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Lyndzena

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Everything posted by Lyndzena

  1. Hello Again   Further to my previous posting - I now have the official refusal letter from the Marie for the decline of our CU application. We have a two story water tight barn in the garden of our existing holiday home that we want to convert into another holiday home.  It has been refused by the C.d.C at the D.D.E. It does not appear to be in a marked flood zone, but has flooded in 2001 as there are two merging rivers nearby and they have over spilled and flowed down the main road, the water running down our drive and flooding our existng house's basement.  (Not the barn).  The D.D.E did a survey on the area's hydraulics.  Neighbours and the previous owners all inputted comments regarding the previous flood.  For this reason it has been declined. However, we think that we have some options here: 1. Put some form of wall / barrier around the land to prevent the water getting in from the main road 2. Dig a sort of moat system (like a French drain then!) 3. Raise the floor in the barn - so you step up to the main door, similar to collumbage houses 4. Convert the top floor and put a mezzanine in the bottom floor (i.e. off the ground) 5. Convert the top floor only - into smaller accommodation. (The total barn size is 170 m square)   Hence, our wish to appeal (Within the next 2 months).  For the appeal we thought of seeing the DDE / Marie in person.  But then did not know whether to involve a Notaire or Architect for the tribunal. Please can somebody give us some advice? Has anybody out there won a tribunal for the refusal of a CU? Does anybody know of a good architect or Notaire in the Calvados / Eure areas? Does anybody know of a reliable online/email translation service? Many thanks Lyndsey
  2. Hello We submitted a CU application to convert an existing watertight two story building into a dwelling.  (The building is currently used for storage). The Marie has declined the CU application on the grounds that it is in a flood zone. We are not sure if the main house is on the flood zone (The notary did not mention it in the acte de vente, but did say it had flooded in 2003.) There are many other houses in the commune, some lower than where our building is.  As I said the building is already solid - we just need to add the internal walls, furnishings and of course change the usage. We want to appeal this decision, but are not sure how to go about this or the likely success.  Any advice would be welcome. Many thanks Lyndsey 
  3. Hello   We are buying our second preperty in Normandy (Dept 13), France.  We were told that it was the law that we had an interpreter at the compromis de vente and acte de vente. We had an interpreter at the compromis signing.  This interpreter is now on holiday and we are struggleing to find another - so my question is - Is this a legal requirement?  The acte is pretty much the same contract as the compromis, and my husband speaks good french - so i am comfortable without the interpreter.  (We didn't have any interpreter for our first property purchase in December 2004). If it is required - does anybody know if it must be a 'sworn' interpreter and where we can find one who covers Le Havre?  (I have tried 11 so far and no joy yet). Many thanks Lyndzena
  4. Hello   We are looking for a reliable and pleasant person to greet our guests and collect the keys after their stay in our house. The duties are: Receive emails updates from ourselves of bookings / dates Give contact number for guests to arrange meeting time with you. Meet guests at arranged time Show guest around the house Take security deposit. Return to collect keys from departing guests Check house / ask guests about any damage / breakages. Return security deposit minus any agreed monies to cover any damage. Report any problems / feedback to us by email (or phone).   This is probably 45 mins work at the greeting and 15 minutes at the departure. Pay is 50 EURO per booking / set of guests.  And our chaneover day is usually Saturday.  Most guests arrive at or after 4pm.  All guests leave at 10:00am. Basic french is essential. Please let us know if you are interested. Many thanks Lyndsey & Jason    
  5. Hello   We are looking for a cleaner for our house in Conteville - 15 minutes drive from Honfleur.  The cleaning would generally be on a Saturday from 10:00am for approx 4 hours. We are also advertising for a 'keyholder' to meet & greet the guests and issue / collect the keys - happy to consider one person to do both. Our guests are 50% english, 30% french and 20% other, so a minimum of basic french would be desirable. Pay 15 EURO / hour. Many thanks Lyndsey & Jason
  6. Hello We have a cottage near Honfleur in Calvados.  We rent it out during the year and wondered if anyone lived near by and wanted to earn a bit of extra income by helping us out on site whilst we are in England.  We were thinking for things such as blocked drains, cutting of 'lost' replacement keys, and other practical bits and bobs. Please let us know if you are interested and what you would charge.  Our cottage is 11 km from Honfleur in between Genneville and Beauzeville. Our email is [email protected]    Many thanks Lyndzena (N.B. Repeat posting as I placed this in the wrong section last time and thus did not include our email)
  7. Hello I think this is the best place for this message.  We have a cottage near Honfleur in Calvados.  We rent it out during the year and wondered if anyone lived near by and wanted to earn a bit of extra income by helping us out on site whilst we are in England.  We were thinking for things such as blocked drains, cutting of 'lost' replacement keys, and other practical bits and bobs. Please let us know if you are interested.  Our cottage is 11 km from Honfleur in between Genneville and Beauzeville.   Many thanks Lyndzena
  8. Hello Debra   Thank you for your reply and suggestions.  We are going to ring the previous owners, but i did not think of the paperwork we got when we completed - I will check through it.   Many thanks   Lyndzena
  9. Please can somebody help us identify our waste system.  When we bought our house in Calvados (Dec 04), the previous owners were adament that it wasn't a fosse septique, but was a biological wastage system.  They indicated that there wasn't a 'tank' as such.  With regards to maintenance they just said not to put any bleech or coffee grinds down the sink / toilet and that there was nothing to empty.  They said that Ariel, Persil, sun were all fine to use. Since then, we have had sewage water back up into the cloakroom sink and washing machine hose after doing a weekends washing.  We have opened up a hatch in the floor of the back kitchen.  Underneath is a 'mini tank' which is about 2.5 foot by 1.5 foot and has all the waste water (some pipes are diverted into the house just to go through this mini tank) leading into one side from a pipe about 10cm in diameter.  This leads into one side on the mini tank, where there is soil and worms! (And what looks like loads of tissue paper).  There is then a concrete divide where the water seeps through the the other side and the pipe that leads out to under the garden (we presume).  The mini tank smells awful - which indicates to us that it is some sort of filter / initial filter / the biological waste system. Before we found this hatch, we had a plumber round, who wanted to dig up our conservatory because he thought that the back up of sewage might be due to a brocken pipe - digging up my conservatory was not an option i liked, hence the investigations we did into the hatch (which looked like it hadn't been opened in years).  Anyway this doesn't give me much confidence that the plumber knows much about this system we have.  Does anybody know what kind of system this could be?  I have searched the forum under fosse and got the impression that the Marie will have the original system plans etc - so that is one avenue we can explore.   If you do know what system it is, can you give me any info on it's maintenance?  From reading the forum - it also seems that we may need to have a fosse septique installed anyway to meet some regulations.  If so does anybody know what a fosse septique costs for a system supporting 4 bedrooms and 1 lounge/diner?  Also how long does it take to put one in?  (We have lots of sloping land, so could position down the land away from the house with a natural fall). Many thanks in advance for your advice / answers Lyndzena
  10. Hello Please can somebody help us identify our waste system.  When we bought our house in Calvados (Dec 04), the previous owners were adament that it wasn't a fosse septique, but was a biological wastage system.  They indicated that there wasn't a 'tank' as such.  With regards to maintenance they just said not to put any bleech or coffee grinds down the sink / toilet and that there was nothing to empty.  They said that Ariel, Persil, sun were all fine to use. Since then, we have had sewage water back up into the cloakroom sink and washing machine hose after doing a weekends washing.  We have opened up a hatch in the floor of the back kitchen.  Underneath is a 'mini tank' which is about 2.5 foot by 1.5 foot and has all the waste water (some pipes are diverted into the house just to go through this mini tank) leading into one side from a pipe about 10cm in diameter.  This leads into one side on the mini tank, where there is soil and worms! (And what looks like loads of tissue paper).  There is then a concrete divide where the water seeps through the the other side and the pipe that leads out to under the garden (we presume).  The mini tank smells awful - which indicates to us that it is some sort of filter / initial filter / the biological waste system. Before we found this hatch, we had a plumber round, who wanted to dig up our conservatory because he thought that the back up of sewage might be due to a brocken pipe - digging up my conservatory was not an option i liked, hence the investigations we did into the hatch (which looked like it hadn't been opened in years).  Anyway this doesn't give me much confidence that the plumber knows much about this system we have.  Does anybody know what kind of system this could be?  I have searched the forum under fosse and got the impression that the Marie will have the original system plans etc - so that is one avenue we can explore.   If you do know what system it is, can you give me any info on it's maintenance?  From reading the forum - it also seems that we may need to have a fosse septique installed anyway to meet some regulations.  If so does anybody know what a fosse septique costs for a system supporting 4 bedrooms and 1 lounge/diner?  Also how long does it take to put one in?  (We have lots of sloping land, so could position down the land away from the house with a natural fall). Thank you in advance for your help / answers / advice. Lyndzena  
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