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Thanks for the reply's so far. I will look at the Facebrook group to see if they can throw some light on my problem. I appreciate those who took the time to reply. Thanks.

In September of last year I carried out all the necessary actions to comply with ANTS requirements to exchange my UK license to a French one. I have checked the site almost weekly since then and each time the status of my request was given as 'under investigation'. On Friday I checked again only to find that my application has been deleted from the site. I am now left with a UK driving license that expired at the end of January and having to start the procedure from scratch. The real issue is that as my application was prior to Brexit it was not subject to a new agreement being reached however if I start again I am left in limbo whilst the UK agrees (or not) to reciprocal license exchange.

Thanks for taking the trouble to answer my query. I think I now understand my situation and will look into the S1.

Thanks for the information, very much appreciated.

I have a couple of questions that fellow forum members may be able to avise on. The first is regarding a field of around one hectare (grassland) that a neighbour may be selling. I wonder if anyone can give me a guide to the approx value of said land ? (In Indre). The second is regarding the conversion of an old building into a cottage. I was wondering if there are any tax concessions regarding wood burning stoves. insulation, double glazing, etc. ? Thanks, Jim.

Thanks for the prompt reply. My Carte Vitale is on the back of my wife's business so I presume I will need to get a CEAM also ? As a UK tax payer will I not be covered anyway in the UK ?

I am a UK pensioner living in France with a business still in the UK. I have a Carte Vitale for French healthcare but would like to know whether I need to get a French issued EHIC carp to cover me for my visits to the UK My wife also lives in France and has a French registered business so I presume she will need a French issued EHIC card for UK visits ? Any advice will be very much appreciated. Thanks, Jim.

We've just received a refusal to build a new 20m2 shower block for our business. The Mairie approved the works permission however the DDT denied permission due to it's location. I had thought that works permission for a building less than 20m2 was a simple formality however when we contacted the relevant office today we were told that nobody is allowed to build anything new (outside of the village I presume) except for farmers. We were basically told there's not a hope in hell due to the 'plan d'urbanism', but we could build an extension to an existing building. Does anyone know if the rules have changed regarding the building of structures less than 20m2, as I'm quite confused now. The plan was exactly 20m2, not less - could this have been the issue? Thank you for any advice.

That actually should work quite nicely, positioning one Acro over another so the load is on the floor underneith. I just need to sort out a chain block capable of moving from side to side. I'll plan work on that basis. I'll take some photos and see what you guys think before I start moving stuff.

It's just not one of those jobs anyone can really afford to get wrong. I'm certainly no match for a 1t millstone in a confined space. Anyway, I think the project is pretty adventurous even if we do get experienced advice before we try to move them, rather than just go straight at the job and risk making a potentially dangerous/expensive mistake. Shame theres not a nice big ugly RSJ running right over the top of them.

Some of the farmers are licensed and allowed to spread the effluent on fields as far as I'm aware (it seems to be what most French people use). Discharging into rivers is just beyond words awful though, and highly illegal. Back in Cumbria, a local farmer completely wiped out a local beck by contaminating it with farm effluent, and was hit with a huge fine. Deserved every penny.

The tubes which run through the filter bed have small holes/slits to let the water drain out slowly and evenly. From experience I know these easily get blocked when the septic tank fails and overflows solids into the drains. When you got the tank pumped, you should have asked them to send up a special high pressure jet, which would have cleaned out all the small holes, they can suck out all the waste at the same time. This is why it's always worth paying a proper company to come pump it out rather than getting a licensed farmer to do it, as they have all the right cleaning kit and should know what needs doing to get it all working again. What you can try yourselves though is using a chimney sweeping attachment (which fit on drain rods) which will clean the pipes a lot better than standard unblocking tools, and creates suction whilst you rod. Anyway hope some of this helps - I'm no expert on septic tanks, but we've had our fair share of problems I've had to sort out!

Thanks for all you're advice, very helpful as usual on here! Although I'm sure I can get them moved myself, I'm going to get professional advice first to assess the risks as some of you have recommended. The FDMF seems a very good starting point, we never knew such an association existed. I think I'll buy some Acros as gluestick recommended to make the room safe to work/walk in for the meantime.

The thing that really puts a spanner in the works is that due to the terrible condition of the beams underneath, I've no idea what will happen if I shift the weight across the floor. Chain tackle on sliders could work, but how do I know the ceiling above can take that sort of weight?

Stones 1.5m x 20-25cm Floor 5 x 6m 2.5m to both ceiling and ground floor Manitou would be easy, but we'd need either a new and very large window, or a new roof! Chain blocks would be okay to lift them up, however, we need to then move them sideways a couple of meters to be lowered down through the floor somewhere. This is a real head scratcher! Thanks for all your advice so far.