Sbesley

Well, the 'snag list' was met by silence, as were all further letters! There was  €3000 outstanding to be paid on the devis,  problem was that  there was  approximately double this  figure remaining of work not done, or rework required. The builder eventually explained to a third party that he wouldn't be returning as he didn't think he would get paid for completing the remaining work if he did! Basically he knows he's done a poor job and doesn't care. In fact he invited me to sue him on the basis that he would win as he was a French citizen and I was a foreigner! This was obviously a very tempting offer.  However I haven't because for all sorts of reasons I think I'd be throwing good money after bad. What would I have done differently? Well with the benefit of hindsight... two years on from when I bought the property, I now have some local contacts I trust and would take their advice on who to use. I was and would still be reluctant to use an English tradesman 'on the black'. A registered English speaking artisan with a good local reputation would have been ideal! Hard to find though... I think the bottom line this that if you are not on site daily during a renovation project whether it be in France or England, the chances of the work not meeting your expectations are very high! Stephen. ps PM me for the name a certain firm of Rouen based builders to avoid at all costs!

I've stayed at the Hotel L'Hermitage Gantois http://www.hotelhermitagegantois.com/ Rooms are very nice, though not exactly a bargain. Better dining to be had elsewhere in Lille. Stephen.

Just come back from what could, had the sun not shone continuously, been rather depressing week at my maison secondaire. Renovations have been in progress and should have been completed... The builders, French registered with siret number etc. have in some areas done a very poor job. I did inspect the works at various stages while they were in progress, but it took a few days living there to discover that the drains would back up, the electrics were dodgy and so on. Some of the work (structural, tiling etc.) has been completed well, but the plumbing, electrics and standard of the final finish is poor. I'll be writing to them with a list of areas for correction and completion, but in the event that they are reluctant complete/redo these works to my satisfaction, is there anything I can use as a stick? I would be extremely reluctant to take legal action, seeing only considerably expense and an uncertain outcome via that route. I still retain €3000 of their final payment, is this my only card? If they were builders in the UK I would be fairly sure that they had not complied with building regs. Apparently the same system does not apply in France. Any advice gratefully received! Stephen.

Thanks everyone for the tips. Turns out there is an Emmaus in Rouen, so next time I down there I'll have a look. Also Forges-les-Eaux is quite close (I'm near Neufchatel-en-Bray) so I'll check out the depot-vente. Stephen.

The builders are (thank God!) progressing quite well with my renovation and soon, I'll be looking to furnish my house in 76 (half way between Dieppe and Rouen). I'm on a budget so buying new is pretty much out of the question. I looking for the basics: beds, chest of drawers, bedside tables that sort of thing. Can anyone recommend somewhere? Is there are French equivalent of Ad Trader (used to be called Free Ads)? Stephen.

I rather enjoyed it also. George was a little OTT, but the slightly sick look on the senate committee chairman's face as he realised he had provided Galloway with a perfect platform to educate the American public about the war was priceless. I doubt a second invitation will be forthcoming! Stephen.

Will, The fact remains that a small margin of advantage gives the 'winners' all the spoils. Perhaps some sort of PR system could add a few checks and balances to the untrammelled power of a government elected by 21.5% of voters. I think my view is that of the 17,047,916 registered voters who didn't vote, many took an active decision not to vote rather than simply couldn't be bothered! The politicians have to earn enough respect to make people consider they are worth voting for, something that they appear to find increasingly difficult to do.

Well actually it's worse than that! On the 5th of May the Labour party polled 9,556,183 votes, give or take a few hundred dodgy postal votes here and there... This means their 'mandate' constitutes just 21.5% of the those registered to vote. This leaves of rather depressing prospect of a government elected by scarcely more than one in five adults talking about their policies being dictated by the 'popular vote'. Stephen.

Ann, You need to set up your moneybookers account as a sterling account. That way it is linked to a UK bank account and you can make a transfer online from Lloyds without charge. You then set up your French bank account details in Moneybookers. This allows you to 'withdraw' the funds you have just transferred to Moneybookers into your French account. The charge for this is 1.80 Euros. Hope this helps. Stephen.

Can anyone recommend a French based online wine merchant? I've used a couple of UK merchants in the past (Bibendum and BBR) but now I have a house in France it occurs to me that there is almost certainly a price advantage to using a French company. I am specifically interested in en primeur Bordeaux offers. Thanks, Stephen.

Have a look also at www.surveyors-en-france.com I used them and was happy with the result. Stephen.

Michelle, I'm not sure I agree that brocantes would be reluctant to storage items for you. Those in this region (76) seem to have such a slow turn-over of stock that I don't think they would let storage get in the way of a sale. Don't mention this until this have haggled them down on the price though ;-) When it came to furnishing my house, I bought the beds and mattresses in the UK, hired a van and brought them and various other basic items over. I think it was after 2am before we got to bed that night, although not starting the assembly of the beds until we were onto the second bottle of Bordeaux might have been a factor... Next couple of days were spent shopping with the van, buying the white-goods was easy, but searching for furniture was hard work. Of course having the van meant that delivery was not an issue. But I think you shouldn't underestimate just how much time it will all take up... Bonne chance! Stephen.

Paul, Can you give an indication of the price differential between 'fake' and real slates per square metre? Assuming 'medium' grade in the both cases. Are the fitting costs roughly similar? Stephen.

Thanks for the replies and useful link. Looks like it is a badly worded form, but I'm signing anayway! Stephen.

I am having some renovation work carried out on my 'maison secondaire'. I have received an 'Attestation de T.V.A.' from the builders which they have asked me to sign in order to charge TVA at 5.50% This form would appear to suggest that it is necessary to have owned the property for at least 2 years in order to qualify for the lower rate. This is (bad) news to me! Can anyone clarify what the rules are? The property is an old farmhouse and the works are structural repairs and general modernisations such as putting in bathrooms, fosse septic etc. Stephen.

Mike, If you have not already done so, I would strongly recommend you stop using the fireplace! Many years ago I was lucky to escape from a house-fire caused by hot sparks from a ground floor open fire, finding their way through a gap in the mortar in the chimney stack and setting the roof timbers alight. I appreciate a third floor bedroom is quite a long way from the fire, but better to be safe than sorry... You could consider going down the woodburning stove route. Models like the Villager can be operated with the doors either closed or opened for the open fire feel. Combined with a register plate and a flexible liner, this would definitely provide a better heat than an open fire and would probably be cheaper than fitting a solid liner to the length of the chimney. Stephen.

Thanks for the tips... I'll be shopping around at renewal time! Stephen.

My vehicle is registered and insured in the UK, as this is where my main residence is. I am coming up to renewal time and am fed up with the £18 that my current insurer (Admiral) charges me each time to issue a 'Green card'. As I'm coming over to France every couple of weeks or so this has all started to get expensive... if I don't bother with the Green card, Admiral tell me the cover reverts to a basic 'Road Traffic Act' level, which I'd prefer not to risk. So can anyone recommend a UK insurer who will include European cover as part of the deal and still be competitive? Thanks, Stephen.

Alan, Have you insured it yet? If not, have a look at Footman James, they do a very reasonable classic car insurance scheme which included European breakdown cover as part of the deal. As the (ex) owner of a Caterham, I had cause to use it on more than one occasion! Stephen.

Dave, Having spent last weekend installing one in my house in Normandy, the memory of standing on the roof, holding on to the chimney with one hand and trying to haul the liner up with the other is still vivid! I am convinced having encountered a few other makes that the best is Villager. I've had one in my house in the UK for the past 10 years and it has been excellent. It will keep in overnight if loaded up, and while not 'fancy', certainly looks the part in a rural property. I've just bought a Villager 'AL' for which I paid £635, most suppliers are open to a bit a haggling I find ;-) They do also come up on Ebay, a couple of Villager 'A's in the last month went for around £350. Trouble was they were the other side of the country and both had needed a little spent on them. That said there's not much that can go wrong with them. Of course unless you are replacing a previous installation you'll also need to budget for some liner and a few other bits and pieces. Stephen.

Now an owner but having previously rented several times with varying degrees of sucess, I think I'm qualified to comment... One place we returned to three times, some others were a strictly a once in a lifetime experience! 1. The property should be safe. Sounds obvious I know, but I've come across places where this hasn't been the case! 2. It absolutely must be clean at the start of each rental. 3. Well equiped kitchen a must. Plenty of (matching) crockery and cutlery. Decent set of kitchen knives, serving spoons pots and pans etc. Dishwasher a nice to have for a small place, the more bedrooms, kids etc. the more of the selling point this becomes. Nobody wants to do the washing up on holiday! Washing machine essential. 4. Furniture - nothing fancy, but it should be sound with enough comfy seating for the whole party. We never wanted a tv/dvd/cd-player etc., but some might disagree here. I think your main market is likely to be families, in which case 2 doubles is perhaps a little restrictive. I'd go for 1 double and 2 twins. If you want repeat bookings, make sure the master bedroom is nice and that the bed/matress is comfortable! 5. A few kids board games. I'd recommend French Monopoly, Scabble and Uno as a good start. If you've got a good level lawn something like a cheap badmington set is nice. I wouldn't bother with swings and such, although a sandpit is easy to contruct and nice for younger children. The games-room sounds like a good idea, I'd go with the table-tennis table, but skip the darts.... Put a few (old) chairs in there too. I'd relax on the 'little hooligans running riot' front, but if there is anything you really don't want the kids (or adults!) doing, state this clearly in the booking. 5. Outside a mowed lawn, BBQ and some garden furniture is pretty much all you need. 6. A recently researched local info pack is always appreciated. Local restaurant recommendations etc. 7. Welcome pack is welcome! Perhaps the most difficult thing to achieve is to raise the standard above the 'just another holiday rental' feel. I think this takes lots of little touches, some of which cost money others of which are just contributions to a 'homely' feel. Most of this obvious, I know, but all based on experience. Stephen.

Many of these companies are distinctly dodgy or quite possibly the goods been seized by Customs and Excise if the delivery address was in the UK. Have a look here: http://www.ash.org.uk/html/advspo/html/internetsales.html

I used them last week. The payment from my UK bank arrived in my moneybookers account on the 4th working day. I then transferred it to my French (Credit Agricole) account and the funds were there the next day. So seems OK to me... Stephen.

'Foreign' payments from a CA account certainly attract a charge. I wouldn't be suprised if credits via a similar route also did. Also my experience is that credit card rates may be competitive with the tourist rates you'd get at the bank, but are nowhere near the money market exchange rates. Have a look at www.moneybookers.com They went through a period of being very slow, however things have improved. I use them every couple of months and have found that for sums say £1000 or so, they are the cheapest option. Cost €1.80 per transfer. You need to avoid the credit card route for paying cash in to moneybookers though or they will charge an extra 3%... Stephen.

Jill, Have a look here, http://www.outcamp.net/portail.php?c=43 for various links. The Avis site, http://www.aviscaraway.com/ looks good but not cheap... Stephen.