Boiling a frog

Maitre Ferrant in St Angeau speaks good english

The french regs are totally different from UK You are only allowed to tow a caravan up to a certain weight dependant on your towcar The PTAC,found in your vehicle handbook,is the laden weight of your vehicle The PTRA is the total overall weight of your vehicle ie the PTAC and whater ever you are towing You deduct the PTAC from your PTRA to find max weight of caravan allowed As an example I have a Peugeot PTAC is 1920 kg PTRA is 3021kg Deduct one from another and my maximum towing weight is 1100 kgs To add another complication If your car plus caravan exceeds 3500kg then you need to have a permis E driving licence If under a permis B is sufficient My book does not list Landrovers however a similar heavy 4 by 4  such as a Pajero needs a permis E driving licence for any trailer over 750 kg ie all caravans I would strongly advise against a twin axle caravan as they are associated with travellers and most caravan sites in France have notices up saying no twin axle caravans

Troc d'isle Angouleme

[quote]"If you move to France with the intention of residing there indefinitely you will become a French tax resident the day after your arrival...an introduction to French tax from Blevins Franks Tax Adviso...[/quote] So they are mind readers as well as tax collectors Must come in handy

[quote]We've almost finished our renovations and after much deliberation we have decided to demolish the ruin of a hanger which is attached to the cottage and build a garage in its place. Which permis do I n...[/quote] You will need a demolition permis and either a demand de traveaux if under 20 sq mtrs or permis de construe if over 20 sq mtrs Go to your Marie and get the forms

You have only been resident for 120 days maximum in the tax year so if I were you I would wait till next year.  

[quote]HI FORUM, DOES ANYONE KNOW WHERE I WILL FIND MAPS AND INFO ON LOCAL WALKS. WE ARE NEAR ROUMAZIERES-LOUBERT(16)CHARENTE. WE HAVE BEEN ON THE WEB ON THE SEARCH ENGINES FOR THIS BUT WITH NO SUCCESS. ...[/quote] Very little info on web for Charente Try local supermarkets for local books ,tourist info centre,or very often in village square or near marie you will find a map with the walking routes

Use caravan sites and you should not have a problem There have been a number of incidents around the perpignan and lyon area where lorry drivers and moterhomes have been the subject of thefts after being gased

[quote]Dear All, I dearly want to escape the rat race in the UK now that my last child will be going to university in September. I have long held the dream of running gites in France and humbly ask for the...[/quote] My neighbour has one gite sleeping 6 with swimming pool finished to a very high standard.Its in the Charente.So far this year  8 weeks booked at 900 euros per week = 7200 euros Probably will get another 4 or 6 weeks at 600 euros =3200 euros total 10400 euros Take off electricity tax fonciere tax d,habitation swimming pool maintainance probably left with 8400 euros. Everyone who has booked so far has asked if it is part of a gite complex  because they do not want to be sharing a pool of 10mtrs by 5 mtrs with other families.

[quote]I hope this is the correct area to start this question. I have just received a request to pay for "redevance audiovisuelle" - we are new to this game and we do not live in France for more than 8 week...[/quote] You have to pay for all three taxes. Tax d'habitation is for the person who is the occupant on 1st Jan each year and is payable in September of that year,Hence the reason that people who buy during the year dont pay till the following year Tax fonciere payable by house owners usually when you buy you pay your portion of the tax for that year Tax for rubbish collection payable by householder whether you use it or not and whether you are in residence or not Finally from this year the TV licence is incorporated into the tax d'habitation and you have to declare that you dont have a TV set

You will not get any discounts available to registered artisans unless you register with the chambre de metiers As for builders merchants there are lots about.The Charente is a huge department so without an idea of where you are it would be pointless giving names. I could tell you that 3m;s at Ruffec is good for material but if you are based in Cognac I doubt if you would want to travel 40 miles for material  

[quote]You need to ask the notaire, or the Mairie if the fosse bears a certificate conforming to the new regs. If the Mairie or Notaire have no knowledge of the certificate of conformation, then you'll proba...[/quote] Just had a fosse put in. Regs in Charente : Fosse can be any distance from house but recommended  as close as possible,if more than ten metres then a Bac degreaser needs to be put in before the fosse,the soakaway must be 3 metres from your boundry except where there is an existing house when they will allow 1 metre from boundry again no minimum distance between fosse and soakaway   I would suggest a visit to the local marie and ask where the local Service assainissement is visit them with your cadastra number and they will tell you whether the fosse conforms   PS dont know how you only paid £2000 our material was almost 3000 euros

[quote]micro chips: anyone who has had thier animals microchip in england using identichip, please take your pet to the vet to check that not only does the number come up but also details, my 11year old dog...[/quote] Our dogs were microchiped in the UK using Identichip and were registered on the UK data base On arrival in France we then via our Vet in France had them registered on the French national database There is no such thing as an international data base for microchips The microchip reader only gives the vet/dog home the chip number .It does not provide an address.The person carrying out the test phones the database telephone number to obtain the name/address of the pet owner.If the dog is not registered on the French data base then it cannot be traced. Chips manufactured by Identichip are compatable with French chip scanners I am sorry that your dog suffered its fate but please do not give inaccurate advice which could scare other pet owners

You do not need to go to CPAM Angouleme CPAM hold local consultations (permenance) over the whole of the region Ask at your marie when they have one local to you Mansle is a Monday morning Ruffec on a Wednesday

Only 12 in dept 16 Charente Must not be a lot of junk here This could be the start of a long thread or Dick could spend the next couple of days looking up every dept and counting the numbers

[quote]But as usual it's different in our bit of 46 - we have to wait for 5 seconds. The tricky bit for UK "trained" drivers seems to be understanding the word STOP. Many of them appear to interpret this as...[/quote] These people are just bad drivers It has always been the case that in the UK you STOP at a stop sign look left look right look left and proceed if way is clear Sec 36 RTA 88 makes it an offence to fail to obey this sign

As much as I and you and numerous other people think we are in South west france the Forum owners think that Charente Maretime is in Western france

No you dont need a fire alarm A man down the pub said so and I prefer to believe him than the so called expert police officer/fireofficer etc who are probably just trying to make things difficult for you and dont know the rules and regs like the experts on this forum or in the pub

Tax authorities are holding seminars in english at Civray 10am Marie 17th March and Ruffec Marie 1500 hrs to explain french tax system Also E mail address if you have a question [email protected]

Under European Community (EC) arrangements, a visitor from another Member State can use his/her vehicle on the foreign plates for 6 months in a 12-month period. The vehicle must be properly registered and taxed and insured in the home country.     Direct quote from DVLA website

You need to complete a tax return in France every year Go to the tax office or your Marie and get the tax form it has to be submitted by begining of April

Go along next Thursday 17th at 10am French Tax authorities are holding a seminar in English at Civray Dont know exactly where I think its in the Marie

Bank of Scotland telephone banking is just a simple phone call to transfer money

Next Thursday 17th March the impots are running an advice session on how to complete your French tax return It will be conducted in English 1500 hrs at the Salle de Marriage in the Marie at Ruffec (charente) No need to book just turn up They are also holding one in Civray but I dont know the details

[quote]That's my point though QUillan. This woman is definitely here permanently, you see her here all over the place - and has been for a lot more than 3 months. Her kids go to school here and she even ha...[/quote] Saw in Spanish paper the other day local police in Spain are noting UK registered cars arriving at the local schools with the children and then checking how long the pupils have been attending school If over 3 months then the Spanish police impound the car as it is a requirement that car has to be reregistered within 3 months of arrival and they can presume if children have been going to school for more than three months then car has been in Spain for more than  3 months. Maybe the gendarmes will take this idea up