Katieb

Gosh, i'm really shocked at that info - i'm glad i posted the question now, it saves the embarrassment of being turned away. Thankyou for your replies From a British mad cow.......

My husband has just received a speeding fine (automatic camera, 15kmh over the limit) and has made a payment on line but we are unsure about his UK Driver Licence. Does he need to apply for a French licence - if so how and where? or is his new style Uk (european licence) acceptable to receive the points. The form doesn't seem to ask to send it anywhere - is this request sent out at a later date? Hopefully somebody will be able to supply some usefully info? many thanks Kate

I have recently noticed a sign in our town advertising a blood donoring session next week, as i used to donated blood in the UK, i would also like to do it here. Does anybody know if i have to make any prior arrangements or visit my Medecin before attending the session or do i just turn up and do i need to take any ID or anything with me? (my french is still quite limited so i would like to be prepared beforehand!) Thanks as always Kate

Just to put you all in the picture, we visited our Notaire on Friday to express our unease with the situation of paying and signing but not having vacant possession until 3 months later - she said she would speak to the vendor. She phoned us back within an hour saying it is no problem at all to pay, sign and have vacant possession at the same time if we would rather (in May) - makes you wonder doesn't it? Thanks again as always for your input. Kate

another thought.......could someone please tell me what "vacant possession" is in french - thanks

Thank you for all your replies - somehow we were expecting to be told not to touch it!! Out of interest - just exactly how binding is the acte de vente? Our Notaire has confirmed that a date for the end of May will be entered into the acte (which is due to be signed in February) stipulating that property will be available for us. Once this is signed can anything be altered and what happens if the vendors default regarding that date? I think we will be visiting the Notaire tomorrow to ask some more questions! Kate

We have just had our offer accepted for a property on sale with the Notaire and were advised yesterday that the property will not be available for us to occupy until the end of May (we were already aware of this situation as the vendors are moving to a brand new property which will not be ready until that date). However, the sting in the tail is that the acte de vente will take place at the end of February which is when they require full payment! Thus, we will pay for and own a property in February but it will not be available to us until May. Obviously we will be losing interest on our money but where also do we stand legally ie; house insurance, should the vendors pay us rent??? This situation seems totally ludricous to us and we were very shocked by it. Does anybody know if this is usual in France (obviously the vendors need finance to pay for their house to be built - and we are supplying it) We will of course be seeking legal advise but are still having problems finding an english speaking French accountant in our area - dept 72 but quite near dept 61 - any help or recommendations would be great. Thanks Kate

We too moved to France in July this year and met the Maire for approval for our daughter to start ecole maternelle (4yrs old). We registered with the school on the set day - nobody spoke english - i asked if my daughter could attend 3 days a week but was informed that it would help with integration if she attended every day. There were tears for the first week or so, but they soon stopped and now our daughter is very happy there - more so than in her nursery in the UK. We pay for her to have lunch in the canteen - which doesn't go down too well, but we feel that she will learn more by eating french food with her friends (our personal opinion) and learn to love the cuisine! As an little addition, i helped the class on a nature trail yesterday - it was very pleasing to see our daughter fully immersed in french school life, playing and chatting with friends and happy.  Good luck!

We are interested in purchasing a property near to us which is on sale with the Notaire- is it acceptable to put an offer in on the house (approx 5k less than the asking price) as is the norm in the UK. This house has very recently been put on the market so perhaps an offer would not be acceptable. We are just wondering what the normal proceedure is in France. Any feedback would be gratefully received, thank you.

Do french supermarkets sell marmite/bovril or anything similar? I have been looking around and can't seem find anything - our supplies are running low? Thanks, Kate

well, touching wood doesn't help!!!! since my post a couple of days ago, i suffered a (self inflicted) accident involving my daughter's micro scooter in the lounge at 1am after a bevvy or two!!!!!  Outcome was a trip to the Doctor this morning (who we are not yet registered with) followed by 4 x rays at hospital to discount broken nose and hand. Not sure how payment and costs will be handled as we have only recently applied for our carte vitale (E106) and we don't think we will be able to use the E111 as we are resident here - albeit since 13/7, oh and also - haven't arranged any private top up yet and we thought we needed to be accetped into their system first? So, learn from my tale - don't drink and drive!! Kate

We have not yet needed to see a Doctor since we moved here (touching wood right now!!) and wonder if it is necessary for us to register with a particular Doctor before we actually require their services. i understand a new system has just been introduced whereby you now use the same Doctor rather pick and choose each time you need an appointment. My daughter has come home from ecole maternelle with a form to be completed requiring our Doctor's details - we don't have one yet! Thank you Kate

Is anybody aware of any french lessons/teachers that we may be able to use. We are in Dept 72, something close to Alencon or Le Mans would be good. How could we find out if their is somesort of expat network in this area too. Our french is very very basic and we would like to do some networking and make new friends. We have thought about asking at the Mairie, but again the language barrier is a problem for us at the moment.

We live not far from Sille. We would suggest that the Gare is in a central location and within walking distance to the town (although it is not a large town). In the "town square" there is a cafe tabac with a few seats outside, it is opposite a small water feature with ample parking. There aren't many shops in the town, i'm sure they would not have a problem in finding the square or asking for directions to it. Good luck with the rendez vous kate

I'm sorry if this question has been posted before - we have searched but are unable to find posts with similar situations. When we left the UK (7wks ago) my husband was employed as a contract programmer under an umbrella company, he obviously left that company when we left the UK.We applied for our E106's (which have now been received and we've applied for our Carte Vitale). However, my husband's work status has now changed as we did not expect him to be working here initially and we are not sure how to deal with the tax implications. A Uk company has asked my husband to do some work for them (as a employee of theirs) which he is able to do whilst living in France (via internet/web based programmes). They are able to pay him directly into our french bank account and advise him that he doesn't have to pay UK tax as he isn't resident there. Is he able to pay into the french system  - if so how? Would this mean that our E106's are now issued incorrectly. It isn't clear how long the work from the UK will last and how much there will be (although it is estimated that he could do about15-20hrs per week). We do not want to avoid paying taxes but are very confused as to whom/how we should pay them. I hope i have expressed this clearly - any advise would be greatly received. Thank you, Kate

Thank you everyone for your positive replies, there is a scrap yard fairly near to our town so we can give them a try. We'd rather do everything legally and officially.

We have a very old vehicle still registered in the UK ( we have only been here for 7 weeks) and the brakes (pads and discs) are in urgent need of repair. The car was only purchased for £300 2 months ago so we are reluctant to get it repaired at a garage (and it is a Saab which may proove tricky) and are not too happy about driving it back to the UK to be scrapped in its condition. My husband has ordered some new brake pads but is unable to get the wheel off and needs a mechanics assistance. Are we able to scrap the vehicle here if it is not French registered and then advise DVLA it has been scrapped?   Thanks for any input. Kate

Sorry, Department 72...  

We arrived here 6 weeks ago and now living in rented accomodation.  We've received a letter from SFTE (French water treatment soceity) offering to test our water from our tap free of charge as we are new customers. Has anyone else received a similar letter upon arrival? Do you recommend that we take up this offer, or are we liable to pay for any problems arising from their tests? Thanks, Kate

Yes, we saw some recently at Leroy Merlin, i think they were about 69 euros for 60 cm dish

I'm sure this matter has been covered previously, but unfortunatley i am unable to find the thread.   We have just put a deposit down on a second hand car from a garage and are confused as to what we need to do to make things legal. The garage are reissuing a carte grise which which have just paid for. We understand we need to register the vehicle in our names (we live in the same department as the one the vehicle is registered in) - how and where do we do this? We also understand that we need to get insurance cover before we collect the car. We were planning on buying this through our bank - or any other suggestions? We tried to ask the dealer if there was a service history for the vehicle but he didn't understand what we meant - can anybody help with the french translation of this? Sorry for so many questions, we are new to this game and have a very limited knowledge of the french language at the moment. Many thanks Kate    

Thank you all for your replies.   Unfortunately we do not have a cheque book yet. We have  been in France for 3 weeks and only recently opened a bank account. We have just put a deposit on a second hand car from a garage and need 6000 euros to pay the balance on Saturday.   Do we ask the bank to issue a cheque? (any advise on what it may be called please??!)   Thanks Kate

We have recently opened a French bank account and with our limited knowledge of the French language, we found this to be a difficult exercise. Does anyone know what the procedure is for withdrawal of say 8000 euros in cash, can you just pop into the you local branch, request it and then take it away? All we currently have is a Carte Bleu... Thanks... Kate

thank you for that info - of course we want to do everything legally and by the books, we do intend to bring it back to UK to scrap it - although - if it is still running around we may even consider re-registering it and getting french plates for it. I guess from those replies we should stick with direct line for insurance.

Thankyou ladies for those reassuring replies - i'll let you know next week our experiences! Let's hope they have vacancies as i have previously read on this forum that one particular school was full for that year as there was a baby boom in 2000 (my daughter's year of birth too). Thanks Kate