Penny29

Hi WJT, The web address for the Phoenix is : http://www.phoenixasso.com There you will find contact details for donations, adoption & fostering of animals etc. Hopefully, there will be plenty more Phoenix Fund Raising events coming soon - we are trying to arrange some for next year in the Northern Dordogne (around Thiviers) so that people from both sides of Perigueux can help raise cash for the charity as well as having a good time in the process. In the meantime, don't throw out those old books, CD's, videos, bric-a-brac as this can all help raise money for the charity - if anyone in the Northern Dordogne has stuff they wish to donate please contact me via my inbox. Penny  

Hi, Hope it's okay to post the details of this here as it is on behalf of the Phoenix Rescue Association, and all the proceeds are going to raise money for animal rescue: On Saturday 19th November 2005 From 12 noon to 4 pm BOOK SALE At the Salle des Fetes, St. Mayme de Pereyrol (sign-posted from the D21 between Bergerac and Vergt)  Plus: Christmas Stall with cards, and decorations for sale. Also the next in our series of Great Little Recipe Books – Cakes, Puddings and Desserts will be on sale. (Ideal Christmas Gift at 8 euros each!)   ALL proceeds for the veterinary treatment and re-homing of abused or abandoned dogs and cats *Paperbacks ……….. 1 euro *Tea or Coffee ………1 euro *Glass of wine ……….1 euro             *Sausage Rolls ………1 euro             We shall also be selling bargain-priced hardbacks, Videos, Cassettes and CDs and bric a brac (Your donations of items will be very welcome either in advance or just bring and buy!) (A special four-course lunch for 12 euros – including wine - will be available at the Truffe d’Or Restaurant – opposite – but please book in advance 05 53 54 29 85)  

http://perso.club-internet.fr/denac/Denac/CertificatCapacite-01.htm   www.sfcyno.org/faq-sfc-6-La.html+loi+les+chiens+et+vous#62 I've answered this question quite a few times before with information gleaned from when we were considering starting up a cattery. I kept the two links above, which are both wholly in French. I can't remember now all the rules and regs but would have mentioned some of them on here. If you do an advanced search for posts I've contributed to, or on words such as "running a cattery" you should get some results. At a guess I would say most of my posts were made at least a year ago. Penny    

Hi All, I've had an idea for a business but I've no real idea of the income it will generate, possibly only "pin money" in the first year or so. My earnings could realistically be anything from E300 - E13,000 in the first year (but more likely a low figure). I've checked out the tax situation & understand about thresholds, & that ALL income (even if not liable to tax) has to be declared on my French tax return. But there are three areas I'm not so sure about and don't want to ask officially in case I end up being steam rollered into registering a business which isn't worth opening in the first place! 1. Is it true that ANY commercial enterprise, where goods or services are exchanged MUST be registered with the Chambre de Metiers, irrespective of amount earned, size of business etc. 2. Is it also true (this is the one that worries me) that monthly cotisations MUST be paid if I am running any sort of business, again regardless of small earnings (in the UK very small businesses can apply for a year by year exemption from paying NI if the expected annual income is below a certain level). From my understanding of the rules, even if I only earn E1 per week from my business I am liable to pay about E100 per month in cotisations from the moment I start trading, although I may get the money back in the form of a rebate after 3 years. Is this true or have I got it wrong? 3. Lastly, assuming the answer to (2) is yes, then does the 70% health cover in France also start from the day you start trading. If not, how do you cover yourself for healthcare bearing in mind that any non-working E forms (E106 etc) issued by Newcastle cease to be valid once a person starts working. I know all these questions have probably been asked before, but (IMHO) they haven't been asked this clearly before! Penny          

Hi, If you are looking in Dept 24 I know of a French (registered) artisan (who speaks fluent English) who specialises in building ecologically friendly, straw-bale-insulated houses. Each house is designed to suit depending on whether the client wants solar heating etc etc. He will complete each house as far as the customer requires (many people like to do the finishing themselves, for example). He has a show-house which is part way finished & can be viewed by appointment in the Excideuil area. This guy is a personal friend (maybe soon he will be my brother-in-law!) so I am biased in recommending him! Penny      

Hi Miki, You are probably right! The subject just caused a knee kerk reaction with me and I remembered how miserable it the whole washing machine debacle made me when we were living in the gite (we paid for our own leccy by the way), if they weren't moaning about the water usage they were moaning about the wear and tear factor! Seasonal grumbles? Yes, probably. We start letting next year and I'll probably start having the same moans myself!  

Hi, Derf, are you SURE your letter doesn't say "Voluntary Class THREE contributions?????????????" Viva - I don't think so - HRP (Home Responsibilities Protection) isn't an NI credit as such & it does not buy entitlement to beefits, what it does do is reduce the number of years one needs to pay NI in order to get an Old Age Pension. E.G. Normal person has to work approx 44 years of their lives & pay enough NI in each of those years to qualify for 100% pension. In the case of someone receiving HRP (for instance a mother, in receipt of Child Benefit, for say, 10 years) they will only have to work and pay NI for 34 years in order to get 100% pension. This is an example in it's broadest sense, in realiy there are many ifs, ands, buts and maybe's!! Peter - I've applied every possible theory I can to the issuing of E106's and none of it makes sense - it is broadly based on the last 2 conts years, braodly based on the STIB principle, and issue runs in line with Benefit Years, but it really seems to be pot luck as to who gets what and for how long. This is why they won't answer my letter, I am sure, as I ask for some definites! Also, if a self-employed person has paid 52/53 conts in the two Conts Years prior to a claim for STIB then they should automatically establish title to the benefit. I can understand an E106 being refused when a person has paid only, say 51 conts (or less) in one of the years  but this hasn't been the case with the person I have been helping recently! Incidently, I suspect many self-employed people lose out on their eventual OAP's for the sake of a few stamps here and there. In the old days, when the self employed popped stamps on a card it was not unusual to have cards handed in at the end of the year with a couple of stamps missing and "holiday" written across the blank boxes. I used to point out that they were about to lose a whole year's worth of title to their eventual pension for the sake of £10 or less (the year only counting as qualification for the OAP if it holds 52 or 53 stamps on it - but this fact was (and still is) buried deep down in the smallest of fine print!). I suspect many, many people weren't told this simple fact, such a waste of the money they had paid faithfully every year. And let's not even go onto Class 4 cntributions, which the self employed pay, but which buys them absolutely zilch!  

My hands are up - it would be quite normal for us to do this. When back in the UK we had several cottage type holidays per year, and with 4 of us including 2 kiddies the washing machine often went on just as much as it would have done at home. I, personally, hate to take home a caseful of dirty laundry. I also like to wash out the travelling clothes as soon as poss after arrival so I can empathise with the guest who had the machine on by 10am the next day. I would never rent a place without a washing machine and I wouldn't stay anywhere where they charged extra for the use of a machine - I would expect this to be included in the price of the rental. We've stayed in many cottages over the years with no problems, and in our favourite cottage (in Cornwall) the owners welcomed us back as repeat guests year after year after year and always complimented us on the care we took of their property and the work we put into cleaning it before we left. Never a word about washing machine usage...........................then we came to France!......................................... We stayed in a gite whilst our house purchase was going through and all the owners (next door) ever did was crib and carp and make sarky comments about how often we had the washing machine on. At times this made our stay there quite uncomfortable as we would rush around trying to do the washing when they were out!!!! Sorry, I'm going to be unpopular and say why are some of you in this business when you seem to dislike people and resent everything your visitors do! Can it be that you just want the income without the bother of dealing with the people. I'm with Teamed Up on this one & endorse everything she has previously said on a different thread about over-regulated "stalegs".  

Hi Peter, Interesting! One of the "non" answers I got from DWP regarding the self employed person mentioned underlying title to STIB, but that really doesn't hold water because title to STIB is based on the qualifying contribution records of the two tax years prior to the claim being made. So, it still does not explain why a self employed person with 3+ fully paid up years should not be entitled to the same length E106 as an employed person with a similar contributions track record. I do have a theory.............bear with me while I explain! I believe the longer E106's are issued on the basis of conts paid in the one PAST tax year plus the CURRENT tax year (clearly this flies in the face of the STIB rules, which is why Newcastle are acting so coy). If this is the case then clearly an employed person can (sometimes) qualify as they may have paid enough NI in the first April of a current tax year to satisfy the annual LEL for the whole year. E.g. Somone notifies DWP they are moving abroad in May 2005, they have paid enough NI to satisfy the past tax year (2004/05) and also 2005/06 (even though this tax year is by no means finished and they have moved abroad before the end of it!) If you apply this same theory to self employed people it is quite clear that a Class 2 NI payer can NEVER satisfy the conditions as he/she needs 52/53 contributions to make a qualifying year and (with the exception of the previous poster on this thread) most people can't get away with paying Class 2 conts after they have left the UK! However, this theory falls down when one meets people who have been employed and have actually received an E106 for 24+ months because if I'm correct then the longest E106 anyone could possibly receive would run 20 months and no more (Year 1 = May - Dec, Year 2 = Jan - Dec) and this clearly isn't the case! Believe me I've tried to get definitive answers on this one especially as I thought I knew the system having worked both for the C.A and latterly the IR! Of course when you question Newcastle all they do is throw up a smokescreen and hide behind any E106 discrepancies by saying that they can't discuss another individuals NI record, not even theoretically. IMHO this is a load of garbage - either the 2 year STIB rules apply to everyone or they don't, and if they don't it should be made very clear who the rules DON'T apply to and WHY............... and I've more chance of seeing a whole herd of pigs flying through the sky than this happening. It is interesting to note that the lady I am dealing with at DWP, Newcastle is quite happy to talk about the terms and conditions governing an E106 over the phone, but whenever I ask for the same thing to be put in writing she crawls back into the woodwork. My most recent letter asked 16+ very pertinant questions about E106 entitlements plus loads of questions about NI liability & payments should an ex resident return to the UK to work for varying periods during a tax year. If I ever get a reply I am happy to share the info, but I ain't holding my breath!!!!!!!!

Teamed Up, Sorry, can't understand your first point! Surely you can see why it would be viewed as unfair for there to be such stark differences in the way an application for an E106 is treated in a case where people (regardless of whether employed or self-employed) have BOTH paid regularly into the UK system. Why should the self-employed be penalised - please explain? Secondly, the real issue here is that Newcastle seem to be very secretive about the rules and regs governing issue of E106 - that's two posters on this thread so far who have never received proper explanations for the issue of "short" E106's & I am sure there are many more. Government Departments should be open and honest about their policies and explanations should be freely given when requested.

Derf, If I was you I would just keep stumm to Newcastle about your paying the Class 2 stamp whilst living abroad! Theoretically it's a definite no-no, but you may well have benefitted from the fact that your emails have gone to the DWP section in Newcastle and these are not the same people as those who collect and administer the NI scheme (Inland Revenue), coupled with the fact that since the IR merged with the National Insurance Contributions Agency some years back no-one seems to know what the hell they are doing any more (For anyone who doesn't believe me - go into your local UK tax office and ask an NI question - you'll mainly get blank looks!) Just keep quiet and keep paying the stamp. At £1 per week it'll make your entitlement to your eventual Old Age Pension much, much cheaper than the "proper" way which would be to pay voluntary contributions (which are considerably more expensive). Just hang on to all your paperwork as you'll need proof that it was their oversight if they should get shirty about paying out your RP years hence!  

Hi, For what it's worth I believe Quillan's answer is exactly right. Recently, a friend of mine (in France) fell out with her website designer after many years of working together on her gite advertising. Things got very childish after the (very expensive) designer's services were dispensed with. First of all the designer suddenly decided that she had undercharged for the first few years work & tried to bill my friend retrospectively for extra money for past years "work" (unbelievable but true), then the designer hijacked the website (even though the services and the site had been paid for in advance for several months more) & this "professional" then added derogatory remarks about the gite on the website  which clearly had an effect on business and bookings for 2005/6. This forced my friend into using a brand new website, and so she used some of the pictures from the previous site and, of course, the ex-web designer started screaming merry hell about breach of copyright. I was with my friend when she took legal advice on this - basically the law came down to the fact that the pictures were taken specifically for the purpose of advertising that particular gite & therefore the owner of the gite has the "moral" right to copyright. The fact that the gite owner also paid for the services & time of the designer to take and site the photo's was taken as further proof of my friend's moral right to the photos. This shouldn't be confused with copyright to library photos etc. Gite advertising is different - the photos are only useful to the person who owns and advertises the gite. Hope this helps some. Irksome as it is,  you may have to let this one go - my friend's website designer didn't & things got very silly now my friend has put the whole matter in the hands of the gendarmes!!!!!

Hi Bedders, Agree with Ron - yes, it will have a detrimental effect on your E106 application. Over past few months I have been in protracted discussions with Newcastle on behalf of someone who was self employed for 3 years before leaving the UK. They have refused to issue an E106 for longer than 11 months (up to Dec 31st 2005) despite the fact that this person has been paying self employed National Insurance right up to date. My interpretation of the rules is now that no self employed person can ever be granted an 106 lasting longer than 1 year (Jan- Dec). But Newcastle staff are very very coy about actually admitting this (presumably because it would demonstrate a complete lack of fairness in dealing with the self employed). At the time of writing this I have asked for a definitive written reply from Newcastle - well, that was 2 months ago and despite many reminders they still haven't provided any response. I shall post on here when I finally get a reply, though methinks I shall end up writing to their Chief Exec and my MP to force a reply!!!!! Bedders - you don't say if you have left the UK yet or not - if not, there is always the option of paying back your arears of NI (you have up to 6 years to do this). PM me if you need further advice as the dates you pay arrears up to are critical.      

True, Derf,   But many people (myself included) don't like the thought of going cap in hand to CPAM and getting a "state handout". At least with the agricultural work you feel that you are, in a small way, contributing to the system etc, plus it puts a few weeks waes in the bank & pays a few bills. Of course, none of this would be necessary if the E106 was issued for a length of time based on the total number of YEARS you had paid into the UK system before moving abroad, rather than being based on the last few years contributions - but don't get me started on that subject................................. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Hi, I know many people ask about their entitlement to French Healthcare after the E106 expires, especially people on low/non-existant incomes and below sttutory retirement age who may want to bridge the gap without working full time. A simple tip is to go and work in the agricultural sector for several weeks each year, for example doing apple sorting or apple picking etc. A few weeks work per year will buy you TWO years worth of entitlement to a carte vitale. However, your first years work is best undertaken whilst you are still in possession of a valid E106 as the employer will need you to produce a valid current carte vitale as well as your passport and birth cert. Hope this helps someone.   Penny  

Hi, Anyone else have one of these this evening? I felt like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz as trees were uprooted and garden furniture flew into the sky! It only lasted about an hour but was spectacular! The rainbows afterwards were quite awesome too. We are still without electricity several hours later and am writing this with the last vestiges of battery power on my laptop! We are in the NE corner of the Dordogne - just wondered how far this freak weather travelled in the SW today? Penny    

A nano-hamlet just outside St Paul La Roche in the NE corner of the Dordogne with my partner, 5 dogs, 6 cats and 2 donkeys.

Hi, This is probably too far and not what your friends are looking for but my friends in North Dept 24 have a RHD Hyundai Lantra 1.6 SI (1999) for sale with only 50,000 miles on the clock. It's in the most fantastic condition and is for sale at a very, very reasonable price. They are selling for no other reason other than that, after 4 years in France, they have finally decided that it is time to buy a LHD. If of any interest please PM me.    

Following on from the previous thread I've had a few thoughts which may help someone in the process of planning a move to France: 1. If possible, about 6 months before your proposed move pop into your local DSS and ask for a form BR19 (Pension Forecast Form), fill it in and send it off (to the Inland Revenue at Newcastle, naturally). When you get the Forecast back it should show you exactly what your NI position is to date i.e. The number of past tax years in which you have paid enough NI to qualify for a pension & how many more completed years you need to contribute to in order to get maximum Old Age Pension. This information will help you in three ways: A. Will provide you with peace of mind regarding your NI record and it's qualification for the E106. B. Will give you time to sort out any discrepencies/deficiencies in your NI record over the past 6 years (It may amaze you to know that sometimes NI gets credited to the wrong person's account by mistake, and sometimes unscrupulous employers deduct NI from their workers but fail to pay it over to the IR). C. It will give you the exact position you need to know if you are retiring early to France i.e. For how many future years do you need to pay Class 3 Voluntary Contributions to make sure your pension reaches 100% entitlement. 2. When you phone Newcastle to apply for your E106 be smart and ASK them specifically which tax years they will be verifying for NI purposes - the applicable tax years will vary according to when you apply. 3. As per my explanation in the thread below, to get the maximum E106 cover you should plan your move to be as soon as possible after the first Saturday in January of any year.  

I'll just try to clarify a few points regarding E106's (used to work for the Inland Revenue, and prior to this the Contributions Agency):- 1. All E106's are issued in line with "Benefit Years". A Benefit Year runs 12 months from the first Sunday in January (this may explain why some of you have different expiry dates on your 106's, although all will be a date between 1 - 8th January in any given year). 2. The Issue date runs from the date you inform Newcastle that you intend to move abroad and runs for a MAXIMUM of 2 "benefit" years. Example A. You (have been sensible) and informed Newcastle that you are moving to France on 10th January 2005 (so, assuming you have paid enough National Insurance) your E106 should run from 10.1.05 to first Saturday in January 2007. I.e. Two complete "Benefit Years". Example B. You (were truthful, but not sensible) and informed Newcastle that you were moving to France on 31st December 2004. Therefore you will only get an E106 which runs from 31/12/2004 to first Saturday in January 2006. This is because the issue date falls into the 2004 Benefit Year, which is almost over! In other words, you have to look carefully at the date you intend to move over, as anything other than a January date will eat into that particular Benefit year's entitlement. 3. It's your National Insurance contributions for the previous 2 COMPLETED tax years which determines overall entitlement. Naturally, tax years run to a different schedule (April 6th - April 5th) just to confuse the punters! So, basically forget any NI you have paid in the tax year in which you apply for the E106 as this won't be a completed year and therefore won't count.

Hi, We had a similar floor in the house we rented when we first came to France and, like you, I thought it would look so much better with a wet look so we applied "Klir". Big mistake! The Klir collected in all the uneven spots on each tile & looked completely disgusting after 2 days. It took us many, many more days to get the darned stuff off again! Having lived with that type of floor for over three months I finally accepted that it was never going to look great (unless you count the 1/2 hour straight after mopping) and I just settled for living with the knowledge that it was actually clean even though it rarely looked like it!

Be warned! Our sterilised cat gave birth to 5 kittens last year! We thought she was acting strangely (just like a cat in season) months beforehand, but careful checking with the Animal Refuge, vet's records etc confirmed that she had defnitely been "done", so we didn't worry. Even when she started to put on weight we still thought the impossible was not possible! But, it was! So, six week after the kittens appeared we took her to our new vet and he performed a complete hysterectomy (inc ovaries).

Hi, If you do an advanced search under my user name or using keywords such as "cattery" & "kennels" you will find plenty of information as I have posted and replied on this subject (mainly in the pets forum) within the last 12 months. Here are two websites which give details of the criteria you need to meet qualificationwise to set up a kennels or cattery. http://perso.club-internet.fr/denac/Denac/CertificatCapacite-01.htm http://www.sfcyno.org/faq-sfc-6-La.html+loi+les+chiens+et+vous What neither of these websites will tell you is the other conditions you must meet as regards the minimum permissable distance your animal buildings must be from the nearest other inhabited property  - these distances vary according to the number of potential animals you intend to house. I can't now remember the name of the official department which lays down these rules but may have mentioned it on one of my other postings on the subject - but I do remember they have the authority to say no to any project, can over-ride any permissions given by the Maire & in most cases won't say yes or no until AFTER you have gone to the time and expense of building your kennels!                #62

Hi, We are attaching new PVC guttering to our new extension and our barn. The local builders merchant's has the twisted arm thingies (sorry for lack of technical terms - if anyone knows the French for the thingie I would be so grateful!) & the crochets de fixation de tuile (the little hooks which hang from the the other things. But they want to charge over E2 per piece & we need 148 of each! Does anyone know a cheaper place  (Perigueux or Limoges) to get them?  

Hi, Thank you all for responding so quickly to my question - I really am very grateful (esp thanks to St Lo for such a generous offer). I have been in touch with the guy from Real Heating in Riberac - he is a really helpful guy & stocks all the parts we need.