Jirac18

Yes they are compulsory unless the house is a new build less than 10yrs old in which case they will be certificated much in the same way as NHBC certs work in Uk.

From my experience of it I sincerely hope not!!! In fact it might just as well close every day of the week. Try the "golden arches" at Mc D's down the road the food is fresher and that's saying something!

I tried to book a day return from France to Blighty today using my BF membership. I was told that it is possible to book from England to France on a day return but not the other way round. How daft is that. Perhaps you better informed and seasoned travellers can advise me how I might acheive my goal for as little money as possible. Do you think we should now have a conference for "Travelling from France" as well as the other two conferences? Thanks Jason

I visited the sous-prefecture recently to change my driving licence and was told not to bother. They said my Uk one was fine and it was more hassle and work for both me and them to change it. There is no legal requirement to have a French licence.

Help I am starting to get really bad withdrawal symptoms. There appears to alot of course pole fishing here in Loire but it bores me silly (no offence to all carpers). Does anyone know of a good river or lakes for quality trout fishing on the fly. I live at Saumur so an hours drive in an direction into Mayenne, Sarthe, Deux Sevres or Poitou Charente will be worth it for a days good fishing. I know I'm sad!

We want to keep chickens and have an ideal setting for free range. Because the house is set in an old troglodyte quarry one yard is steep stone walls wich can't accessed by foxes. From this yard there are a number of small caves all of which stay nice and cool. Can I use these as home for the chickens or do I need to buy or build a proper chicken "maison". Also has anyone an idea of what type of chickens are best for keeping. We only want half a dozen and a rooster as our daughter is enchanted by the feathered things and we love fresh eggs. Any advice for a complete novice?

When an agent takes on a property and has the vendor sign a mandat de vente he must include with in it the details of persons who have a legal right to any portion of the property to be sold. If he does not then effectivley the property should not be marketed. Any agent knows well enough or should do that this is the case. It certainly should not take as long as in your case to become known. There can be one signatory on behalf of any number of siblings selling a property which has been inherited but the agent must ask and write down on the mandat the names, addresses and telephone numbers of all concerned as vendors. He should then speak with each to make sure that they are aware that the property is to be sold. If they do not agree or this does not take place the mandat should not be processed. I would contest that if the mandat is lacking the relevant detail it is worthless.

I am now at the stage where I feel I can hold a reasonable conversation in French as long as I know the subject matter or general theme. Can you recommend any useful phrase books for coloquialisms (no idea if that is spelt correctly)and general phrases. I learnt French at school to O - Level some 18 yrs ago and have found this a really good base. I wish so very much I had tried harder then but I never dreamt I'd end up living in France. Wisdom is wasted on the old as youth is wasted on the young I guess! Any way I'm waffling well off the point now. I depart by saying how much I really enjoy speaking French. It's actually quite exciting as a challenge!

We have just received our E106 forms from Newcastle. The covering letter states we are to take our forms to "the local sickness insurance office" for processing the registration with the French side of the system. What is the local sickness insurance office called in France - do they mean the sous prefecture or something else.

I have to say that the Mc D's at Cherbourg has seen our presence on quite a few occasions just before boarding the ferry - our daughter loves to play on the slides etc there and thoroughly enjoys it. They are much better maintained than their UK counterparts and great if you like plastic food. I prefer to just have a coffee but no complaints from rest of family!

Some immobiliers will want the full cadastral plans from the seller and will not apply for them themselves. That may or may not be the case but may explain the delay. Do you know which notaire is involved. If so it may be worth an enquiry with them if the immo is avoiding getting back to you.

Our daughter 3 yrs, starts at maternelle on monday morning and we have been told that she must have the BCG test/vacination before certain activities such as swimming can be undertaken. This is obviously a lot younger than normal in England (12yrs) but never the less necessary. Any one with experience of this advice sought as I am wondering whether to get this done here in 49 or when we return to England for a short break in middle of March. Any info welcome

I have just set up a new account with Tiscali.fr an need to set up the network connection for mail and internet but doing it manually as I think this is the best way. However, the tiscali set up pages neglected to provide me with the POP3 and SMTP server addresses. I have tried the comparatel website to obtain them but cannot find my way throught the site well enough. If anyone has the details I need please help now!!! Thanks

We have a three year old girl who will be going to ecole maternelle soon when we finally make our move permanently. There is a charming and apparently very good school in the nearest village (3/4 Km) but this village is not in our commune. The school in our commune is actually further away (2km). Does it matter which one she goes to or is this dictated by our location as it sometimes is in England. I have met the teachers and they did not raise it as a problem but I am not certain they realised at the time that we were actually living in the neighbouring commune.