Moulin

Many thanks for that. Cheers, Stuart

Boghound,   Thanks for the reply, sorry not to come back earlier but had major computer gremlins! Do you by any chance have a name for the vet in Lucon?

I’m in the process of getting my dog a passport and intend to take him over with me at Christmas. I’ve heard horror stories about problems on the return journey due to incorrect paperwork from french vets so can anyone recommend a vet in the La Roche / Les Sables area of the Vendee who has experience of what is required? I imagine this question must have been asked a hundred times before but for that matter exactly what is required?   moulin  

I can only comment from personal experience so I urge you to seek expert advice. If you get divorced in England and don’t have any dependant children the law now is very fare and all assets are assessed financially for a 50/50 split, so it all depends on your overall financial position. Dependent children put a different completion on things and expert advice is essential. If you are not a British Passport holder, I guess you may be American, then I believe you can file for divorce in your country of origin and provided there are international reciprocal agreements in place with those countries where you have assets, any settlement is legally binding on your partner and those foreign courts. If you can prove residence in France you may be able to file for divorce there, but I imagine there is a minimum residency period before you can do this. But please seek expert advice as soon as possible.

As you say it’s a holiday home and not your primary residence I presume you are UK based and are getting a divorce here, in which case French divorce law is immaterial. Being in a similar position myself I’m sorry to say that it will be counted as just another financial asset and will go into the ‘pot’ to be divided in line with everything else. If you want to keep it then the only way is to buy your partners share at an agreed value. If you are parting on very good terms and you partner also wants to keep the property it is worth exploring the possibility of retain joint ownership on a business footing.   Good luck.

If you can’t buy in France try Germany! A colleague at work spends all his holidays touring Europe so wanted a LHD Motor home and eventually bought a second hand one in Germany, apparently they’re very popular over there giving plenty of choice and they look after there vehicles. He got a superb ‘as new’ condition 2 year old ‘van for half the price of a new one, then brought it back and registered it in the UK without any hassle. UK registration, while you are still resident here, will also solve your Insurance problems which, I imagine, will be immense in France with no fixed abode.

If the leak is under the floor the only way is to pressure test the lines. The effectiveness of this very much depends on how the pipes run under the floor, if they are individual and both ends appear above the surface then it’s easy to identify the offending run but still not the exact location of the leak, it will only tell you that it’s between those two points. If however they are interconnected, so there are several ends to the same pipe, then the very best it will tell you is which room it’s in. This information though may help persuade your insurance company to pay up, even if there is on obvious damage, as it will reduce there liability.

I am probably going to put the cat among the pigeons with this posting but here goes.   If I can buy an effective environmentally friendly option at the same price an another I’ll always go that way, I turn off lights when a room’s not in use, don’t use the car when it’s practical to walk or cycle, ensure everything is well insulated and try not to waste energy, but I’m afraid that’s about as far as it goes. Quality of life is important so when it’s wet I use the Tumble Dryer rather than having wet washing hanging around and in the same way I’m afraid I don’t see the logic of restricting yourself to a special apartment within a house during winter, unless it’s on economic grounds. If the rest of the world decided to do there bit I would feel differently but as long as Far Eastern economies continue to expand unchecked and with no environmental controls, (an article in, I think, The Times recently stated that CO2 emissions in China alone had increased by twice the reduction made by the rest of the world combined over the last 12 month,) I don’t see the point in making large personal sacrifices, usually financial, for insignificant environmental gain. Don’t waste it un-necessarily but don’t become a slave to it either.

My answer to that question would be yes. Provided you use the correct size cable and do not exceed the maximum number of sockets (8) allowed on one supply, ie the cable from the ‘box to the loft, there is no problem.

I am no expert and don’t have gas CH but this sounds horrendous, are you sure you don’t have a leak?

I hope the people concerned won’t mind if I put this on the forum as a warning to others.   One of our French neighbours recently had a major health scare and therefore decided to take early retirement. Upon retirement they had always planned to relocate from our isolated hamlet to a town or village with facilities within walking distance and found an ideal house about 10km away. It was a ‘New build’ in the grounds of an existing property that had been intended for the owner’s son but after University he had found a job elseware so the parents decided to sell it.   They bought the property through an agent who had copies of the Architects drawings and all the permits etc so everything appeared to be ok; the Notaire was happy and at the signing reminded both parties that as a New Build it was covered by the statutory 10 year guarantees. Apparently the look on the vendors face at this point should have sounded warning bells but it didn’t!   They moved in during early summer and were very happy until come winter they found the place difficult to keep warm and thought they could see a perceptible dip in the roof apex. Measurements in the attic proved this to be true so they checked the plans and found there were several less roof trusses than shown on the drawing and the walls were 50mm thinner than the design spec. They spoke to the vendor who informed them that as far as he was concerned it was not a New Build but a Renovation, it had been built mainly by himself on an existing base layed several years before for an agricultural building that had never been built, therefore there was no 10 year guarantee and it was entirely there problem. They immediately contacted an independent expert who carried out a full survey and as a result of the long list of faults he found collected up all the paperwork and sought advice, this resulted in them taking action against the Vendor, the Agent, the Notaire and the Architect.   Two and a half years down the road and they have finally got a ruling in there favour, the Notaire and Architect were found to be blameless, the Agent heavily criticised but the Vendor has been held totally responsible. It has been classified as a New Build and he must either buy back the property at ‘current market value’, to be set by the court, or have the property entirely rebuilt using a site agent appointed by the court. Originally they wanted it rebuilt but although they like the location and have made many new friends they have chosen to sell the property back as they just can’t face effectively putting there lives on hold for a further couple of years while all the work takes place.   There is however a question mark over whether the vendor now has the money or assets for either option so this case could well be far from over yet!

I think the advice from ‘Teamedup’ is very sound. Make sure you list EVERYTHING as if he has been living with you, as a couple not a lodger, while doing up other property then possible the boot could be on the other foot – you could have a claim against his assets! Good luck. Stuart

No technical reason you can't do it but what temperature will the hot water supply be as it may be too hot for some washing programs? Your smalls could end up even smaller!

The ‘Registered Letter’ is obviously the first step in the legal process but as he has been on site and there was no sign of the tiles I would give him the benefit of the doubt and adopt the e-mail and phone call approach first, as you say you do not want to upset him. Builders are notoriously un-communicative and he may find the added language barrier difficult, as 'Russethouse' said he may also be under pressure to service his regular local clients and could be embarrassed about the situation hence his non-appearance during your visit. If you still can’t get a response I would suggest you give it a couple of weeks and if there is no sign of activity by then a letter may be the next step.

Unfortunately builders not showing up is normal in France, (and the UK) we lost nearly two full years due to one artisan delaying another on our project, but be encouraged by the fact he has started and left equipment etc on site. Try e-mailing him again telling him exactly when you will be visiting next and that he must be finished by then; follow this up with phone calls until you actually speak to him direct. Is there anyone who can keep an eye on the place and give you progress reports? Is he based in the same commune as you, if so how well do you get on with the Mairie as this may well be a way to spur him on but I would give it another month or so before going down this route as he may well be genuinely waiting for the tiles? If he does not respond to your e-mails and has not completed the work by your next visit then the only option is to camp out on his doorstep until you can talk face to face.

Just a thought but is your electric supply large enough to run a double oven and the rest of the house?

NGCR,   There are several ways of doing this. The simplest and the one I would go for is to have a pump and accumulator on the outlet from the hot water tank that just pressurises the supply to the taps etc, as the pressure drops with demand the pump starts up, basically like a power shower but one pump runs the entire house. Obviously the system must be designed around this as the pipe size on the inlet to the tank must be correct to ensure it can fill up at no less than the rate water is being drawn off. If you have a large property or want to locate the system well away from some of the outlets you can run a supply and return loop using the same basic principle.   You can, depending on the type of boilers you use, pressurise the entire system via the cold water main. I must admit I have no idea about the compatibility of Back Boilers, this would require some research, but Gas and Oil units are readily available as this system is becoming the norm in small commercial premises with limited outlets such as offices.   Good luck whatever you do, by the way have you thought about Solar or better still Geo-thermal, I believe there may be grants available for these.   Stuart

Miki, Of course you are right but I was comparing like for like, ie. two story three bed etc etc. The water delivery in our french house is without doubt superior and the Chauffe is positioned out of the way in the garage. Yes there are electric showers in france so I should have been more specific, what I meant as you know is that to get good flow in winter when the incoming mains is colder you need a 9/10Kw shower and few houses have that capacity without turning everything else off.                                                                                                                              NCGR, I take your point and agree the french system is fuel inefficient but my point is that a gravity feed system will never be as user friendly as a pressurised system, therefore if I wanted to do what you are I would go for a pumped system to get the best of both worlds.

For what its worth in my opinion the French pressurised hot water system is far superior to the UK gravity feed. ‘At home’ we have a hot water tank/Emersion Heater stuck in an Airing Cupboard that takes up a ridiculous amount of space, a header tank that blocks access to the attic and minimal pressure in the hot water, (my mother has a bungalow with no hot water pressure at all). Hot water takes an age to reach the taps and running a bath takes for ever. In France the chauffe-eau is positioned out of the way, hot water arrives at the taps quickly and there is no need for a Power Shower – don’t forget you can’t fit an electric shower in France. I may be wrong but I’m sure I have seen adverts for ‘duel fuel’ Chauffe’s, they us a hot water coil from the central heating boiler and electricity.

Thanks for you’re feedback, the PC has an English V91 internal modem so I’ll try a French external serial modem and see how I get on. Incidentally I found that, with my bank anyway, a minimum connection speed of 33Kb is needed for successful on-line banking, this just gives enough time to download a page, fill in the details and upload before it times out.

Sorry should have added that my current ISP is free.fr

As a second home owner I’d settle for a decent dial-up connection at the moment, our house is in the Vendee and our dial-up connection is impossibly slow, 28Kb during the day, if I need to use the net for anything other than e-mails I can drink a bottle of wine between pages not just a glass. Last time we were there I needed to do some on-line banking, which for security reasons takes you through several timed pages, and found the only way was to go on-line in the early hours of the morning! I know speed varies between IPC’s so can anyone recommend a faster provider suitable for occasional use only?

Yep Val they mean nothing! Sanitation has improved in the main centres of population but once you get into rural Greece John and Angie are quite right, nothing ‘non organic’ goes down the toilet as there systems are simply not designed for it! A Rep. who visits me is married to a Greek girl and two of the things she apparently found the strangest when she first move to the UK were our excellent sanitation and our disgusting pre-packed supermarket food! Does one bring a need for the other I ask?

Taking Will the Conquer’s point on tax, Avoiding / Evading tax is not as difficult or unusual as it sounds. A guy I’ve know since we were apprentices together has worked as a Contract Draftsman throughout Europe, Canada and the US for the last 20+ years and only ever pays tax when he is working in America. Apparently the loophole is basically because he is no longer classified as resident in the UK (only his wife and kids) and as he only ever takes contracts for a maximum of 12 months, this apparently means he doesn’t fill in a tax return anywhere! From what he tell me he is working with hundreds of contractors doing exactly the same.

Many thanks for all your replies they've been very helpfull and pointed me in the right direction. Thanks again Stuart