Richardbk
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Posts posted by Richardbk
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My understanding of the Robien law is as follows
- you buy a property to rent out for a minimum of 9 years. The rental must be for a primary residence but can not be the investor's primary residence. The property can be rented by children / parents of the investor as their primary residence.
- The property must be in one of the designated areas where the Robien law applies - there are quite a lot.
- there are fixed maximum rental limits that you can charge depending on the area were the property is located.
- For tax pruposes you can deduct all interest charges, set up and management fees from the rental.
- in addition if there is a deficit on the above calculation you can offset uo to 10700euros/year against other income tax charges. Any additional deficit can be carried forward to subsequent years.
- if you sell the property after 9 years you will have to pay back a small part of the tax gains, but if you keep it for 15 years there is nothing to pay back.
In effect the law is to encourage construction of new property by private investors and can be used as a financial tool to build up a long term private investment or future housing need. In general it is most effective when the whole investment is taken out by a loan - since all charges are used to offset the income. Significant additional tax advantages will depend your own tax situation. The claim of saving 45000euros of income tax is based on a top rate french tax payer ~49% claiming the maximum 10700euro/year deductible over the nine year period.
a good web site is www.robien.fr
best regards
Richard
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[quote]Does anyone know if there is an equivalent outlet to PC world in France, if so what are they called so that we can check if there is one near to us. Our printer is on its last legs (can't complain, i...[/quote]
PC world in France trades as PC City. It is fairly recent in France, but it is the exact same company right down to the logo type and the purple staff T Shirts, store layout and products. They also seem to have a number of Brits working for them, well at least in the ones around Paris. Currently there are only around 7 or 8 stores so not sure if there is one near you. http://www.pccity.fr
A cheaper alternative is to buy online. E.g I've used www.surcouf.fr, www.grosbill.fr , www.fnac.fr, www.cdiscount.fr without problem. These are not the cheapest , but they are generally cheaper than PC City.
regs
Richard
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you will find nearly all major estate agent rentals in france via http://www.seloger.fr or http://fr.123immo.com/ , whilst http://www.pap.fr covers a large number of private rentals.
best regs
Richard
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Once when I forgot my passport I managed to get into the UK with just a driving licenses, without even a photo, but as said above the biggest difficulty was getting on the plane - customes at heathrow was the easiest part ! In theory a Cds not valid for entry into the UK. Passports can be renewed pretty quickly through the Paris Consular and if you are really pressed they will sometimes do it while you wait - but you would need to arrange this before hand.
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Richard
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[quote]So the government have done what they threatened to do and dumped the 35 hour week. A real blow to the workers who will now probably be expected to work longer hours for the same salaries. I heard on...[/quote]
the economics are quite simple. The overheads of employing somebody that can just do 35 hours a week is not worth it. Added to this there is no flexibility in terms of work to allow for changes in supply/demand. Finally the french have also realised that it is impossible to maintain such as system when other member countries of the EU do not follow. In a few years there will be complete mobility in terms of companies operating in other member states - no need for local registration etc - just move your workers to operate in another country under the laws applicable in the EU country where the company is registered. Under this system the 35 hour week is simply untenable.
The unions will winge and the 8% of the population that are actually union members will probably go on walk about for a few weeks - and the 69% that support the 8% will also moan a little - but in the end they have little choice if France is to try to remain competative.
BTW for most people employed at cadre level or those running small businesses, the 35 week never actually happened.
regs Richard
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[quote]Hi thereI live in Toulouse, have been here for 2 weeks, and havent a clue in how to get going as quick as possible.Im learning french, not fluent, but wanted to know if anyone knows of anything or any...[/quote]
Perhaps a stupid question, but what brought you to France / Toulouse. Did you have a plan before coming as to what you were going to do ? Were you aware of the process for non-EU citizens to register/work in France?
Fortunately Toulouse has one of the lowest employment rates in the region. Unfortunately as previously mentioned most jobs require at least minimal french and the french are tough on having written qualifications.
As a starting point , either the mairie or their web site www.toulouse.fr
best regards
Richard
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[quote]Are you sure about this Richard? The EDF are one of the few companies with which you cannot pay on line by a carte bancaire. You can pay by entering RIB bank details, or on the minitel but not ...[/quote]
I haven't tested the EDF part, as I pay by DD so don't have a bill to try it out, but I often use the FT one, where I pay by (french) credit card.
My understanding is that there are two modes of operating telefact, one is directly via your bank account, but the other is via a credit card online payment(which I use) - see https://secure.telefact.fr/index and goto 'Services'. Clearly it says that all bills can be paid via either method.
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[quote]Yesterday out of curiosity I tried to find the french average wage and to compere it to UK average(25000euro,s been banded about),this was due to a posting on rising house prices in france and would t...[/quote]
for most of france the average wage is around 18-20K euros/year, but in the Paris area it is much higher - up to double this.
for some figures from 2001 check out http://www.lesechos.fr/regions/atlas/atlas_02_06_2004.htm
and click on the tables at the bottom of the page.
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Richard
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There is an online service that covers most services, including EDF
https://secure.telefact.fr/index.htm
-> 'Je souhaite consulter ou payer une facture' , -> EDF
type in the bill reference and the amount and it will find your bill. you can pay by credit card (not 100% sure it will work with a foreign issued credit card, but worth a go)
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Richard -
Here in Toulouse I'm looking out the office window over the airport and its currently blizzard conditions
- not looking forward to the jouney home as snow clearing is done so infrequently I'm not even sure they remember where the salt and lorries are stored - I seem to remember on more or less the same date some years back there was a similar very heavy fall over the south west.
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Richard
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[quote]"The system provides poor results for even the French"But does it? After all, France remains as one of the biggest economies in the world with a diverse base including heavy industry, agriculture and ...[/quote]
The french system works well for a a manufacturing type economy based on large industries where there is a need for fewer chiefs and many indians. It doesn't work well for an economy based on small reactive enterprises. An education system that provides more independent thinkers , more risk taking and more flexibility is required to enabled them to adapt to a changing global market. The french government knows it needs to restructure the system. The problem is that the current system is staffed with all those teachers and civil servants that came from the old system.
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"Some posters have already touched on this, but... it is a very different kettle of fish arriving in France with children who have reached school age than if one arrives with pre-schoolers."
All our kids were born here, they are totally fluent in French and are gradually going through the system in a variety of schools. Previously in Ile de france, now here in the middle of the tarn for a few years. In our experience the system is bad everywhere. lazy teachers, inflexibility, demotivation, verbal abuse are the main words I would use to describe the french education system. For one of ours it has been hell from the first day, because she is more artistic and sportive than academic. The system provides poor results for even the French. Only the very best survive to take the few remaining jobs - you practically need a degree to be a checkout operator - so for non speaking newcomers arriving into the system it must be hell at any age.regs
Richard
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another option that i am looking into is sat broadband. check out www.ses-astra.com
I am currently investigating this. In france www.astranet.fr appears to offer the best service. router type modem to enable easy connection to home network, unlimited download etc. However, remember that for the cheaper one way systems, the outgoing call request is made by your exisiting ISP , so the cost is the cost of the sat service + your exisiting ISP. In addition you can not run some services through the connection - e.g VPN. Also note that the avalable download bandwidth works on a policy of 'fair use'. This means that during certain times of the day - evening - it is likely that the download speed will be dramatically reduced - nearly all providers accept this is the case.
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Richard
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Here's an interesting web site for those that still use and support Ryanair
www.ryan-be-fair.org/messagebd.htm
None of this is news to those of us that work in the Aviation business. There are many scary safety stories. I would never fly with them.
best regs
Richard
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There are private primary schools in france that are classed as bilingual/international, starting from maternelle. State-private international schools generally start at primary.
BTW If I had the choice, I wouldn't wait for 9 years of the french system to destroy the life and soul out a child. An international school can be a great opportunity and a real life saver for some.
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If you can find a good international school and can afford it I would recommend this is the path to take. Bear in mind , however, that learning both a UK and French curriculum is very hard work, and that for the state/anglophone section type school, english tuition is limited by law to 6-7 hours / week, thus there is usually a lot of extra english homework. Results of studies show that children in this environment reach higher levels of academic achievement and are socially more aware and adaptable, when compared to the standard French system. Your children will not be isolated, as long as they continue to mix with the local community in terms of leisure and other activities.
As I have mentioned many times before the French system is Ok for those that are average and above and can learn by rote. Mixing this with an anglophone section that encourages, team work, project work thinking for themselves is an enlightening experience. BTW - We pay roughly euros3000/year for an anglophone section that is linked to a French state school (south of Paris) - i.e this is just for the English section, there are no fees associated with the French side.
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Richard
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note that in addition to paying most bills via the particular utility's web site, you can also pay most bills, including EDF/GDF, FT etc online using telefact. You don't need to sign up or login in, simply type in your bill reference and the amount , it will find your bill and enable you to pay by card. In many cases, it is simpler to use this that the actual utility web site.
https://secure.telefact.fr/index.htm
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Richard
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I guess it depends on the type of LR, it's tyre fit and your driving skills, but it is very rare that you would need (or be obliged) to fit chains to a 4x4. In my experience most roads in france are closed to all road vehicles before you need to fit chains to a LR.
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Richard
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It reallly depends how much you want to pay , for elliptical trainers I regularly use and would recommend www.visionfitness.com , or www.lifefitness.com , which you tend to find in the better equipped gyms. prices start around 700 GBP. In any case you should try and go for models with electro magnets which is more controllerable and smoother than a fixed magnet system. Search on web to find suppliers in UK and france.
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Richard
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Agreed that for non ITOO customers or those wanting a standard RTC dial up it looks a little more complicated - but for our situation it seems to be OK - in addition I need to have a connection during the evening slot , something which would cost signifcantly more with NetbySky or Tiscali. Anyway I've decided to give it a go - will let you know how it turns out
I note also that they give free unlimited RTC access to the unemployed - provided that the connection is between 22h00 and 07h00.
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Richard -
you really need to dicuss with a notaire / legal advisor but one way of doing this is to set up a SCI (société civile immobilière ), which is a special type of french company for holding property. It is more expensive than standard purchase, but is often used when there are multiple partners in a french property . Each partners than has a share holding. An additional advantage is that if any shareholder is not french resident then their part is not subject to french inheritance law and thus can be disposed of as they wish. For those resident in france it has some advantages in that shares can be easilyand progressively passed to eventual heirs, thus reducing inheritance taxes.
http://www.notaires.fr/notaires/notaires.nsf/V_TC_PUB/SMSD-5UBM44
http://www.french-property.com/reference/after_completion.htm
http://www.bllaw.co.uk/content/our_services/french_team/news/n970_4.pdf
However, also be aware that if you are UK tax resident there are some UK taxation aspects to consider ...
http://www.frenchentree.com/fe-legal/DisplayArticle.asp?ID=415
regs
Richard
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I see that http://www.erevia.com is offering unlimited ISDN connections. 128K = 34.99/month 64K=23.99/month. The only restriction is that between 19h - 22h they charge an additional (very small) connection fee , for each connection that lasts less than 35mins.
This seem a much better deal that netbysky or Tiscali
Has anybody any experience with this ISP ?
Richard
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Dont want to gloat,but,just came inside from have lunch on the terrassce(jeans and tee shift,short sleeved kind)
bizarre ... yesterdays' weather for most of france, including the south was cloud, rain and wind - even here in midi pyrenees and this mornings 2 deg is one of the coldest we've had so far. As usual for the region / this time of year it is still pretty windy.
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Help with your children's English.
in French Education
Posted
Thanks for the offer. We wouldn't mind getting some extra info/resources. In fact we have tried to get in an English tutor for our kids for a few hours per week (East Toulouse dept 81/31 border), to enable them to slip back into the international school when we return to the Paris area in a couple of years, but there has so far been little response. seems like all the ex-pat english teachers are already fairly busy and/or not in need of the extra income
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Richard