Angie

Hi Matthew Any chance you could share the name of your builder and location - he sounds like a real gem. Regards  

ALSO, our builder is French and has worked in and around our village for 30 years - if he trusted a "nod and a wink" then why shouldn't we?  Probably because we are English and they thought they could take advantage of us, which they most certainly have.

Does this mean we have to ask for "written confirmation" about everything contained in the Permis?  What on earth is the point of negotiating all the red tape, speaking to the Mairie direct, the planning office and the neighbours only to find that they are all "in it for themselves".  If so, the permis is worthless.  As for sending registered letters, we have done this, and surprise, surprise some 5 months later still no reply.  We even put letters through the front doors of the neighbours concerned in May but again, nothing.  The only written confirmation we seem to have success is obtaining from our Mairie is yet another invoice.   I am coming to the conclusion that what everyone told us about the French is correct that they are underhand, lazy, workshy and corrupt.  Apart from the Notaire, who has been genuine, helpful and very professional, everyone we have dealt with from start to finish has had their hand out and "no" it is not the same in the UK; we have built 2 houses in the past 10 years and have not experienced anything like this in England.   Our local French bank manager told us that the area is suffering from severe economic problems due to the closure of 3 very large employers and are "welcoming" foreigners with open arms; focussing on tourism and development.  Well, I for one, hope they get what they deserve - judging by the treatment we have received. 

Thanks all for your replies; although I have posted this previously things have since moved on, so will attempt to explain our predicament.    We purchased our plot of land some 2 years ago, obtained the CU with much aggravation after 1 year and then the permis last September.    When we purchased the plot we were told that all services (branchements) had to be connected to the property in the middle of our land (fine with us).  However, on the CU and permis, the Mairie and DDT changed the access to the edge of our plot so it came onto our property between 2 houses.  Before starting, our (French) builder went back to the Mairie's office to check that this small piece of land of 8 metres (which he had to cross) did not belong to anyone - he said "no".  However, just to check, our builder spoke to the neighbours who confirmed what the Mairie had said, that it was communal land and they did not have a problem with the proposed work.  We have had to pay almost 20,000 euros to have a seweage system/water/electric/phone connected to our site (and also have paid nearly 1,000 additional euros to the commune for the privilege). The work was completed about a month ago.   However, now it is all complete, we have been informed by our builder that both these neighbours now want financial compensation as our branchements cross their land - in the sum of 5,000 euros each - but to add insult to injury we have now discovered that at least one of these people is related to the Mairie (we think it is his brother in law).  Our builder has tackled the Mairie about this and his comment was "it wasn't his responsibilty".  To his credit, our builder has insisted we do not pay money to these people however, after looking at the property again, and because he has to move the pipework almost 80 metres along the lane, our builder will have to charge us an additional 10,000 euros to do this.   As for the difference between liability and compensation, why should we be out of pocket especially as we did everything "by the book".  Knowing our luck once we have carried out this additional work we will be penalised for not complying with the CU and permis and asked to move it back to its original location!  Shall I write to the DDT who, I have to say, have been very helpful to us in the past.

Slightly different situation for us.  Can anyone advise; if the Maire has made a significant mistake on the CU and permis de construire and signed and passed the documents can he be held liable?  His mistake will cost us in excess of 10,000 euros to put right.despite us checking and double checking, he allowed us to go ahead with the work. 

Further to my original post, we have now been in contact with a local (English) estate agent who lives in the same village as our plot of land.  His advice was:  If the CU and the permis de construire state that access should be across a certain piece of the land (regardless of who it belongs to) then we have the right to leave our pipework where it is (it is to be buried anyway). The village we are in is tiny, so I would have thought that the neighbours concerned (they are both French residents) would have noticed this and objected a long time ago to the planning application, rather than wait until the work was completed.   We are more than happy to change the driveway access to where it should have been originally so this will not be a problem, but from an inconvenience point of view we would like to leave the branchements (including the sewer pipe) where it is.  Does anyone know whether this advice is correct? 

Thanks both for the info. Websites I found most helpful are: Tree-shop.co.uk (brilliant selection and prices) - naturehills.com and ewburrownursery.co.uk both have excellent information about the trees and plants themselves. 

Hi all We have a very large plot of land which we would like to plant with lots of trees (probably over a hundred).  We have found a brilliant website in UK which sells every variety of tree under the sun - gives their native origin/planting advice etc. and is very competitively priced.  The tree sizes range from whips to 3 metre trees in pots - plus the more you buy the cheaper they get.  However, does anyone know of a similar website in France as obviously because we need so many trees and hedging plants we would prefer to have them delivered within France rather than bringing them over ourselves from the UK (the UK website does not deliver outside of UK). Thanks so much.

Thanks to everyone for their messages of support - it certainly doesn't appear that I am alone in experiencing this type of thing (in varying degrees). During our dealings with the Mairie the only opportunity we have had to "pull one over on them" is when we discovered that, following our purchase of the land, someone at the office was receiving an EU subsidy as they claimed they had been renting the land from us for grazing - we contacted our French lawyer who fired off a letter instructing them to "come clean with the authorities" and pay back any money received.  The person concerned had egg on her face when we next visited and scuttled off as soon as we arrived at the office!   As for inviting the Mairie for a drink on my newly built terrace, he is currently at the bottom of my list but as you say, hopefully (if and when) we do get our house built it will all seem a distant memory and we can laugh at it!

I am feeling very angry today!!  Since purchasing our plot of land some 2 years ago and going through all the right channels and doing everything "absolutely by the book" we have had nothing but aggravation from our Mairie.  We visited him prior to putting in a planning appliation, spoke throughout the meeting to him in our pigeon French, made the effort to keep him up to speed on our plans for the land, paid all his invoices as and when required and been really as co-operative and as friendly as we possible could - even to the point of sending Christmas cards.  He has done nothing but put obstacles in our way, never replies to queries either from us or the local planning office until "forced to", despite making appointments to see him well in advance he is suddenly "unavailable" and we then have to speak to someone else in the office whose advice he then rejects and says we "should have spoken to him", plus a host of other incidences and delaying tactics.    However, the latest stunt he has pulled has really aggravated us.  We have had to pay almost 20,000 euros to have a sewerage system/water/electric/phone connected to our site (having paid nearly 1,000 additional euros to the commune for the privilege) - the work being completed last week.  When we purchased the plot we were told that all services (branchements) had to be connected to the property in the middle of our land (fine with us).  However, on the CU, the Mairie insisted that this be changed to the edge of the plot located between 2 houses.  Before starting, our (French) builder went back to the Mairie's office to check that this small piece of land (which he had to cross) did not belong to anyone - he said "no".  However, just to check, our builder spoke to the neighbours who confirmed what the Mairie had said, that it was communal land and they did not have a problem with the proposed work.    A month later, we have been informed by our builder that both these neighbours now want financial compensation as our branchements cross their land - in the sum of 5,000 euros each - but to add insult to injury we have now discovered that both these people are related to the Mairie (one is his brother in law).  Our builder has tackled the Mairie about this and his comment was "it wasn't his responsibilty".  To his credit, our builder has insisted we do not pay money to these people and is moving the whole system to its correct location free of charge.   Sorry for the long email but my point is.....as livid as I am, how long do we have to suck up to these people before making complete fools of ourselves.  I feel like going to the Mairie and giving him a piece of my mind, but to what end?  Am I going to make a rod for my own back for the future?  It has incensed us so much that we are now considering selling the land and moving on. Although from what I read on the Forum the Mairie is someone to keep in with, surely he can't treat us like this?

We have a similar query.  Our PdeC was granted in December 2005 but the builders have not yet started (hopefully in a week or two).  However, we have now decided that we would like a balcony/terrace added to the side of our house (it is well within the boundary) and would not overlook anyone - dimensions about 3 metres x 4 metres.  However, because we do not want to give the builder any excuse to delay the build further is it possible to go directly to the Mairie and ask for permission to add this balcony or will we have to submit an new application to our local planning office. Also, for reasons stated earlier, would it be better to get the build underway before speaking to the Mairie about any proposed changes?

Thanks both for your advice.  I think we may have to try and remortgage with another French bank  - Booboo, we will look at Credit Agricole as they seem a viable alternative.  As for payment transmission problems - there doesn't appear to be a problem with the transmission of payments at all (we have used the system satisfactorily since the account opened - electronic transfer) its just that they seem to "mislay" the payment once it arrives at the bank; it usually turns up eventually and the attitude is "it was credited to the wrong account" or something along the lines of "the letter saying we hadn't received the payment was sent out in error".  It may be that these monthly communications are just a glitch, but we are getting rather fed up with them at the moment. We realised too late how expensive Abbey were, but as mentioned our initial reason for using them was that the transactions were straightforward and came straight from a UK bank account. But now they are UCB it is all immaterial!!! 

Hi all Does anyone know of a UK Bank (or other) institution that will give a mortgage secured solely on a French property.  We currently have a mortgage on our French house with Abbey National France (we live in the UK).  The main reason for choosing them initially was because all monthly payments could be made straight from a UK bank account without incurring any fees or charges - after only 9 months with Abbey this has changed because they have been taken over by UCB.  We are not too worried about incurring a small monthly charge but our last 2 mortgage payments have arrived late and our latest one hasn't reached the account at all and we could really do without this hassle each month as it takes an absolute age to sort things out.

Thanks for your prompt reply.  Admin charges...surely this doesn't mean there is more to pay?  Would probably have been cheaper for us to obtain a mortgage in the UK, I am sure we would not have encountered these additional fees.  The French bank are also charging us big time for the privilege!!

We have obtained a 70,000 euro mortgage on our French house and have an appointment at the end of this week with the Notaire to sign the mortgage document (which we have been told is compulsory before the bank can release the funds).  Obviously we do not have a problem with this, but were advised a while ago that we will have to pay a small charge to the Notaire for this service.  Today, just prior to our visit to France, we have been advised that this "small charge" is 2,400 euros - payable in advance.  Can anyone tell me if this seemingly high amount is usual; our total Notaire's bill for a recent sale and purchase was less than this.  Does the Notaire perform some other function during the mortgage term to justify this extortionate amount, or is it (as I assume) just the preparation of a simple/standard document?

Really appreciate this Benjamin - we will certainly be pursuing this. Thanks again. Bevvy.

Thanks for your reassuring replies (mrbeeman also by pm.).  The reason we wanted to know is the builder who is constructing our house wants to instal electric panel heating which, I gather, is very expensive to run.  We will not be living in the house so do not want an oil or gas boiler running while we are away (just in case it goes wrong).  Electric underfloor heating seemed the ideal option as a method of keeping the house "ticking over" and I also understand that this method of electric heating is quite economical and effective. We therefore contacted a couple of local underfloor heating "experts" and another local builder but none of them have come back to us - in fact (as mentioned in my post) one of them did say that they suspected that "electric" underfloor heating (using mats) was illegal.  I now know it is not, so will be pursuing the companies I originally contacted and also Thermor mentioned by John.  Would also appreciate hearing whether those who have installed it are happy with the system and approximate costs involved.  Thanks again everyone.  Bevvy

Can anyone tell me whether electric underfloor heating mats (currently available in the UK) are also available in France. I have searched the internet without success and indeed someone living in France mentioned to me that because of French regulations they may not be legal there.  We will need to have this installed by an electrician (ie. not DIY!) so any advice would be much appreciated.

Thank you so much everyone for your advice and assistance.  We will certainly be looking into the Orsol system but Bobc's suggestion about having just the cornerstones and window angles done is a very sensible alternative if the cost proves too high.  Cheers everyone.

There are a number of UK companies and other (more impressive) USA companies who specialise in exterior wall finishes which make the house look as though it is built of stone (the Americans call them stone veneers). They are not reminiscent of the awful 70s stone cladding and it is really difficult to tell them from the real thing (in fact some are actual stone "slices").  We are having a house constructed in France at the moment where the exterior finish is to be rendered - the only finish our builder can supply.  Does anyone know of a company that can supply and fit such a finish in France? Alternatively, we did once see an effect whereby the finished render was "marked out" to look like stone blocks - any ideas?  Also, and probably more importantly, will we need to amend our permis if we change the house's exterior finish?

Does anyone know of any "pretty" seaside areas south of Narbonne, as far down as the Spanish coast?  We have visited this area several times and have been rather disappointed with this stretch of coast, although most guidebooks say otherwise - even Coulieure (sure I haven't spelt that right) was a bit of let down; couldn't even find anywhere open to eat.  Maybe we have just been unlucky.  Don't particularly want touristy places, just pretty and quaint - somewhere to spend an afternoon.  We would like to spend time in this area as we have recently purchased a house in France and it is our nearest stretch of coast.  Many thanks

The cost of installing the drive is not included in the price, only the access from the road to the land - the house is in the middle of the plot, so whichever side you access it from it will still be the same distance between the road and the house - but seeing as we have so much land it seems a bit daft to the put the entrance right next to the neighbour's driveway!  Thank you for your reassurance Alan - I will ring the builder first thing in the morning.

We had several quotes for architects fees earlier this year - the cheapest we had was 10% of the final build cost, but the majority were around 12%.  I know it is a cynical view, but I did not feel it was in their interest to save us money on our build (as obviously the higher the cost, the higher their fee); we opted for a builder that had in-house designers and architects - the total cost was around 4,000 euros. for a 140m2 house.

Our builder has just submitted our plans for the permis de construire but we have noticed that the driveway access is in the wrong place.  We were told when we purchased the plot that the driveway had to be located at its current place, but the builder has moved it 50 yards along the road right next to our neighbours driveway.  We do not want the driveway located at this spot, especially as this will be the last in a long line of compromises we have had to make.  Can anyone tell me what the chances of us getting this changed now the application has been made?  I know the builder will say that "it is impossible" but just wanted to get my facts straight before asking them. 

Really appreciate all your replies - I had suspected as much. I think, if they agree to fence off the land, we will go down the route of asking the Notaire for his advice (the one we used for the house purchase was excellent and speaks English) so he may be able to draw up some kind of rental contract.  Having horses will help keep the weeds and brambles down and the small amount of money would go towards paying the taxe fonciere!  Thanks all.