Briank

Can anyone tell me how much land you have to have for SAFIR to become involved? We are selling our house and when we enquired why it was taking so long we were told that it was SAFIR holding things up. This was the first time it had been mentioned - about 8 weeks after signing the compromis. Should it have been mentioned when we signed? Our buyers didn't know anything about it either. Our agent said that we could have paid about 300 euros to have it fast tracked! - if, of course, we had been told about it! Thanks Brian K

We have a LHD Citroen C8 and have been told that we would have to have the lights, speedo etc changed to pass the MOT in UK. Do you have a rough idea of the cost?The car is 8 years old but in very good condition and we would like to know if it is worth having this work done. We don't really want to change the car. Thank you BrianK

We are having a new boiler fitted and think that we can claim tax credit. We fill in a French tax form but have to pay tax in UK - local government pension. How do we claim this tax credit? Do we have to wait until we fill in the tax form next year? Thank you Brian K

Your message has disappeared from the forum,so this is the only way to reply. When you are next over, let me know and perhaps we can arrange a game. July and August might be a bit difficult due to the family being here for the summer holidays. many thanks for your reply, Brian

I am a five day member at Haut Poitou Golf Club near Poitiers. I live near St. Savin which is 50 kilometers east of the golf club.  At the moment I play about once a fortnight, but would like to play more often. I am looking for a golf partner to share the costs of getting to and from the golf club. If there is anyone within 20minutes of St. Savin who is  looking for a golf partner,please get in touch.  Brian

I am a five day member at Haut Poitou Golf Club near Poitiers. I live near St. Savin which is 50 kilometers east of the golf club.  At the moment I play about once a fortnight, but would like to play more often. I am looking for a golf partner to share the costs of getting to and from the golf club. If there is anyone within 20minutes of St. Savin who is  looking for a golf partner,please get in touch.  Brian

I am travelling Poitiers/Stansted/Poitiers next week. I have read the security requirements for Stansted. Are they the same for Poitiers? I haven't been able to find resealable bags in France. I saw on TV this morning people at Manchester airport being given clear bags but they weren't resealable. Will bags be available at airports? Thank you Brian & Jan   (86)

Thank you very much It is deleted!! Brian & Jan (86)

We have just received an email from Paypal to say that they have suspended our account because it has been fraudulently used. We have been asked to click on a link to receive our password. As far as we know we have never used Paypal so we don't have an account so we haven't clicked on the link. Could this be yet another scam? Brian & Jan  (86)

At the moment we have a CH boiler for central heating and it heats water as we need it. This is what we would like the new one to do as well. TU you say a ballon is better for running a bath but if I remember correctly from the brochure that we were shown I wouldn't have thought that there was enough water in the incorporated ballon to fill a bath. The boiler is much the same size as our combi now so the ballon wouldn't have a very large capacity. We normally have showers so this might not be too much of a problem. However we don't want to pay for top of the range. We just want a boiler that will give us CH and instant hot water and works using a thermostat and programmer. The boiler we have now works fine but we have been told there is a problem with the circuit board and the programmer no longer controls the heating. It is fifteen years old so probably not worth repairing and a new one should be more economical to run. Thanks for all the advice. Brian K (86)

We don't really have room for a chauffe-eau. Last year from the middle of March to the middle of December the gas cost us 440€ for heating and hot water so it doesn't work out expensive. We can't see the point of the small ballon in the boiler so will probably go for an ordinary combi boiler. Can someone give us a rough idea of the cost including installation. We have 15 rads but six of them are hardly used and we only have showers. Thank you. Brian K (86) 

If we have an electric ballon we will still have to have a gas boiler for the central heating so I don't this that is the solution. The ballon in the new gas boiler will heat the water using gas as now but it stores an amount of water which presumably it keeps hot ready for use. I still cannot see the point of having this small ballon. Brian K (86)

Our old gas combination boiler is on its last legs and we will soon have to replace it. A local firm have quoted 3000€ - 3500€ to replace it. Is this a good price (includes installation)? Also they have recommended a boiler with a ballon inside for the hot water. I can't see the point of this as with a combination boiler you only heat the water that you use. Can anyone explain the need for a ballon in a combination boiler? Many thanks Brian K  (86)

And we thought it was going to be easy in France!! Hobby France have telephoned today and they are saying that we need to send them a cheque for 500€ and they will send us a new chassis number and the necessary documents for immatriculation in France. We also need to change the gas fittings and they will send that for 25€!! It doesn't seem any easier than registering a UK caravan. Has anyone else tried to register a new German bought caravan in France? Did you have the same problems? Fed up Brian & Jan  (86)

It was one of your links and we would certainly recommend them. It is a family concern. They were very helpful and spoke English which was a relief because our German is now non-existent. Our van is a Hobby 495UFe, a 2006 model which we prefer to 2007 models. It came with an awning included in the price and was 3000€ cheaper than a 460 2007 model without an awning that we had seen in France. Even taking into account the cost of travelling and hotel costs it is still a very good saving. I have written to Hobby-France and hope to get all of the information needed to satisfy the prefecture. We had thought it would be easy to register in France!! I will update when we have succeeded. Brian & Jan  (86)

Update. Well we have been to Germany and bought a Hobby van at a much cheaper price including an awning so thank you for all the info. We took all the documentation to the sous-prefecture and it was sent off. We were told it would take about 8 days for the carte grise to arrive. Eight days later all the documentation came back because one sheet was missing - teile 1! We contacted the company in Germany and they have said that this part is only supplied if the van is registered in Germany. Ours only had temporary registration for exportation which we had sent to the French authorities. They also asked what do French caravans get when they are bought in France. Does anyone know? We thought this was going to be so much easier than buying a UK van but still there seem to be problems. Has anyone else registered a van bought in Germany? There could be two reasons for the confusions. I am sure that they think we are German and also the van is 2006 and maybe they think that it has had a previous owner. We have to go back to the sous-prefecture but would like to be armed with some information if possible. Thank you Brian & Jan  (86)

Aren't you all lucky to be receiving a winter fuel allowance!! Although I have to pay tax in UK (a local government pension) they won't pay me the fuel allowance because I wasn't receiving it before we moved to France. I wouldn't mind so much if I didn't have to pay them my tax. I've even written to Gordon Brown but it was passed to some other person who couldn't give me a simple answer and advised me to contact the tax office. Well I guess we will have to hope the mild weather continues. Brian & Jan   (86)

Thank you for your advice. The fact that it wasn't renewed in 2005 because I wasn't towing then, will this delay be a problem once I have passed the medical? Do I need to get a list of approved doctors from the sous prefecture? Brian (86 Vienne)

I have just found this information when searching for towing limits in France. At the side of the picture showing a towed caravan Cat EB it says jusqu'au 01/01/2005  70  GB followed by a red stamp. Does this mean that I am unable to tow a caravan now or can I tow if I have had a medical? Do I have the medical and then take it and my driving licence to the prefecture? Not quite sure why this date has been given. Brian  (86 Vienne)

Fixed beds if you are caravanning in France are fine but we would also want to take the van to UK in the winter. A fixed bed does limit the amount of space in the van. Thank you for recommendations I will go to the web sites. Brian

We are hoping to buy a caravan but we don't like the lack of equipment in French vans, also we aren't keen on the fixed bed. If we buy a new van in UK how easy would it be to register it in France. I know that registering an older UK van can be difficult. Thank you Jan & Brian  (86)

Thank you for that web site. It is really good Jan (Dept 86)

We have some friends who have seen a house they wish to buy. The vendor has agreed verbally to sell it to them at the asking price. They have just found out that two days before they saw the house the vendor put it on with an agent and that the agent is still showing people round the property. They don't know if it is an exclusive contract. The vendor's notaire knows that they want to buy it and is drawing up the compromis. If the contract is exclusive can they still buy it privately? Thank you Brian Knights (Dept 86)

I have just seen a jar of pear and walnut jam at the supermarket. As we have a glut of pears and walnuts does anyone have a recipe for this jam please? Thank you Jan Knights (Dept 86)

We have a problem with our CH boiler (gas) and with the programmer. Does anyone know a CH engineer/electrician in or near dept 86 preferably one who is or speaks English. We think the problem is electrical either between the programmer and boiler or within the boiler itself. We have tried French CH engineers who don't seem to understand the electrical side of things and we have tried electricians who won't touch it because it is a CH problem and also gas. Any help would be appreciated before the cold weather sets in. Thank you Jan & Brian Knights (86)