MCline57

Eleanor: In my opinion, this is the best forum on the net for people who want to move to France or learn more about living here to exchange ideas and obtain support. We have been here for a little over a year and found this site about 2 years ago. As someone mentioned in another thread, it should be mandatory reading for anyone preparing to move to France. There have been many days when this site has been a lifeline to me (especially when we first moved to France) and I am sure to many others as well. Speaking for myself, when the site is down, rarely, or having problems, I panic a bit. It now seems to be working fine and I just wanted to say thanks and hope the exhibition is going well. Michal

Well this is the 7th time I have tried to log in and this time I have taken the advice not to check the box. Now to see if this works. Michal

Jackie: Maybe there is a bit of a middle ground here. Check around the area you are moving to and see if there are any "sous" contract Catholic schools. These are schools which are private in the sense that they do not have to take anyone if they do not wish to but are subsidized by the government. One pays a small amount of tuition. They tend to be smaller and may be more willing to work with your child. They are also more flexible in the classes they put a child in. Also look for a school that has the option of taking an European Bac. In this program there is a focus on the ability to study certain classes in English or another language other than French. If the decision has been made then you must start to explore all the possibilities open to you within the French system. It sounds like you have a good relationship with your child and your support will go far in helping her to adjust. I wish you all the best. Michal Cline

Well we went to the Notaire and he said that if a place is your primary residence, then one must only keep the house for 2 years. There is no minimum if you must move because of a job. For some reason, I do not feel absolutely confident with this answer and will try to do some research into the French tax laws. Michal

Boy is this a timely question. We are planning to sell the place we bought in Sete last September and buy a place in the country. Since our place here is our primary residence, does anyone know if we are bound by the five year holding period before there are no French capital gains or is there a provision which allows one to avoid tax on the gain, in whole or part, if one sells one's primary residence and buys another primary residence? Michal

Keith: Maison and Travaux has a web site: http://www.maison-travaux.fr. You can probably get subscription information off of that. I looked in my magazines and did not see prices for outside France but their address is Maison & Travaux, 16-18,rue de l'Amiral Moouchez, 75686 Paris Cedex 14. You could probably write them and ask for a subscription and give them your bankcard information so they could charge the cost to your card. Michal

We are redoing the bath rooms and I asked the plummer if there should be a pipe from the toilet through the roof for fumes. He said no. Also our downstairs neighbor's toilet pipe ends at our floor and is in the wall. I know because the plummer broke the wall to install some pipes. I would think that this pipe ending where it does would not be exactly beneficial to our air quality among other things. Does anyone know what is necessary regarding these pipes? Michal

I have not posted in a while because we have been very busy moving to France and trying to settle in. We bought an apartment in Sete and I need advice regarding copropriete. Now I wish we had just rented while looking for a place in the countryside. The apartment we bought is on the top floor of a small building with only one apartment below and a fisherman on the ground floor who has a garage for his nets. When we first arrived, our neighbors, A woman of 54, her mother and the woman's boyfriend, could not do enough for us. So much that it made me very uncomfortable. They told us how terrible the prior owners were and how terrible the condition of our flat was and that we had paid too much. In so doing they introduced us to some of "their" friends who do renovation. I was so confused and tired of all the woman's comments that I called an friend in London who put us in contact with a wonderful Frenchman who is now doing the renovation. Briefly, we need new water pipes and we need to ground the electricity. The woman below wants us to use her person for the water pipes but he will not be providing a devis. I refused and now we are not speaking as of Friday. My contractor and I went to the Notaire to get a copy of the Acte to check about whether anything was written about an area in the hall which has a glass over it. I would like to cover the window over and use it as a closet. Also I want to remove the opening in the granier as it takes up a lot of space. It is a bricked in area of about 2m2. I would of course leave the roof alone. I could find nothing in the documents the prior owners gave us about this window. Above us in our granier is a puit du jour which gives us light in the hallway. Well this silly window in our floor takes up space and does not really provide much light to the flat below. A light would actually work better for them. When we arrived at the Notaire the secretary said that I had gotten a copy of the Acte the week before. Surprise. Unless I walk in my sleep, it was not me who went there last week for a copy. Of course they did not ask this person who said she was me to sign any paper. The Notaire was very defensive. They gave me a copy and had me sign for it. Is it legal for the Notaire to give a copy of our Acte to anyone else without our permission? How do others deal with problems with their neighbors. I would truely appreciate any insight into this problem and advice on what I should do. Thanks!!! Michal

LES: Several years ago, we opened an account at the CA. We are American and needed a non resident account. All we had to present was our passport. My husband and I have different last names but they did not ask for any other documents. We opened 2 accounts, a savings account which draws interest and a checking account. I do not remember exactly how much we initially put into each account. Both of these accounts can be easily accessed on the internet. Once a month, we receive a statement for our checking account sent to our address in the States. We are in the Midi region of CA. Hope this information helps. Michal Cline