA registered and take advantage of the lower 5.5% rate when charging certain work on the some of your clients. This is all quite complicated however and circumstances can vary for different situations so your best bet is to contact a French accountant who can advise you properly and assist in setting up your business. There are many firms around who provide an English speaking service so let us know where you intend to settle and hopefully you will receive some good recommendations.
  16. As this will be your main business and you will be resident in France, you will need to register as a business. There are a number of different options open to you and to get the most beneficial regime it would be prudent to talk to a French accountant. Registering your business will also get you into the French social system for healthcare, pension etc. In all likelihood, you probably won't pay any tax at all in your first yea or so (with good accounting) but you will have to pay social charges and you most certainly wil need to make a tax return. Allow around 4,000€ to cover your social charges irrespective of how much or how little your income is. Assuming you are a couple, it may well be beneficial to register the business in one of your names only so that you don't both have to pay social charges. With three or four gites it should be quite possible to make a decent income and the accountants fees will be well worth what you spend. Accountants are much cheaper than in the UK, allow around 1000€ to cover business set-up, advice, end of year accounts and first tax return. Tell us where you are and you'll probably receive some recommendations for accountants.
  17. [quote]Hi again Motorhead, A quick question if I may? We moved into our new (to us) house 4 months ago and inherited a VERY heavily scaled loo. We have tried all sorts of fosse friendly substances to no ava...[/quote] Why not just go out and buy a new toilet ? You can pick them up very cheaply, in fact if you've tried a number of fosse friendly descalers then you've probably already spent more than the price of a new bog !
  18. quote: "Hadn't realised that you could get LNBs with multiple outputs. Anyone any thoughts as to whether this would give me more signal strength than our current single output LNB with a splitter?" Yes you almost certainly would be better off. I assume that you are using french boxes to receive freeview channels only, as a sky box won't (or at least shouldn't) work properly if more than one is connected to the same lnb (all to do with the volts being output by the digibox to switch between high and low band channels). You might just be able to get away with putting in an amplifier. Take a look at: http://www.satcure.co.uk/accs/index.html All the bits you might need can be purchased from there and they will post most items to France (but not didiboxes). There's also a lot of information available on this site.
  19. [quote]That makes perfect sense, until I went and looked at the dish...then I went blank! I will wait until I have a visitor who knows more about these things than I do....I have at least 8 months to get it ...[/quote] To use more than one digibox with you dish you may need to change the LNB (the bulbous bit on the end of the arm) to one with multiple outputs. You can obtain a "quad lnb" fairly easily which is as previously described, having four outputs. You can then run a seperate cable from each of these to different rooms and use four seperate digiboxes.
  20. Most Notaires, and it sounds like the one you are dealing with is no exception, take their annual holiday for the whole of August. Therefore, it is highly unlikely that you could meet him and sign the Acte de Vente before early September in any case. That's not to say it is impossible but might be difficult and certainly not usual. Given the timing, the date of 16th September sounds like a reasonable assumption by the vendor as this gives time for everything to get up and running again after the summer shutdown. Furthermore, it would probably also be difficult for the vendor to arrange removals etc. during August anyway. The only person in this arrangement that can make anything happen is the Notaire so it looks like you may just have to wait for him to return from his holiday. In the meantime, you could ask the vendor if she would mind you storing some of your possessions in the house. Having got this far, don't let the problem of a few more weeks delay cause you stress. It won't be long until you are in the house and happily enjoying your new life. One of the things you will find once you are over here is that everything takes longer than you expect, but that's just part of the charm of living here !
  21. Providing you have the new type blue European one then yes it is valid. Remember that these need to be renewed every so often but you can use them in any car. When my mum comes to visit she always brings hers with her and we enjoy the benefit of parking in the best places. The old orange ones may not be however be valid.
  22. Firstly, it would be ebst to check with your Mairie as to when and if ADSL will be available in your area. Having ADSL available in the commune does not necessarily mean it will be available in all areas. When ADSL is introduced, it seems that France Telecom allow themselves the luxury of a period without competition when Wanadoo is the only isp able to offer the service. I suppose that's fair enough if FT have invested the money in upgrading the local exchange. When ADSL was introduced in our village earlier this year, FT had a well publicised open day in the village library when people had the opportunity to call in and sign up for anything between 512k and 8Mb connection. In practice, they were about two weeks later than the publicised date when it was finally switched on but by that time we had everything sorted out and were ready to connect. You would be much better setting up a wireless network to enable your two computers to use the same ADSL connection. It is very easy to set up and works extremely well. It is better to buy your own equipment and use a seperate ADSL modem/router so that either computer can connect at any time without the other needing to be on. This way you get the best connection speed for both computers and you are only paying for one connection. Regarding giving notice on isp contracts, this can be a nightmare as you will see if you read the many threads on this subject. You need to start the process now, having first read every detail of the "small print" you can find. Don't rely upon telephone calls or e-mails, send a recorded delivery letter. I'm sorry to say that Tiscali seems to have one of the worst reputations for this so good luck. Before you cancel, it might be worth changing your payment method to direct debit rather than credit card (assuming you currently pay by card). If it comes to it, you can cancel a direct debit but it is virtually impossible to cancel an automatic credit card payment.
  23. A good number now expect it and the rest certainly seem to appreciate it. DVD players also seem to be required more and more too.
  24. Definitely NO Save yourself a lot of trouble and buy one when you get here. Get one with an electric oven and a gas hob (maybe with just one electric plate for backup). Unless you are able to get town gas then the gas hob will run off bottled gas which is very economical (new ones in Franc eusually come with both sets of jets). By only having the oven running off electric you won't be putting too much strain on your limmited electricity supply.
  25. As a point of interest, the pompiers building is the old terminal building.
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