Nick Trollope

It also depends on where you are! Around here (22) the temp is unlikely to drop below 3 degrees before Wednesday...

[quote]just popped into The Dont Live IN FRANCE web site.Knew about most of it already so we have been doing our homework.Regarding working for seven months of a year purely to pay taxes was an eye-opener.Ha...[/quote] Hi I have often said that, in the case of large descisions, unless ALL parties involved are 100% behind it, then it is not worth doing. Only you and yours can make your descisions. The information you are asking for is available on this site and others like TF and AI, but you would be well advised to talk directly to the appropriate agencies, such as the USSARF, APNE Chambre de Metiers etc. The taxation system in France is fantastically complex and the amount you pay depends on a whole number of factors (although it isn't as high as 7/12ths), all of which you will have to understand before you can judge how much you will pay. Trying to correspond with the likes of USSARF is difficult, emails even more problematic. It is always best to visit them in person (or pay someone, such as an accountant to do it for you). Think carefully!

OE can get slow if you have large (>2000 messages) in any particular folder. Especially if you are running an email-checking anti-virus program (AVG V6 e.g.). If you have lots of messages, delete some, or create more folders and "file" them... I believe that there some issues with ME & OE6, too. Try checking for any available updates.

Did you "finalise" the CD? In which case in may read in another drive. Failing that, I can only suggest a data recovery company. I have used one a few times (no, I am not that careless. Just unlucky!) - with 100% success. B****y expensive though (£450-ish).

[quote]"So why do you bring your cars over" BECAUSE THEY ******* WELL WANT TO![/quote] Exactly! And for much the same reason that French people drive their cars in the UK - 'cos it is easier! (Did you know that there are more French living in the UK that there are Brits living in France?)

[quote]On the subject of selling off unwanted buildings does anybody know the tax situation. for instance , if a building is sold off after 12months ( one of three in the original purchase) how is the gain ...[/quote] As I understand it, even if it was part of your primary residence, you still pay CGT (and full CGT after 1 year), assuming you have made a "profit". The valuation will, essentially, come from the Notaire. Part of our most recent purchase, the Vendors had not owned for long enough to avoid CGT, so, with they agreement of the Notaire, that part of the property was valued to make the CGT virtually nil. Of course, you will need to negotiate with the Notaire - try using the same one who handled the purchase.

[quote]My daughter received her tax habitation demand today for her house in deux sevres. The house needs total renovation,she does not live in the house.Should she pay the tax habitation. She has paid the t...[/quote] As I understand it, she needs to complete a "Demande de renseignments" (literally a demand for information), from the Taxe d'habitation people (her local Tresor Public). I would talk to the TP now, as she only has until 15/12 (ish) to pay the bill or pay the penalties. I've no idea what happens if she pays, then is entitled to a refund.... Talk to the Tresor (or even her Mairie, although they are likely to refer her on - ours would.)

Hello It is no different from selling a property on an already-established plot. You will have to employ a Geometre to mark out the new plots and you will need the cooperation of your local Mairie and/or the DDE to change the Cadastral Plan. AFAIK, changes to the CP are free. Would suggest that you apply for a Certificat d'Urbanism for the barn, as there are all sorts of rules about developing such buildings. Otherwise, see a Notaire or Agent.

Hi UK heating oil is different from French heating oil (28s as opposed to 35s, I believe). Oil here has gone up alarmingly (38-52c/L over past 9 months). If you bring a Rayburn from the UK, then you will need to have it set up to run on French oil. I know that this is possible, plenty of companies still service older Rayburns/Aga's. There are plenty of oil-fired cookers & heaters available here (very expensive, though). I'm sure that someone on the Forum can identify a good one for you.  

I suspect so! Sounds like you are not receiving a satellite signal. This could be because; You have a duff connection You have a duff LNB/Dish The receiver has forgotten it's programming The satellite has moved! (likely, as most of the analogue satellites have been de-comissioned).   Blow 100E on a new digital system from your local supermarket.

I don't know, but if your Architect has been told that (by your Department's officials) that 12,000L is appropriate, then I suspect that it may be. Rules vary from Dept to Dept (and commune to commune), so all you can do is ask him to confirm what he has told you (then dig a big hole!).

[quote]We signed the compromis de vente in the last week of October. What is the usual time frame for getting the papers back (after the seller has signed them) and when do the "2-3 months" average time span...[/quote] That rather depends.... It is "normal" for the vendors to sign first. You should then be sent the Compromis for signature. You then get 7 days to "cool off" and withdraw without penalty. Alternatively, you may all (buyers and sellers) be invited to the Agents office to sign the Compromis. 7 day period starts at this point. To the Acte, some say that it is possible in 5 weeks, although in my experience, the date is set (by the Agent and/or Notaire) to exactly 90 days from when you sign the CdeV. The actual timescale depends on whether you are after a mortgage or any other Clause Supspensive have to be considered. I doubt if, having signed on the 19th Oct, that Dave & Olive will be installed by Xmas.. My experience; House 1 - signed CdeV 28th August, Acte 10th January (delay due to Vendors arguing). House 2 - CdeV 30/7, Acte 2/11 (delay was caused by the fact that we needed a mortgage & CA does not consider them in August!). There are so many variables (worse than the UK, I'd suggest) that some transactions can drag on for months (plenty of horror stories on here). Don't worry if you hear nothing from the Notaire, it means that he is not encountering any problems. Chase the Agent by all means (you are paying them enough!), but expect a call summoning you to the Notaire on a particular date. Bon chance!

Our local supermarket is full of people speaking English. I even heard somebody say that back in the UK you never heard anyone speaking English in their supermarket, bit like the pot calling the kettle black really. Whenever Tina hears an English voice in the supermarket, she immediately clams up & picks up a jar of something that noone English would buy (just what are those dead things in a jar?). By the time the third person in the queue passes out, thou shalt deny your bithright at least 6 times.... You know, I have eaten a McD on every continent (except Antartica). I hate them. Daniel (left) loves them, but never seems to eat the food...

[quote]<<<Not getting at bikers at all here.>>> Well I am! They are a blasted nuisance, and not just a few of them, most of them. They ride at speeds that would see car drivers banned,...[/quote] In the UK. most deaths of motorcyclists (where another party is involved) are caused by car drivers. All motorcyclists are better trained than your average cage driver (HGV drivers apart, who should know better). Nowadays, most "bikers" (& I use that term in the literal, not perjorative sense) ride bikes (read supersport motorcycles) because they can afford to do so, not because they are trying to get from A to B. Most car drivers (in the UK, not France) resent the ostentatiousness of bikers and some actually aim for them. I am a biker, a car driver and a former HGV driver. All the bikers I know stay close to cars for as little a time as possible, because that is when they at highest risk. A bike does not affect you when it weaves through traffic, just stay out of it's way, which is what it wants you to do. Unless of course, you have something to prove. All bikers (even the 16-years old ones) are more responsible than "Gary" in his remodelled Nova (Vauxhall, not Chevrolet). And a lot quieter. If we all rode bikes, then the UK traffic situation would be significantly eased. You'd also learn alot more tolerance, which is useful in everday life! As for that bloody TV advert, it is as useful as a chocolate silencer....

I think it is only £25 and you should not waste your time complaining to TS who will not be interested. Quite frankly.

[quote]Its not mandatary to braze.Only on gas pipes.If you are installing a rayburn wood/coal boiler use 1/28mm copper to iron connectors on to the 1inch threads on boiler, run the 28mm pipe installing the s...[/quote] This is the first time someone who appears to know what he is talking about has said this. All the installations I have seen here (plenty) have indeed been soldered (badly, as a rule). Only brazing I have seen is in very old (50's) plumbing. Is this confusion caused by the fact that Soudre, used as a verb applies to both "soldering" (using tin/lead or aluminium) and "brazing" (using brass)?

Just to empahsise James's point, never heat the solder with the blowtorch. Once the joint is hot, remove the blowtorch then apply the solder. If the joint is hot enough, then the solder will "flow". I can't say that I would need 24 seconds to heat a 14mm connection with a butane torch, however.

Hello UK gloss paint ain't too good on shutters - I believe that is does not have the UV stability of French (designed for shutters) paint. I would buy something like Ripolin. It is marginally more expensive than UK paint, but better quality. I'm not convinced about the UK-v-Fr quality issue. Most French gloss paints are "thixotropic" - long chain polymers and all that. They are designed as single coat paints and they work, provided that you do not overbrush them - this breaks down the molecules (like shaking a bottle of ketchup!) making the paint runnier. Thixotropic paints are "non-drip" for the same reason. I think. Emulsion paint is a different matter. Buy British! But not the DIY shed own brands - use something like Leyland or Dulux TRADE. French emulsion is very expensive and not of good quality. I buy lots of 5L tins of Leyland white matt (£13 ea) and add dyes that I buy from the French DIY sheds - any colour available. This works out at about 1/4 of the cost of a tin of French coloured emulsion. Make sure that you mix enough the first time, it is impossible to recreate the colour.... I knows, you know! BTW John, if you paint your shutters with hammerite (are they metal?) you will not get anything to "take" on top again, ever (even Hammerite!). We need permission to do anything to the outside of our house because we are within 500M of a "Historic Monument" (our Church). We wanted to paint our shutters that gorgeous "Breton" Blue. No dice. White or cream (Blanc cassé).

Insurance, for any purpose, is available in any high street. If you can't visit your local high street, drop me an email and I will give you the number of an english-speaking agent who will arrange it for you over the 'phone. It is not the Notaire's responsibility to arrange insurance, it is usually left to the agent - after all, this is what you should be paying them for. Like the previous poster, we used CA on one of our purchases (mortgage too), they were by far the cheapest. You must tell the insurance broker that the property is a holdiday home. They may impose some conditions (electricity/water turned off etc etc), but it should not be much more expensive. Let the broker guess the values for rebuilding, etc. IME, insurance is cheaper here than in the "nice" bits of the UK.

[quote]dry line it ......if I got the question right..[/quote] Exactly - why not use the boards to hold up the tiles? Or better still green plasterboard. Have we both misunderstood?!

[quote]We've recently arrived in France for good with an amount of money that we wish to save. We took the moeny from ING (UK) where we were getting approx 5% interest whoch was very nice. The best that the ...[/quote] Interest rates in the Euro zone are very low, hence low savings rates. You could always stick with ING, who operate from Holland (IIRC) and offer Euro savings accounts. Otherwise, stick with the UK companies.

Dick is right I'm afraid - this sort of problems are endemic in the internet software field. The whole "thing" is so complicated that it is nigh-on impossible to test every bit of code in every circumstance. The Authors of this software have probably underpriced it and are having difficulty keeping up with the bug reports... Now, is it my imagination or is this forum getting really slow? Some pages, especially the front page or topic front pages are taking (perhaps) 10 times longer to load than when the s/w was first implemented. Is this an indexing or processing problem? Too much information to draw from too many files? Not that I really care, I don't seem to have any of the problems that most describe. Interesting to note that I don't run any AV software or firewall - I don't need to; I can't explain why I don't need to (I have dabbled with a few and it made no difference), but I have never been "attacked" by a virus. I receive plenty (all those inevitable emails), but no AV software catches those & all I do is delete them. 20 years ago, at the beginning of the "personal" computer revolution, some of those of us who played with early IBM PC's (having graduated from Apples, Dick) were convinced that dedicated hardware (rather than generic hardware & dedicated s/w, a la PC) was the way to go. What a******up that was (that is a c o c k, BTW). Can't get viruses in a hardware-only solution, though... In typing this rubbish, I have discovered another bug; If one spell checks half way through a post, the smelling chucker seems to run itself when you recommence your typing, starting from the beginning of the message (including words you have already ignored), making it impossible to finish your typing. A preview or post/edit seems to fix/stop it. Then again, if you can't see the SC in the first place... I think I will go to bed ...........

I've looked at this myself (I already owned/used a mini-JCB). I didn't bother to register (which seems relatively easy), because of the laws regarding towing a trailer carrying the weight of a 1.5T digger and the licence and registration implications. Insurance seemed disproportionately expensive. Which probably explains why, in this area at least, hiring a "man with a digger" is nigh on impossible. Of course, if you can overcome the obstacles, you should find plenty of (relatively) well-paid work. Other problem is disposing of the dig. It appears that you can't just take it to the local landfill, as I would do in the UK. Always assuming you have some means of transporting it. And a dumper. And an assistant, to constantly clear the particularly sticky Breton clay from the bucket. And are skilled at repairing sewers and electrical cables, 'cos the ******s never mark them... So my 801 just sits in the garage and digs the occasional hole in the garden. Don't let me put you off, though. Not that I am bitter or anything. *******s.  

[quote]OK so who here can get Freeview in France ( south of Paris)?[/quote] Errrr.... You can't. Freeview is the UK terrestrial digital service. This topic is about replacements for the "Solus" cards that stopped at the end of last year. I reckon it is a wait and see situation. £20/year seems a bit of a rip to me....

OK, this is interesting! I take your point about shrinkage rates, but I wonder if, in terms of a lintel or roof truss whether a tangential shrinkage of this amount is important? Isn't this what causes the checks and cracking in a beam as it dries? Just how do they dry large oak timbers? At 12mm/year (at best) a 12" lintel would take 10 years to air dry! No jokes about watching oak dry, please... Even in an oven you are talking months, I believe. I have need of some timbers for our latest build project, although, subject to closer woodworm inspection, I am intending to use timbers from a demolition. I may need some new timber. Perhaps I'll use softwood! I have vague memories of wonder-boy Ben Huggins cutting up trees on Discovery H&L, with a chainsaw, to produce roof timbers. I'd be interested to hear what your carpenter has to say. Ta!