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We signed the Compris for the house that we are buying on the 3 November. That required an energy survey and rated it, as has been said on the A - F band and also calculated the amount of greenhouse gas produced and recommendations - which in our case was to increase the amount of lagging in the roof. The agent did say to us it was only advisory and was not something on which you could withdraw from the sale. However, given that the buyer has 7 days cooling off period from signing then a buyer could withdraw on the basis of the survey. If I was sceptical might think that this could lead to a green tax - i.e. the more efficient the house the less tax. Paul 

Will be driving down to the south soon for the first time. Making it easier - it will either be in a LWB Luton or a 7.5 tonner. Will be going from Calais to south of Toulouse. Used Mappy to produce a route and from it it seemed a piece of cake getting around Paris. However, looking at the road maps the roads do not seem that easy to navigate. So my question - is it and what are the times to avoid Paul 

Been over to France about 9 or 10 times this year and, with the exception of one car, have always had a different type of car from the hire company. Some have been absolutely horrible. However, one stood out as being exceptional. It had all the toys, drove very nicely, had plenty of power and was very comfortable - some of the cars have made my backache like mad. The car was a Seat Altena (or is it Althena). If you ar looking for a car of this sort of size I would thoroughly recommend you looking at one of these. Paul

Thanks for all your answers. We opted to buy a property which is just outside the village of Salerm - went over and signed the Compris on the 03/11. Just hope the pub remains in business - it seems that the owners have quite a strong clientele due to various playing teams that they have. Paul

Just wondering if it is to do with how the water flushes. Could it be that it is creating a wave that flows from the front to the back of the pan, the top of the wave discharges out of the pan, the water then settles and, because the peak of the wave has gone there is less water to fill the pan. To give a normal scenario, water washes down the whole of the bowl and therefore empties into the bottom of the pan less violently giving less of a wave therefore discharging less water - if you get my drift. Paul Just brought back that Peter Sellers (I thnik or was it a Carry On) film based on a WC manufacturer

[quote user="WJT"] By the way, I assume BSP is a brand name or either an acronym for a curse word. [:D] [/quote] BSP = British Standard Pipe - which means using 1/2" connections and not a mm size. Paul

WJT when you say water level problems I presume you mean in the cistern. Having recently fitted a couple of cheap B&Q loos (and the rest) in two bathrooms of a house we recently sold, whilst the mechanisms do leave something to desire and a peculiar method of adjusting the levels, once adjusted then they were fine. On a general point, the tails on shower mixers etc are BSP. Paul

Thank you for your replies. Alexis it was the Compris and fair enough, people can pull out before that is signed but I have related our experience below and it does have a twist. And Pads my understanding of the vendor signing the Compris is that once they sign that is it, they have no cooling off period.   Sorry about the length of this.   Came over for a fortnight house hunting. We were scheduled to see the house in question on the second Thursday - the arrangements had been made about three weeks previously.    We arrived at the property and all the shutters were closed and no one at home. A call by the agent discovered that the vendor and 'her friend' had gone to Biarritz but the friend would be back for 9 o'clock on the Saturday. Whilst there we looked around the outside of the property and the buildings and swimming pool (which was pea green).    We returned on the Saturday at 09:00 and the shutters were open but no one there. Then two gents appeared and said that the 'owners friend' had gone off to a distant town to get a pump for the pool! Yve discovered that the property was not locked and the two gents (who apparently were going to  help) thought it would be OK to look inside. What a state it was - covers off the gas boilers, kitchen units falling apart, worn out sanitaryware, electrics lethal etc. The 'friend' eventually returned, answered a few questions and that was it. We decided that the property was of interest and, because the agent spoke virtually no English and our French still needs a lot of work, the agent called in an interpreter. Various answers were got to questions (we later discovered that some of the answers and some of the previous info we had been given by the agent were untrue) and an offer made - Yve wanted a survey carried out (my inspection said that structurally it was sound everything else wanted changing / renewing) and I wanted this as a clause suspensive in the Compris - and the offer was passed to the vendors 'friend' but the vendor was uncontactable. We left and then went to the airoprt and flew home.    On the Tuesday morning a message was received that the offer had been accepted. I had found a surveyor and wanted to make arrangements to have this carried out at sometime. I contacted the agency for some more precise details of the property and was informed that the offer had not in fact  been accepted - the vendors friend had but the vendor wanted to think about it overnight.    On the Wednesday we were informed that the vendor had accepted the offer and that the information was on its way to the Notaire - we had selected one nearby who had been recommended as having excellent English - and he wanted us to have the survey carried out prior to the Compris.    The surveyor then had fun and games arranging the appointment. For the actual inspection he was accompanied by the owner of the agency (a mother and daughter affair). The vendor had to leave prior to the completion of the survey! The survey confirmed that the structure was fine but everything else was no good. He concluded that the property was the 'dirtiest, smelliest and untidy property that he had been in for many years'.    By next morning he had emailed the report and we called the agent and said that we were happy to proceed.    The vendor then suggested a date and time a few days away to meet and sign at the Notaires. In view of the difficulties that had been experienced (the agents had also said that she was one of the most difficult people they had dealt with) we decided that we would agree to the date and time and arranged flights.    We arrived at the Notaires and awaited the arrival of the agent and vendor (we subsequently discovered that the agent was due to bring the vendor). The agent arrived late and extremely flustered. The Notaire then told us that the agent had arranged to bring the vendor but the vendor had not arrived. He suggested that he went through the Compris and that we sign and that the vendor could sign when she arrived. He also added that the vendor owed money secured on the property but that need not worry us as the debts would be discharged from the proceeds of the sale before the vendor received the residue.   Whilst going through the Compris the agent was phoning the landline and mobile numbers of the vendor and always getting answerphones.   We concluded the formalities and very down we left and flew home.    The agent was unresponsive to emails and it was only that I am fortunate to have a French colleague that I could ask her to phone to find out what was going on. The Notaire was far more responsive and kept me informed of what he was doing, including the sending of several recorded delivery letters that achieved zero response.    The surveyor called and said that the agent had contacted him and asked him how much the survey was and whether we had paid, which he told her that we had. She told him that she was going to refund us half of the cost of the survey. Now, this is not something that we expected nor felt was the responsibility of the agent. In a subsequent call by my colleague the agent also said about refunding half of the survey cost. Needless to say that we heard nothing more about this.    We were informed that, information had been obtained from two other Notaires and that the vendor had done this twice before - apparently the bank (who are owed the money) are happy that she is trying to sell the property and are not chasing her but she does not want a buyer (still do not know whether to believe this). Therefore, when she has a buyer she does not want the sale to go through.   The property was on a very large plot, a lot larger than the stated size of the terrain. The agent had explained that the other part of the property was owned by the commune and would not be built on. Imagine our surprise to discover that the vendor owned the whole plot and would have retained the other part and had, unsuccessfully applied for planning consent for a house! – and doubt would in future if ever the house was sold.   So my feelings of distrust. No doubt this is a very rare occurrence but as the saying goes ‘once bitten twice shy’. In fact until the vendors signature is on the Compris I will be on edge.   I believe that the vendor and agent are genuine – time will tell. Until the documents have been signed we are not making any real decisions as to what to do with the property – we did that the time before which probably made matters worse.   The reason for posting this thread was some concern as to whether we were about to embark on another voyage of disappointment and, wary of things after our previous experience due to the different ‘ground rules’ from last time.   My perception from my telephone conversations with the agent (which I hate in this type of situation much preferring face to face conversations) was that things were changing, perhaps all this not aided by my perception (that word again but as Freud said ‘perception is reality’) that the agent was trying to get things done by the day before. Fine, no problem with that in principle, after all the agent is keen to tie things up, slap the sold label on and look forward to the commission. But when there is great haste then misunderstandings etc can come in to play.   The arrangements for the transfer of the deposit had been put into place prior to my original posting – so m concern was not that great – and it was to the notaires account. Just got to wait and see what happens on the appointed day – Friday 3rd November at 16:00   Paul   As a little PS, the original notaire was Maitre Duchan at Chalabre in the Aude. He has excellent English, thoroughly went through the Compris ensuring that we understood and I would recommend him highly. In addition, when it was clear that the deal would not happen I emailed him to ask how much we owed him for the work that he had done. His reply was nothing as it was the vendor that pulled out.

Certainly, the French seem to pay a lot less than the British for their bathroom suites. The OH is rather keen on a stepped basin. In the UK they are £99 - they have the same thing in Brico Depot - at 49 EUROS!!!!! Another example of lower prices are hidden lavatory suites - where the cistern is hidden. These can be had, including the frame and pan for less than 200 euros in France - at least double in the UK. I would second the 'only buy in UK' if it is a design that you cannot get in France. Paul

Kathie Seems like you did ok with the fridge freezer. We have just sold a second house in the UK and therefore have a whole heap of stuff piled up in the one we are living in so we will have to use a van to bring it over (it will be cheaper than ditching it and buying new in France). As for TVs, Philips (most) have tuners that cover both PAL and Secam. Paul

Thanks Will deleted Paul

Thnks Lisa, we were thinking of that. However, about a year ago the OH said 'this mattress is so uncomfortable, we will buy a new mattress'. So off we went to look at mattresses. My thought is always 'I need to sleep on it for a night to know if it is any good' but I have yet to find a store that will allow this. We ended up buying a quite expensive mattress. The conclusion is that it is at best as comfortable (or should that be uncomfortable) and at worse less comfortable than the other one. Is there anything else you would recommend us bringing? Paul

We are currently in the process of purchasing a house in France. Unfortunately, it will have to be a holiday home until I retire in a couple of years time. We are now thinking of how we will furnish it. Having looked at settees in the French furniture stores have decided to bring these out from the UK. Another thought is to bring out our existing CRT TV (Philips that ill receiv PAL and Secam) and replace it with a panel TV (Philips again because of the tuner) and bring it with us when we make the big move. My questions are: has France or are they planning HD TV is there anything else we should consider Many thanks Paul

We had an aborted attempt at buying a house earlier this year - we arived at the notaires[:D] but the vendor did not[:-))]! Even though the vendor was not there, the notaire went through the contract and we signed and he stated that the vendor could sign when they turned up - which they did not. He also did not want the deposit until during the 7 day cooling off period. We have now found another house but there seems to be different ground rules this time. We are being told that we and the vendors have to sign the Compris at the same time and that unless the deposit is received prior to the date for signing we will not be able to sign. Have no real problem with this just curious as to which is right. If the latter then can I conclude that if the vendors of the first house turned up a couple of days later and signed that the contract would have been null and void because both parties did not sign at the same time? Paul

Assurance Vies are a good tax efficient method of investing - improving over time in bands, 1-4 years, 4-8 years and over 8 years. Paul

Flew Gatwick to Toulouse two weeks ago - very easy through security at both ends - yes, the bags were scanned and, at Gatwick, there was a quick body search. Flew Stansted to Carcassone this weekend. Stansted speedily through security. Security at Carcassonne quite a different matter. I know that they only have one machine but the time they take - I assume that any terrorist will be boarding at Cacassonne. Paul

JR I have a number of these fitted - both 230v and 12v and find them very reliable. Perhaps changed 1 230v one and no 12v ones in 4 years. Interested in the LED option, but when you see the input wattage this must result in low light output. Paul

Ian You have a amned good vet. It cost us just under £200 as our dog was already chipped. The cost was for the vaccination, test and the passport, which cost £58 if memory serves me correctly. There is also a diffrence in rabies jabs between the UK and France - in the UK they are every other year and in France every year. Paul 

Bob I used to have 3 cats and when any of them were taken to the vets they would howl their head of in the car. With 3 in the car I hope they do not do this - the noise will be amazing[:-))]. Paul

Thanks Hugh - you certainly make the area sound appealing. Yes, did know about the pub, did not have time to check it out the other week [:(] - aim on checking it out for a swift one this Friday evening [:D]. would be interested to know more about the Fabas complex . Regards Paul

Thanks for the info Pat. When we were over last Frriday and Saturday the temp shown in the car got to a max of 31 but for a fair amount of time was 28 (at least on the Friday). Sounds a nice combination although our dog will not be too impressed by thunderstorms [:-))]- the time to get very frightened. Paul

Have seen the conservatories that they sell at places like Brico Depot which seem to be just small lean-to types. Are larger ones, such as 'P' types available? If so where. Would a UK one be permissible in France? I am also aware that it would require blinds as, in summer, it could get a tad warm inside [:-))]. Thanks Paul

Think we have finally found a house to buy [:)]- from a choice of two [:D]. Thought it would be useful to ask if anyone using this forum lives near where the properties are and can give us an idea of what it is like living in these two areas. One house is a couple of kilometres to the south of Ste Dode (Gers), which is about 8 kms to the east of Mielan. The other is in Salerm (Haute Garonne) (some of the signs spell it Salherm) which is to the south east of L'isle en Dodon and about 6 kms north from Lilhac. Any info would be most welcome, including places to walk, leisure lakes etc. Thanks Paul

Has any one used this company? Have registered and for an Internet based company their system gives the following message: '4X Dealer is temporarily off-line for general maintenance' and they give a number to call to speak to a dealer Their blurb promises good things just wondering if they are or are not really web based? Paul

SD Thanks for the answer to this question - yes I do realise it would need to go through the whole thing - thought it easier to do whilst easily able to sell it in the UK if it proves too much of a problem. Thanks for your other answers as well. Regards Paul