Mazan
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Posts posted by Mazan
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>Could anyone tell us if the
>land could be constructible in
>the future.
Consult the POS (Plan d'Occupation des Sols) at your Mairie. This can be changed every so often anyway. Only your Maire has the answers.
>The notaire said it was
>to allow for the "SAFERE"(?)
>to decide if it wants
>the land or not.
>Does anyone ever encounter this organisation?
> We believe it is
>a sort of Assoc. of
>farmer
SAFER.
A quasi-governmental body that exists mostly to give first refusal to farmers on sales of agricultural land. -
>A friend has seen a
>building 'a renover' in about
>1000m2. He would like his
>renovation to effectively double the
>size of building. Are there
>national or regional limits to
>what he can do?
You must check locally to see what co-efficient the POS allows for.
Multiply the co-efficient by the land surface area to get the maximum size for the building.
Doubling the size of a building requires full planning approval. -
> The Notaire was very
>defensive. They gave me a
>copy and had me sign
>for it. Is it legal
>for the Notaire to give
>a copy of our Acte
>to anyone else without our
>permission?
Probably not. But in actual fact it is much more likely that the notaire and his/her assistants are just hopelessly incompetent and don't have a clue whether they have actually given a copy to anyone at all. Such incompetence is very common and is the main reason why the simple act of signing a deed of sale takes hours here whilst in other countries it just takes seconds. -
>electrics - previous owner has done
>these not not acquired a
>certificate. I presume this certificate
>is necessary for long term
>electric supply, has anyone any
>experience of having to gain
>one?
I think that our resident electrician will agree with me that the certificate is only required when the EDF make a new connection to a new installation. You don't need any sort of certificate or test to modify an existing installation though you should of course follow safety guidelines.
>Improvements - i am a bit
>confused by various posts, what
>can and can't a home
>owner do themselves re building(legally
>not physically!).
You can do all building work yourselves. There are no inspections apart from the electricity and few rules apart from those concerning the exterior visual aspect of property (changing windows, colour of walls etc) and perhaps to do with septic tanks which may affect a neighbour. For big jobs you do need planning permission. -
>Does anyone know if it's possible
>to get ADSL in the
>Herault region.
http://www.netissimo.tm.fr has a facility for entering your postcode to check for ADSL availability.
Netissimo is part of France Telecom and all providers currently use the FT ADSL service, at least in the backwoods.
The best option is the pack Extense.
You have to retain your regular line rental on top of the ADSL rental and so, if you need more than one line anyway, you may well find that ISDN Itoo plus a communincations "forfait" from an ISP is a better deal.
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>Has anybody any knowledge of
>a French web site with
>this info?
http://search.ke.voila.fr/S/voila?gb=site&kw=radon+carte
and, more generally,
http://search.ke.voila.fr/S/voila?gb=site&kw=radon&dt=*
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>can the sale
>date be put back indefinately
>and can the buyer halt
>the sale if the situation
>becomes too drawn out (ie
>5 months instead of the
>expected 3!)
This depends on why and by whom the date is being put back and also whether or not a final date was mentioned in the compromis.
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>Will they provide a CDS when
>our only income will be
>our savings?
A letter from a bank indicating your worth will normally do for a CDS even if you don't have any income.
>If so,any idea of the minimum
>level of savings we need
>to show the Marie?
There is no fixed amount that I know of and the Mairie has nothing to do with it, apart from forwarding the forms. CDS are always handled locally by the Prefecture.
The French want proof that they will not have to support you, that's all. They will keep giving you a CDS as long as you keep providing some sort of evidence that you have the means to stay there.
I wonder why you want a CDS anyway if you aren't a pensioner? -
>but I
>have just discovered that 6
>km east is the Chinon
>Nucular Power Station.
>
>Although I cannot see the station
>nor will it be noticable
>on a day to day
>basis, I do have concerns
>as to its saleability when
>I eventually come to sell
>the property, hopefully many years
>from now.
Few people realise that France has the largest concentration of nuclear reactors per head of population in the entire EU, and for all I know in the entire world.
You are never very far from a nuclear reactor in France. -
>I am
>going to have to conduct
>the majority of the searching
>etc over the internet. I
>have had a rather terse
>and unhelpful reply from an
>English agency, presumably they just
>want to arrange appointments to
>view
Estate agents in France seem to live in permanent fear of other agents poaching their properties, and of buyers approaching vendors directly to save the unreasonably high French agent's fees. Perhaps if they charged less they wouldn't have this trouble.
So detailed descriptions of properties for sale are pretty rare here, at least until you have signed a "visiting agreement" with an agent. The same applies to on-line information. -
>We are thinking of hiring a
>van in January to take
>a few items of furniture
>down to the languedoc.
> Do I need to
>think about customs?
Not unless you intend importing illegal or controlled items. -
>J-cloths for washing down walls -
>only substitutes seem to be
>washing up sponges or anti-bacteria
>wipes.
My local supermarket has plenty of all-purpose synthetic cloths like these.
>Bristle paint brushes - only synthetic
>bristles seem to be sold
All the big DIY superstores near me have several kinds of brushes.
>Temporary tooth filler. A kind of
>mastic gum for emergency replacement
>of a missing filling is
>available at our home chemist,
>but requests in France were
>met with blank incomprehension.
I'm not surprised! Who in his right mind would fool about with DIY tooth repair when there is always a local Dentiste de garde who will do the job day or night, 365 days a year, with the social security footing 70% of the (small by UK standards) bill?
The area you are in seems to be very backwards. Have they installed electricity there yet? Are they aware that the war is over? Perhaps someone should bring them up to date?
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>Can anyone please tell me whether
>it is possible to play
>english videos on a french
>set?
Certainly. Any PAL-SECAM VCR will do this and all VCRs have been PAL/SECAM in France for years. -
>as a
>result of past use it
>'excretes' tar or what ever
>through the stones. I did
>get round to having a
>browse at the various '
>Ramonage' products for chimneys but
>one ran out of time
In my experience you will never stop this tar coming out of the stones once it starts though it will reduce in time. Rebuilding the affected part of the wall is about the only real solution. Ramonage products will have no effect on tar that has already entered the wall structure. -
>Can anybody tell me how long
>we should expect to wait
>until we receive the Deed
>of Sale.
This does not exist as such in France. The 10% deposit is paid at the time of signing a compromis or promise of sale. This is a legally binding document and as such should contain any "get out" clauses or other items that are important (if the sale includes extra items like carpets, for example).
>We sent our
>10% back in June and
>have not heard anything since,
>although we have sent several
>e-mails. (We are buying an
>old farmhouse and have be
>told that this will take
>longer than purchasing a house
>because other farmers have to
>be offered the land, though,
>why the old farmer does
>not do this before he
>puts the house on
>sale, I do not know).
He can't. This "offer" must go via the SAFER at the time of sale and they invariably take two calendar months to do anything.
It is common to stipulate a date for final signing in the compromis however.
> Also:
>
>(1) When we receive this document
>how much time are we
>allowed to have the same
>checked over by our solicitor.
None, unless you have thought of this beforehand. The final contract of sale will be presented to you on the day of sale, when you will be expected to pay. At that time it is quite common for the contract to be re-written several times to account for minor changes.
>(2) Can we set a date
>for final completion, or is
>it by mutal agreement .
Any final date should have figured in the compromis to be binding. If there was nothing in the compromis then you must agree something with the vendor.
>(3) The sale price includes Notaires/Agent
>fees but what about land
>registery fees,
In that case, as Bill said, you should have no more to pay. This is an unusual pricing arrangement however.
Cable TV
in Finding/Owning French Property
Posted
>cable T.V?
>What channels are available,
French cable is pretty useless unless you want the internet access that it sometimes offers.
There are very few non-French channels.
Just get a Sky digibox and a free or pay card if you want UK channels.