Montybird

Finally got my 1mg haute debit (only had to wait 5 months for Wanadoo & FT to sort) and fancied having ago at downloading my own music and movies, can anyone recommend the best sites to use for this.  

Hi Ron, Thanks for your reply.  Hopefully we're not doing anything untoward but perhaps if I explain our situation it'll put your mind at rest that we can manage. For 2005 our only income was 2 small pensions of my husbands that came below the €7417, all other monies we have are assets from the sale of our house in the UK over 2 years ago but obviously it's dwindling.  We have 1 gite ready for rental this year (2006) but this is not to be declared until next year (2007). I've calculated that we have enough money/assets to live on and to complete the 2nd gite.  Hopefully by this time the gite income will top-up enough for us to live on.  Realistically the 3rd gite is not viable in the immediate future! With regard to the impot declaration I have to admit to being a little confused.  I've asked a friend (who's very familiar with the French tax system) to help me complete this years (when it arrives, I believe in May) as last year I completed it incorrect even though the man at the office helped me do it, and at the risk of upsetting some people we've just been accepted for CMU with no cotisations to pay.  Again a person at the CPAM helped me complete the form but got it completely wrong - he calculated our 'total assets and income' instead of 'interest only and income'.  I'm probably being a bit too open here but I've really got nothing to hide Anyway, going back to my original question about the taxe d'habitation... any financial rebate's that we can get (and legally entitled to) will help ease the strain.  I'm not after scrounging off the French state, we really do want to be self sufficient financially.  Ingnorance of the facts has meant in the past we've paid out more than I'm sure we've needed to.  Also, next week I intend to go to the the Assidic to register for any potential employment (now that my french is getting a little better) and so hopefully a job here for me will also 'ease the strain'. Take care for now. Jules

Hi Clair, I'm glad you've started this thread as I have been trying to find out if we could be exempt from the taxe d'habitation.  I have been through the small print on the forms and understood about the age exemptions but  am still a little confused as to whether we have to pay in full, in particular the taxe d'habitation. Before I ask my questions though, and perhaps I'm being a bit dumb but what do you mean by full  "part" and "½ part" etc? Anyway, my questions... 1. Both the taxe d'habitation and taxe foncieres forms have been addressed to me as the house was purchased solely in my name.  I am 41 yrs old and my husband is 61. Does this mean that we're not entitled to be exempt because the forms are addressed to me and not my husband? 2.  Our income for 2005/ Impot declaration will not exceed the €7417.  Are the taxe d'habitation etc calculated automatically from the Impot declaration or, if we are entitled to a rebate/discount do we have to apply seperately for this? 3.  I don't suppose there's any chance of getting a refund for any past overpayments (due to ingnorance)? Hope you don't mind me putting these questions on your thread and that you or somebody else may be able to answer my queries. Jules  

Hi Jo and everyone else that has replied to my post here, Firstly, thank you to everboby for all your comments. Secondly, I would like to assure Miki and Jo that I would never take advise from the man in the pub.  Hence, trying to find out all the facts from official sources and advice from this forum and others.  It appears, having read many articles about this issue that I'm not the only one confused about registering my gites.  The last thing I want is to fall foul of officials etc. I perhaps did misunderstand the lady at the CdeC regarding declaring income and will be engaging an accountant to sort this out as it appears we've already made a hash of this years French Tax Return form.  Before going to the CdeC I rang and asked if it was possible to arrange an interview with someone that's speaks English that could help me.  Unfortunately I'm still confused as she didn't actually give us anything in writing and with all the information she gave us it looks like we've got some of it wrong.  So, I apologise if my initial post miss-lead anyone but I did say "I find this difficult to believe"! Oh well, it hasn't put us off too much yet and we'll plod on with the work....

Thank you for your comments on the B&B part of our property St Amour, I really appreciate the feedback and will definately be changing the prices.  Also, thanks to Sid for reminding me about BMI Baby. 

Hi St Amour, Thank you for highlighting this.  I've been having a bit of a debate about these prices with moh.  I think we really need to change the description from B&B to something else.  The reason the prices are a bit steep is because it's a little different to the normal B&B's.  Although it's contained within the main house, it is more like a self contained appartment. It has it's own entrance, there is a small bedroom with separate private sitting room (with TV etc), separate dining room, it's own bathroom with bath and shower and separate toilet .  The only thing it doesn't have is its own kitchen.  I guess we hashed it a bit on the website as we've had no interest to date but then again haven't really pushed it anywhere with regard to advertising.  We'll definately have to change it, but, to what I'm not sure.  Perhaps the 'self-contained appartment' idea might work to justify the price but, this still could be too much for people just looking for a place to crash out for a night or two.  We have a local Tourist Info just down the road here, I've been meaning to go there and ask about advertising it locally to generate some interest.  Perhaps you or other's have some idea's???

Hi everyone, Just thought I'd post this bit of information as it might help others with the same query or perhaps if anyone else knows different they might like to comment. We were recently led to believe that if you have more than 1 gite it must be registered as a business. As this would have applied to us next year we decided to pay a visit to our local Chamber de commerce in Périgueux. The lady there told us this is not true. She said it has nothing to do with the amount of gites you have but the amount of revenue that you make from the gite(s), and that you are allowed to earn up to 20,000€ before it has to be registered. She also said (and I find this part hard to believe but she assured us it was correct), that if the income from the gite(s) is less than 50% of any other income you may already have you do not have to declare it. One other question that I meant to ask was about liability insurance for our gite. Can anyone advise how they go about insuring their gite and potential guests? Just when you think you know all you need to know you hear something that makes you doubt yourself. Hopefully I'll be up to speed on the pros and cons of running gites by the time ours open for business in June.

A big thank you to everyone for all your wonderful comments - all of them valid points.  I'll be passing these on to my friend who designed the site and hopefully he can make some changes. I think I'll have to treat him to a free holiday here for all his hard work. Cheers.

Hello everyone, Just thought I'd let you all have a look at my new website and invite your constructive criticism.  My friend actually did 99% of the work on the site, it's also his first attempt at creating a website and offered to do it for me as a favour as we're just so busy trying to get the gites ready for our first paying guests in June. see www.gitesatlatreille.com Look forward to your thoughts.  

I folks, I'm back again and wow you lot have been busy on this thread.  Didn't realise what I'd started. For the record I didn't end up doing my website myself.  A good friend insisted on helping me out with it.  He's done the majority of the work on it with me helping out here and there with finding and designing a booking/enquiry form and availability calendars.  The site is just being tested out by us now but I have a small dilema that you may be able to help on.  My friend has put a note on the home page of the site that it's best viewed at 1280 x 1024.  Now, my computer, which is brand new from Dell is factory set at 1152 x 864 which seems fine.  I personnally find 1280 x 1024 too small but wondered what everyone else's pc is set to and what you'd prefer to see a website at?  Look forward to your comments before I tell him what I prefer.    

Hi all, We've just rec'd our CMU de base : Notification du montant de la cotisation and although I'm pretty sure the amount to pay is probably correct I feel we could do with some expertise help just in case. We've been living here since March 2004.  Bought a house and living off savings.  We're in the process of renovating a barn into 3 gites, one of which we are starting to rent this year with the intention of doing the other 2 in the next 12 months. So, we're are looking for an English/French speaking financial advisor or accountant that may be able to give advice? Thanks  

Hello all,  Bonne année à tout le monde! Not sure if I've posted this in the right place but not sure exactly where to put my question. I'm trying to purchase something from eBay france but the sellers delivery info is as follows: Lieu où se trouve l'objet : Paris France métropolitaine Livraison : France métropolitaine Frais de livraison : GRATUIT -- Remise en main propre Does 'France métropolitaine' mean the whole of France or just the Paris area and suburbs? Any one know the answer?  

Hi everyone, Following on from my original post of website creation it has been pointed out to me that the Terms & Conditions that I intended to publish on my site need to be checked-over by a solicitor.  Also, any links that I put into the site need the permission of the site owners - I'm thinking about flight and ferry company links here.  I guess these are valid points so if anyone has the answer I'd be most grateful. Thank you.  

I know I'm probably going to get ribbed for this question but I am a bit of a DVD recorder novice having only recently purchased one. Anyway, my question is this "how can I tell if a DVD I am about to purchase from Amazon.fr will be in English language as well as french".  One in particular that I am interested in 'Shrek2' states: Détails de l'édition : Zone 2 (Europe, Moyen-Orient & Japon) Origine : France ASIN : B0006FOOCY Anyone know????  

Thanks for the encouregement folks.  I'm just going throught the tutorials on BlueVoda and feel confident enough to have a go and perhaps save myself a fortune.  Will let you know how I get on. Thanks again and especially to Iceni for the pm.  

Help... I urgently need to set-up a website and get some leaflets sorted for our gite(s).  I'd love to have a go at doing it myself but in the meantime I'd like to find out how much it costs etc for a professional job.  If anyone would like to share their experience please let me know.  

[quote]Thanks everybody for your replies, I will look at Dell.fr today and see if I can sort it out in France, which from many points of view would be the best thing to do.[/quote] Hi Ian, Just wondered how you got on with Dell.fr? I ordered a new pc from them on Saturday.  I went onto Dell.UK site first, printed off the spec for the model I wanted and then rang Dell.fr.  They were very helpful (english spoken) and hopefully my new pc should be with me in 10-15 days.   

LesFlambes & Motorhead, please tell me how to keep the bikes on UK plates?  We have 2 bikes here, a Hayabusa and a CBR400RR.  After nearly 2 years of trying everything to get the bikes legally re-registered here we are about to give up. We were stumped at the first hurdle - trying to obtain the Certificate of Conformity's.  The Hayabusa is obviously over the BHP limit and Suzuki Perigueux mentioned over 1,000 euro's to restrict, the guy obviously wasn't interested in doing it! The Babyblade has just never been registered here so no C of C available either.  The D.R.I.R.E did give us the details to take to the bike to l'U.T.A.C near Paris.  Here they would carry-out different tests etc to the bike and fill in a very detailed form to return to the DRIRE.  This again could cost in excess of 1,000 euro's and even then they could not guarantee to issue a C of C. We've tried numerous insurance agencies and they will not insure for more than the std 3 months whilst getting re-registered or on UK plates permanently. Whilst on a visit to Bordeaux we went into Moto Kits and a guy there said he'd restrict the Busa for approx 100 euro's + parts but we need to get a letter from Suzuki France confirming they could do the work.  We're in the process of trying to get this letter.

Hi dc, Our E106 also expires at the end of this year.  I went to our Security Social dept last week and was given a form to complete to apply for CMU (Couverture Maladie Universelle).  I've been asked to produce the following documents when I return with the completed form: 2 Successive EDF factures, Birth Certificates, Marriage Certificate, Last P60 & P45 received, Any proof of income for France and foreign, Proof of interest and any savings either french or foreign, attestation from The Pension Service - Newcastle confirming you are no longer entitled to E106 & Relevant ID from your bank(s). This may of course be different in your area. bonne chance.

Try putting rose twigs or any other twigs with thorns on as far as possible down the holes. Because moles are haemophiliacs they then bleed to death. It cured our problem pretty swiftly. Not very nice I know but when it’s the moles or your lawn guess which wins?

A big thanks to everyone. Susie, I've pm'd you. Looks like it's between the Stihl and Husqvarna.  I'm just trying to sourse the best price now.   

Hi Sally, I use 'gâteaux' flour, it states on the pack ' Farine de blé et poudre levante incorporée'. Hope this helps!

Oops mis-posted this!

Hello everyone, We need to replace our chainsaw and wonder if we could ask for your thoughts/recommendations before handing over our cash.  We need it for thinning out a small wood on our land and to saw up logs into manageable sizes for our stove.  We've been looking at the Husqvarna models today which seem to be the dogs bxxxxxxs, but maybe you know different? Thanks Jules

Hi we've had loads of problems trying to re-register our bikes here and now after 18 months of wrangling have decided to take them back to the UK to sell. Wish we'd realised about the BHP and CoC issues before bringing them here.!!! Btw, my bike is a Honda CBR400 RR (babyblade), this model has never been registered in France.  My husbands is a Suzuki Hayabusa which of course is over the 100m bhp!! Sundaydriver - you mention a "Single Vehicle Approval test ( a lot of work)", I suspect this is what the D.R.I.R.E suggested I do with my bike.  They gave me a form (about 15 pages long) to take along to the l'U.T.A.C. (Union Technique de l'Automobile  du Motocycle et du Cycle) which is at Monthlery near Paris.  They warned this could cost in excess of a thousand euro's and even then the prefecture here in Perigueux may still refuse to re-register. The Hayabusa could be restricted but, again a lot of work and expense involved.   ps  It took me about 6 letter's and about the same amount of phone calls to get responses out of both Suzuki France and Honda France!