Patmobile
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Posts posted by Patmobile
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We did have this problem and the messy brown gunge caused some damage to the decor. I was surprised when my builder told me the problem was not condensation running back, but rainwater entering the chimney at the top and mixing with soot and other goo on the way down. I didn't really believe him but the stack needed repointing anyway and I asked him to put a really effective cap on it at the same time. He put a big flat slab over the top of the whole thing (the traditional style around here) so that smoke emerges from holes on all sides and the two woodburner flues inside are protected from rain.You may share my initial scepticism, but it worked. No further problems even when running the woodburners on very damped down settings (which was always when it happened before).Patrick
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[quote user="Will the Conqueror"]Do be careful if you decide to ask for a reduction as you think your liability is less than previously. According to our accountant, if you under-estimate what you think you owe, you will be charged pretty hefty interest on the difference between what you estimate and what you actually owe. This applies to all sorts of other charges, besides tax. Unfortunately it doesn't work the other way round.[/quote]What if, although you don't know how much it will be, you do know your tax liability is going to be substantially more than it was in the previous year? Are you supposed to pay more than they ask for? If you didn't would penalty interest be added later?I used to think french income tax was fairly simple. Now I think it's about as simple as french grammar.Patrick
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Oh!I was about to reply to say it's nothing like enough, but I seem to be in a minority. Still, I hate gardening so I don't grow any of my own produce. Perhaps you will. I hate housework so I get someone else to do it. Perhaps you won't.No wonder I don't do much painting the town red! Anyway I'm not too keen on painting, though I do more of it than I had planned too.Patrick
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Just went to see an accountant who told me the valuation at the change of marital regime will be the one taken, as it counts as a change of ownership.It's not really a loophole, as most people won't have to pay CGT on the sale of the principal residence, and, anyway, we lose the tapering off reduction after 5 years of ownership. However, it looks as if, in our case, CGT on the gite element could only amount to a small sum, if anything. Just the news we were hoping for.Patrick
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St Maclou = the patron saint of floor coverings.We've had good service and decent products at a reasonable price from St Maclou, including fitting and a guarantee.Patrick
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I originally tagged this question on to another CGT thread, which might be one reason for a lack of response. Another reason might be that no-one knows the answer. Well, here goes again....We are considering selling our principal residence in France, aproperty that includes within its outbuildings 3 very high quality andpopular holiday cottages that we have created.In 2004 wechanged our marital regime to Communaute Universelle and this propertywas revalued in the act at a much higher figure than we had paid for itin 2000. I understand that change to our marital regime could beconsidered to constitute a change of ownership. We assumethat on the sale of the property French capital gains tax will bepayable on the proportion of the value of the property deemed toconstitute the holiday business.Leaving aside the question ofhow this proportion would be calculated, and/or negotiated, does anyforum member know which base value and date of acquisition will apply -the original purchase price and date, or the date of our "new marriage"in France?Patrick
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[quote user="BJSLIV"]
I dread to think what it will be like in 2007 when household users are allowed to change suppliers. Electricity suppliers in the UK often make a complete hash of handling the transfers. Heaven only knows what the French will do when they addin the requirements for a few registered letters, twelve month rolling contracts, advance notice of cancelation........
[/quote]I hope some UK entrepreneurs will get over here and show the French how to compete for electricity consumer's business. Only a state protected monopoly could hope to get away with EDF standing charges and poor choice of tariff options.My phone service is provided by a UK based company and the call rates are lower and less complicated than any I've seen from French providers.Roll on deregulation!Patrick -
This thread has some interest for me, and I wonder if I could tag my own question on to it.We are considering selling our principal residence in France, a property that includes within its outbuildings 3 very high quality and popular holiday cottages that we have created.In 2004 we changed our marital regime to Communaute Universelle and this property was revalued in the act at a much higher figure than we had paid for it in 2000. I understand that change to our marital regime could be considered to constitute a change of ownership. We assume that on the sale of the property French capital gains tax will be payable on the proportion of the value of the property deemed to constitute the holiday business.Leaving aside the question of how this proportion would be calculated, and/or negotiated, does any forum member know which base value and date of acquisition will apply - the original purchase price and date, or the date of our "new marriage" in France?Patrick
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[quote user="Tresco"][quote user="Philmco"]
Reminds me of a friend who took his father-in-law's ashes to sprinkle in the Solent while watching the Jubilee Review of the fleet......
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My own fathers ashes went in the Solent too Philmco, after being taken on a boisterous trip to Portsmouth. They went to several old sea dog pubs/haunts, and HMS Victory, if I am to believe my brothers.
This was after a year in the bottom of my mums wardrobe.
[/quote]The Solent must be the most haunted bit of water in Europe. My dad's ashes, too, were consigned to the ebb tide near the Calshot light vessel (now replaced by a buoy) to ensure maximum dispersal throughout the east and west Solent.Patrick -
I have worked, and have been paid a salary in France by a French business, for a few months, a year or two back. Does this mean I can claim the dole?I had never even thought about it beforeIt would come in handy for paying the bar bill down at the golf club.Patrick
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I'm on orange, too. I always ask for a Mobicarte.Patrick
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[quote user="Tillergirl"]
Also while i am here and posting. As i do
not know what French people actually like to converse about, (differentcultural prospectives) i am somewhat lacking in confidence to strike upan attempt at the momement to start a conversation in fear of making afaux pas.
So
if any of you know of where else i can go to meet other English peoplein order to build my french conversational skills over a coffee i wouldalso be grateful of the information. I find not knowing anyonevery lonely at the moment.
[/quote]There's a weekly French class at the Richelieu cafe/restaurant inHesdin where you might make some progress with the language and also meetsome new people.Patrick
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I wish that in 2006 my golf handicap will be reduced to single figures,that Sunderland will stay up, that butter, cream and pastry will befound to offer significant health, fitness, and slimming benefits, andthat my newly-born first grand-daughter will keep healthy, grow strongand love her grandad.Patrick
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Is it Christmas already? Have a good onePatrick
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[:$] I think I'm in love with Agenais' avatar. Who is that gorgeous woman? Patrick
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I understand from reading that fascinating publication "Propane etVous" (from Antargaz - our gas supplier) that whole villages inNormandy and Brittany are going this route now. PresumablyAntargaz or another supplier pay for the installation of a central,presumably buried, tank and distribution pipework, and is rewarded witha long term contract to supply the village.I do think if I'd been PR Director of Antargaz I might have come up with a snappier title for the magazine, though.Patrick
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[quote user="Miki"]I am really looking forward to our trip back to the UK for thefestivities, in no way can France match how the English celebrate Xmas(all over and done before it even starts here !) so we try to go back everyyear. We also like to take short breaks in the UK whenever possible. Now I am in no waydeciding what is the best by doing so, purely having a change ofscenery, a change of culture, visit family and friends, all of which issomething many French themselves absolutely love to do, so I am simplyacting French ain't I !!As far as many folks coming here on the back of booms in prices,how many times have I said that ! Cheap housing, cheap wine and fagshave all I reckon, added to the more recent influx of Brits, I amreading and hearing of more and more, that had never, if rarely,visited France before their move.[/quote]Christmas is one of the reasons I prefer it here in France. It'sso much less commercialised and you don't have to stuff yourself withflavourless turkey and its leftovers in company with the same people,over and over again, for about two weeks.In general though, I think we like living in France because it'sdifferent and so every day is a bit of an adventure and achallenge. For that reason, if it ever gets boring I think we'llmove on somewhere new rather than going back to UK. I was bornand lived in the NE of England up to the age of 18. I'm sure it'svery nice and all that, but I've been there and done that. Certainly, a lot of Brits buy because houses arerelatively cheap. This is great if you want to live here butusually a big disappointment to those who fancy they can make a quickkilling in the french property market.Patrick
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OK"Mais le même anglais, avide de cruauté, Jeffrey Quirk , quiavait sollicité la Ville de Pau, veut maintenant exercer sa violencesur les renards de Lascazeres dans les Hautes Pyrénées ! "I don't suppose Mr. Quirk, nor many of his friends, would agree withthis characterisation of him. I don't believe it myself, and I'venever met the man.Patrick
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[quote user="Russethouse"]
The problem is that other people are harmed - land is trampled,
crops destroyed, pets sometimes killed and other livestock jeopardized.For instance one of the members of the LACS group I used to belong tolived deep in the woods in a little cottage. They kept a few animalschickens, bantams and goats....the hunt went over their land and thenanny goat 'dropped her kid' meaning that they had no milk, lost thekid and nearly the goat as well.If the hunt had input into the numbers of foxes in the Uk those
numbers would have altered when we had foot and mouth here - theydidn't.Cruelty to the fox is only one issue involved Bouffon, the guy who
wrote the piece I previously posted (you might find itinformative) coined the term 'speciesism'. Perhaps he had you in mind !Oscar Wilde got it right !
[/quote]Oscar did get it right, but that does not excuse the kind of vehementand personal abuse of a private person, who has committed no civiloffence, that I found in the piece by the Rassemblement Anti Chassequoted by you in your initial posting .Reasoned argument I can understand and respect, yet in spite of thefact that I find myself more against hunting with hounds than for it,this kind of hatred-filled rubbish has the effect of putting me firmlyon the side of the people who just want to quietly get on with theirperfectly legal activity.Your first paragraph above, if true, makes a good point. No doubthunt enthusiasts would argue that damage is always compensated orrepaired by the hunt. I believethat I posited, however, that the maintenance of a large fox populationin Britain mightbe the result of a couple of hundred years of work by the hunts,so I feel your point about foot & mouthhaving stopped hunting for a few months, without noticeable effect onnumbers, is much less telling.Suppose shooting all foxes on sight had been the accepted practice inBritain since, say, 1700. Would foxes now be as rare as bears orwolves are in the Pyrenees? I think they probably would. You might think this an acceptable trade-off - no foxes, so no hunting- but some would not agree. Hopefully, though, these dissenterswould not stoop to personal abuse of anyone with an opposingview. Patrick -
If it's legal and they can get the agreement of local landowners, then let's for goodness sake leave them to get on with it.I dislike the idea of hunting foxes with hounds, whether in fancydress, on horseback, or otherwise, but this vehement campaign againstpeople doing their own thing, while harming no other person, is a typically British thing that I hoped not to see in France.Let's just hope that if the gendarmes ever see masked saboteursattacking people in fancy dress on horses engaged in a perfectly legalpursuit, they will have no hesitation in banging up the realtroublemakers - I mean the sabs, of course.By the way, I've lived in the French countryside for 5 years and neverseen a fox, alive or dead. In Britain you see them everywhere,including dead on the roadside, and suburban back gardens. Isuppose the farmers have shot most of them over here, but is itpossible that the existence of foxes in such numbers in Britain is aresult of a couple of hundred years of careful conservation and cullingby the hunts? Patrick
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This is true! A very nice girl once remarked to my wife that there were a lot of villages called "Rappel".I also like the story - probably not true - about the Belgian familywho kept setting off for a holiday in Britain and returning a few hourslater disappointed. They explained that they were intending tocross by ferry from Calais to Dover, but every time they started outdown the motorway they came to a sign that said PAS DE CALAIS, so theycame home.Patrick
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Apart from some initial difficulty getting recognised - I had topretend I'd forgotten my password, then received a new totallyunmemorisable one - the new style seems to work well and it's certainlyvery clear on my screen. Congratulations.Yes, a little problem with the clarity of the page numbers, and I nolonger get a short preview of the topic when I hover the cursor overit. Has this feature disappeared? I found it quite usefulin sorting which topics I wanted to read.At this point I think I would like to lose my icon virginity and put in a smiley, but I can't figure out how to do it! Patrick
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[quote]According to my marvellously informative EDF bill:83.4% Nuclear8.1% Renewables3.8% Gas3.1% Coal1.3% Oil0.3% "Other" - what could "other" be? Hot air from politicians? Farting from farmyard animals? Or...[/quote]
I think "other" might be hydro-electric schemes such as the tidal barrage on the R. Rance. Unless that comes under "renewable", of course.The big objection to nuclear seems to be the thousand year problem of waste. That, and the threat of materials intended for, or produced as a by-product of power generation, falling into the hands of people who would build and actually use nuclear weapons.We should by now have learned from centuries of polluting and burning up limited natural resources that any energy policy needs to consider its possible effects at least a thousand years ahead, so the nuclear waste problem is not so daunting a challenge when seen in context. Terrorists with nuclear bombs - now that's far more scary.Patrick -
PTRA - Poids Total Roulant Autorisé is the maximum permitted total gross (laden) weight of the vehicle AND trailer.For most of us driving cars with small trailers this figure is found in the cars User Handbook or on the VIN plate. If this figure exceeds 3500kg, as I suppose it might in the case of a very large camper van, you might need a HGV licence, or the French equivalent.In the case of our newly acquired 2 seater Smart car there is no permitted trailer weight!There is a Code de la Route website where this can probably all be clarified.Patrick
Baseline valuation for French CGT on sale of house?
in French Legal Issues
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