Fritz

Unless you have been negligent and/or fraudulent in your dealings with the Revenue, after six years from the date of the relevant tax return, they cannot claim anything from you. Within this period they can issue a Discovery Assessment which extends the six year period and enables them to continue their pursuit. Even if this happens, unless the sum in question is sufficiently high to cover the costs of retrieval and that their case is cut and dried, ie. you really don't have a believable defence, then it's unlikely that the Revenue would ever seek to recover property in France. You do, however, have to live with the fact that you know whether or not you have have wilfully defrauded the British tax payer.

I've been pollarding several acers for a few years now and have always gone right close to the wood. No problem. I've also left them for one year with no problems and cut as per normal in following Nov. It seems in France you can pretty much cut off a tree at it's base and it'll still come up over the year. My aged Kiwi was cut back to just a couple of stumps last March and the sap fair gushed out and I thought I killed it. Not so, Within minutes (well, a couple of months) it was shooting and as I write I can see the fruit needs picking, like now. Fig trees can also be treated v harhsly.

I agree with Liz. £400 for 10 people - that's £40 each. Hardly a rip-off, no matter where the property is. Whingeing poms.

It would seem these licenses are extremely freely transferable and without time limit. Rumour has it that hereabouts a local bar owner has 4 of them. He bought them when previous businesses were sold; I suppose to protect his own position as well as an as ever-increasing investment.

Depends on town/area. But generally extremely difficult, especially for a class 4, even with a decent Maire. Also very expensive as it's common for restaurants/bars to be sold without. Cost if buying within 100 km often 10k euros or more.

Yeah. Less than 100ch and official EU imports. I didn't pay import duty. I guess because the impot form said that it wasn't necessary and in any event it was an old 98 model and maybe the TVA had already been considered paid. Which is interesting as I'm looking at buying a new bike in the UK and bringing it back here. The man in the shop says you can do some skullduggery and get your VAT refunded once the bike was delivered to France as a bona fide export. Sometimes you wonder if the hassle is worth it but if someone knows the true facts? generally I'm finding that UK new bikes are cheaper than the same models in France. For eg the difference between a KTM 950 is £1000 (cheaper in the UK) when you bung in the flight to Stansted, internal travel, etc, carte grise etc, you're still £7/800 better off.

Here's my centimes worth. I've had two UK registered bikes re-registered in France. One of which has since been sold in France without any problems. I never SORNitized them. Maybe the DVLA have put out a contract on me in my absence. My insurance man tells me that French residents can use UK registered vehicles inc cars and bikes in France for up to three months (with french insurance, of course) before getting a carte grise. Other threads here have long ramblings about the need to have a current UK tax disk, though wdfdik. M'head is right. Only the Prefecture is interested in your vehicle. That's where you have to go to get the CG. Bikes in France don't need an MOT. Strange but true but don't ask me why. The process I used to get my CG was firstly to get a selection of docs (from my insurance guy). I then converted the speedos to Kmph and headlights to RHD, so to speak. Then take the bike to your dealer, he'll check out the bike, complete and stamp it, saying it conforms as a standard model in good condition etc. This is not the C of C. You then send this doc to the French Head oFFice of the manufacturer eg France yamaha. They'll want 100 euros or so to provide a C of C. You then go to yr local tax office with UK reg docs, original bike purchase receipt, EDF bill, passport, golf scorecard etc. They'll give you a confirmation that VAT etc has been paid on the bike. You then go the the prefecture to get the CG. That's it. very easy and fast once you manage to get the C of C. I appreciate that procedures may vary from dep to dep, insurance co to insurance co, bloke in pub to blokes on forums, but basically you just have to get out there and do it.

Too right. He's a twock but one almost feels sorry for him as he gets his usual humiliation each week at the hands of some arch-criminal or other. And what sort of a name is Nicky, for a bloke?

Phew! Glad that's sorted. We can now all sleep soundly in our beds without worrying about UK tax disks, illegal parking, scroungers and other SCUM!

I spotted 4 illegal UK cars in that time, so I would suggest that this issue has reached epidemic (or even pandemic) proportions.   Like bird flu?

Very sad. Isn't life too short to hang about car parks; taking fotos and reading bits of paper. What's he going to do with them? Send them to the gendarmes? Get a life.

Good luck. You'll need conformity certificates, dealer assesments, VAT paid certificates, visits to tax office, then carte grises, then insurance. Lots of hassle eg BMW France 'lost' my CC request and I had to go thru BMW in Stuttgart b4 they got their ass into gear.  And then eventual huge insurance bills. Very difficult to find multiple bike deals in France. Sell yr bikes in the UK before moving, I say, then stick with your two favorites and even then, 3rd party FT on one and fully comp on your most used.

"I've been everywhere, man I've been everywhere, man Crossed the deserts bare, man I've breathed the mountain air, man Travel...I've had my share, man I've been everywhere I've been to: Boston Charleston Dayton Lousiana Washington Houston Kingston Texas County Monterey Fairaday Santa Fe Tollaperson Glen Rock Black Rock Little Rock" plus Spain, Ireland, Holland, Spain, Belgium, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Croatia, Slovenia and the deserts of Dubai on a motorcycle and I can tell you that the French have more respect for motorcycles that the Brits. Filtering rocks, car drivers suck.

Quote/ I use and highly recommend Zonealarm Adaware Spybot Firefox Thunderbird Not a bad set. I've been using Avast! for several months. It's free ie. not a demo version or time limited. For spyware, Webroot works for me. Paid for it though. Must move from IE5 and Outlook soon I guess. Firefox and Thunderbird a good choice.

Having had both Wanadoo and Tiscali, dial-up and ADSL for a few years now I 've finally splashed out on a routeur. This gives better IP address protection, an inbuilt forewall and, I think, a more reliable connection. Downsides, 60Euros and a bit fiddly to set-up. But overall it's the best computery thing I've bought in years. If you want to check if your PC is 'leaking',  go to https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2 click on proceed and then do the common ports test.

Obviously one needs to apply the same criteria, marketing etc, etc, here as one would if opening a pub or bar in the UK. However, there's a lot more skullduggery needed if your bar comes without the Class IV licence. First of all bars are often sold without them. You then have to try and buy one, as it's usually impossible to get the Maire to issue a new one. Local ones therefore will be hideously expensive - I've heard of some offered at 40000 Euros. Or you can buy one elsewhere. These are usually offered cheaper 10000 is typical, with a 100km range - ie. if your business is within  a 100km radius of the vendor. You still have to get permission from the Maire to use it. Often they only meet a couple of times a year - so you would need to get this done in good time before the opening. Remember that the Maire will probably get a lot of pressure from other bar owners so you need to pitch your request in terms of what your bar will do for the town, etc, employment etc. As for actual success, it depends what your objectives are. You ain't going to get rich but you could probably scrape by if you work your butt off. Don't rely on expats as your main customers - they're a fickle lot; try harder to get the locals in. Perhaps have longer opening hours - particularly on Sunday evenings and Mondays. Don't get Irish and certainly don't do pickled eggs and Guinness. Introduce change slowly. Try and find some local beers, keep the place clean, tidy and warm in the winter. Make sure you have excellent French, or your barperson and don't call it the Wellington Boot or the Friigate and Firkin. My own humble opinions, gleaned by many years of drinking, but not by experience, fortunately.

Of all the meals I've eaten in France 10% have been inedible, 40% just about digestible, 40% OK and 10% good. I've complained on a few occasions, a memorable one being that posh brasserie down from the Bourse in Paris, where the rognons looked like and tasted (I imagine) like an excised brain tumour. The complaint had no effect whatsoever. Conclusion? Just don't. Waste of time and bound to upset you.

In spite of being resident in France I got a CCJ from the Court Service website against a difficult tenant in a UK property. The English address is just for correspondence, use a friends/family etc.. You don't actually have to live there. The CC is for easy payment, I guess. If you don't want to do it over the internet you can do it by post direct to the court. In the event the bailiffs couldn't get the money owed. So my advice if the debt is less than a couple of grand, don't bother.

I've got a Meade, which is OK, and the Starry Night software (www.starrynight.com) which is pretty simple to use. Spookily I use an astrology site to find exact geographical locations http://www.astro.com. It's very quick.

An interesting thread. I've got 6 hectares in a fairly active hunting part of the country and personally don't approve of the machismo 'shoot anything' type of hunting that goes on hereabouts. At first we had a few hunters walking across our land. After whizzing down on my rather raucous 2 stroke enduro bike and giving them the 'privé, privé, allez, allez' routine I've never had any trespassing since. And I don't know whether my land is Verdailles or whatever. For those without a motorbike, quad or whatever and have problems, get your strimmers out at the weekend and get the bonfire going. The sort of anally-retentive 'laws' that seem to apply or not, for this that and the other, really should be ignored. No-one is ever going to stump up the cash to try and enforce the 'right' of the 'hunt' to continually trespass of private property.

3 years ago my 12x5.5 liner pool cost €20k plus €12k for decent flagstones and surround plus €5k for pompe chaleur (very necessary if you want to swim till Nov and start in March) General tips would be: 1) Pay as little as possible for the deposit and keep a substantial sum till you're satisfied. 2) If you don't like the suggested layout (pump house location, power points, shower, etc) stick to your guns. 3) Buy a robot cleaner. Make sure you get guarantees and threaten everyone with Que Choisir if things start to get ugly. Don't over chlorinate, always check your skimmers and keep access secure (sod the kids, this is to stop deer drowning - has happened to me). Swim, a lot

After 4 years I finally get my come-uppance and get snapped on that very nice downhill bendy bit going down the A75 to Lodeve. An R413-13, 12kph over the limit 45€ fine and 1 point, it seems. I understand from the blurb that I'll get a notification from the big place where they manage licenses and the deduction of points will be automatically happen. However, as I still use a UK license, will I have to wait until they write me or should I get a new license asap. Any info, advice, most welcome.

Is this something to do with the EU savings directorate (or somesuch)? My understanding is that this relates to EU based offshore savings accounts as well as overseas accounts held by non-residents. Basically you have the choice of paying 15% tax at source without the need to tell your tax collector (wherever he or she may be) or the account or you can come clean. It might seem the best solution just to cough up the 15% but the problem is that this rate increases rapidly over a period of years. But what do I know.

Anyone have any rough percentage figures for those guests who (try to) pay with duff cheques, seriously break things, smuggle in pets, bring extra 'guests', etc?

'I also think the "buy because then you're more committed" is a very dumb argument. Presumably if you follow that logic you would prefer to be tied into your ADSL provider for 20 years rather than one?' In spite of my opinion being just that, I apologise for being dumb. Mercifully I understand that such an affliction can be remedied by study and continuing self-improvement. I shall therefore re-engage with those forum members who are clearly more erudite, knowledgeable and obviously smarter than me, when I have achieved the requisite level of intellectual attainment.