Winston

Well, I'm quite happy with the 'separation de biens' as it suits my own personal situation perfectly.  All very interesting though, and hopefully may help others!

I told them 'separation de biens' although I also said I didn't fully understand the question.  They came back and said they need to know if our funds are separate or shared, so I said they are separate (which they are).  Interesting, as I have bought and sold a few properties now and never been asked this before.

Thanks for the reply.  I'm not entirely sure why he needs to know myself.  I have just bought and sold some property, which is all completely in my name, so not sure why it should even be relevant.  So, as we were married in the UK, I will just tell him separation de biens, and hope he is happy with that.

Hi Can anyone advise what information my notaire is looking for when he asks what is my matrimonial regime?  I have provided all the details of our marriage - names, dates, place etc but he says he needs to know this as well.  I asked for clarification and received the following, so still none the wiser le régime matrimonial cad est ce que c'est un régime de séparation de biens, ou régime de la communauté légale ou etc..... Grateful if any experts out there can tell me what information he is looking for. Thanks.

I have had one for a few years.  A French accountant should charge around 400 euros a year to do all the info you need for your tax return. You will pay taxe fonciere, and probably some syndicate charges (I pay around 60 euros a year).  I also pay VAT tax yearly of several hundred euros.  But as a UK tax payer you will have to pay tax in the UK on your rental income, so although you don't really pay tax in France, you do pay it here. And, bear in mind, they are not easy to sell on, and they don't increase much in value.  I wouldn't really recommend them!

Whatever you do, make sure you notify your insurance company in writing as soon as possible. We sold up in France 2 years ago and just assumed the insurance would lapse (as it would in the UK). We got a demand for payment from them last year, and they hassled us so much we ended up just paying it, although we told them that the house had been sold. They asked us for all the paperwork from the notaire, UK address of new owners, we stupidly just ignored that and then we got another demand this year!!  Fortunately we didn't have to pay it this year, but we did have to send them all the info about the house sale.  So be warned, and don't get caught out like we did!!

We have just found out that one of our neighbours in France has died, after a long illness.  We are not able to be in France for the funeral, otherwise we would have attended, but I would like to send a card and some flowers to his family (who we know quite well). I'm worried that with my limited French I might say the wrong thing, can anyone suggest a translation for a few words along the lines of how sorry we are, and what a good neighbour he has been to us over the years, and we would like to send our condolences to all the family. Thanks in advance!

Thanks for those replies.   I will take your advice and send off confirmation of the sale - I do still have a bank account in France, so don't want to create any unnecessary hassle for the future.  It never occurred to me I might be able to claim any money back for the unused part of the policy - you live and learn. 

On a similar theme, I sold my house in France at the end of last year, my buildings and contents insurance ran until May of this year, and I didn't bother to cancel it.  I received a renewal letter, which I ignored, but when I received a second reminder I returned it to them with 'Maison vendu' written on it.  They have now written to me asking for a copy of the notaire's documentation regarding the sale, and asking for the details of the new owners, so they can write to them.  I was just going to ignore this, as the new owners will, I'm sure, have arranged their own insurance, and may not want their details passed on to a third party.  However, this post has got me wondering if I should reply? Grateful for any advice / opinions on this.

We recently bought a leaseback property with Assetz.  I think their website is www.assetz.co.uk and I can thoroughly recommend them.  Our property has been up and running for several months, but I had a query about a letter I received from the management company a couple of days ago, and the staff at Assetz replied immediately to an email I sent them, with advice on what to do with it.  They provide a very good service and will help and advise you every step of the way.  Our property is in Toulouse, and we don't have any personal use, but that was our choice as we have another property in Normandy.  Assetz have properties all over France.  (I have no connection to them at all, by the way, I am just a satisfied customer!) Good luck, and if you have any more questions, feel free to send me a private message. Winston

 Can anyone give me some advice on where to buy roller shutters?  We need to replace most of our wooden shutters as the wood is rotting, and we would like to get roller shutters, particularly as one of our downstairs windows is quite big, and I don't think that it would be possible to get any other kind (it doesn't have any shutters at the moment).  We are in Dept 50, between Vire and Brecey - we have looked in a few local shops, (Bricomarche, Michigan etc) with no luck so far - maybe we need to go a bit further afield.  Also, does anyone know how easy they are to fit - is it possible for us to do it ourselves?  If not, can we get them fitted by whoever we buy them from, or will we have to find a local  tradesman?  Also, any idea of price would be helpful. Winston

Thanks very much.  Its always best to check these things even though you are pretty sure you are right!! Winston

After several years of paying everything by cheque, we have just been sent a letter (in English!) from our tresorie asking if we would like to pay our taxes habitation and fonciere by direct debit. We would like to sign up for it and I think I have filled in all the right bits (the form to complete is in French). Just so I am absolutely sure could someone tell me if my translations of the following are right?  Designation du titulaire du compte a debiter - my name? Designation du creancier - the tresorie? Designation de l'etablissement teneur du compte - bank address? Thanks in advance for any help. Winston  

I hope you have better luck than we did last summer when we bought new beds and wanted to get rid of the old ones.  We spoke to the maire, and asked him where the local dechetterie was, as we had previously been refused access to one about 10 miles from our house.  He just shrugged and said, we don't have one.  He told us to burn the beds. When we said we didn't want to do that, and we also had other rubbish which wouldn't burn, including an old lawnmower, he said there was a twice yearly collection of large items.  We aren't there all the time, so that didn't suit, as we didn't want to leave it lying around for weeks.  Eventually we paid someone to remove them (I think he was going to bury them), but there seemed to be no sensible solution to this one!  Hope you have better luck than us! 

Thanks for all the replies.  I will speak to our gardener next week and maybe suggest he stops a bit earlier.  Although to be fair to him he didn't bill us during the very hot summer as he hadn't cut the grass, so maybe I just need to be a bit more specific in my instructions. Heading off to Normandy in the morning, so Happy New Year to you all when it comes. Winston.