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painterman

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  1. Daer Sunday Driver, I've read what hubby has put!! Tea was lovely- its the little treats that make things better. I must finish the packing. There will be time to worry at the end of the week before we sign (If we actually can sign. We will have to see if our Notaire can sort out the last trouble spots.) OOOhhh, Bayonet the immobilier. Very drastic measure, but uhmmm...... hadn't thought of that...... It is quite a pity that they don't have the stocks in use. I must keep things chugging along. Thank you Sunday Driver. We will let you know the outcome when we return, if all this trouble has been worth it.  Uhmmm... bayonet the immobilier......very drastic, but with a dry sense of humour..... a very appealing thought![;-)]
  2. Thank you to all who have taken the time to reply here. I'll check the pm's too in a few minutes. It is very important to have a balanced view from both sides of the 'argument'. It is no good damning the whole system of this or that. We posted this thread simply to warn others who could be in the same sort of mess that we're in. I at least get a break from the paperwork side when I go off to work, because The Mrs generally deals with all that. She sat and cried this morning. I think that she is totally fed up with the whole bag of lies. We had one more shock on Friday when she translated one of the documents we have just been sent.( I'm not writing any of this for sympathy because that would'nt get us anywhere anyway. The Mrs deserves a good hug of comfort when I get back from work tonight - and the tea is one me without a doubt.) As always she gets back up and cracks on with things- as you do. We've had a weekend of translating so I was quite surprised that so many people have replied. Our French is improving, but I would have preferred that to be achieved through the happier ways in life. Anyhow this is why we've not checked on the forum what was happening for a few days. Harley, Llwyncelyn, and Sunday Driver, your comments especially valid, ( as others are not to reduce anyone's contributions). So Thank you. The comment about FNAIM  not perhaps helping will knock the Mrs for six. Maybe one more shove too hard and it will be the newspapers here she comes... I hope not, but she is her own person and we always support each other. Legally, we perhaps could do with some legal help, but we'll have to give it a few more weeks and then we'll see about that route. I don't think we could go down that route though if The Mrs talks to the press..? I'll have a talk with her. She's always so sensible. We know one thing thou, the notaires that we have are good and have done their best to make good/better a bad situation. We hope that we are on the last bit of this slog with the immobilier though. I feel sure though that if/when we finally arrive in France, my wife will not be quiet about this because it has had such an impact on us. The Mrs is usually very restrained in such matters preferring to see things from both sides of the fence , so to speak. No guarantees on this one though- immobilier watch out. Contrary to her nature she will I'm sure speak up on this one. If we get sorted in the next few weeks, we'll let you know. Tonight we must finish the packing because we have to leave for France in the next couple of days, and it won't be the ferry that makes us feel sick, just the thought of what other nasty surprise might be waiting for us. Maybe I should have stuck out for emigrating to the States.... suppose there's problems there too. Sorry folks I'm fed up too and waffling. We'll let you know how we get on, but the offer still stands, that if anyone else is in the position that their deposit is at stake and the immobilier wants their fees even though they don't deserve them by now, pm us. There might be something that we have done to protect ourselves that some others could still employ in their methods to sort things out. Even so, we lost any rose tinted glasses that we may have had last autumn. Since then total reality has been the order of the day and no amount of following up what the immobilier is doing has helped. How can you trust someone when they don't send you the copy documents that you repeatedly ask for, and withhold information from the notaires? I need to get back to work, break over. I will let you know how we get on in a couple of weeks. Painterman.[:(]
  3. Thanks Deimos, but there are a couple (to keep it short) of insidious discrepancies amongst the paperwork that we have that could point to the fact that perhaps this immo' has already done this sort of thing to someone else with this property. I have asked FNAIM to check out this particular point, but I won't write that bit on this forum because although proof of the paperwork is winging its way to France for them to see, I would hate to give the immo' the chance now to make that bit of info' suddenly disappear before FNAIM have had chance to check it completely. It would be nice to think of forgetting it all when , if (still) the house becomes ours, but we have neighbours to think of too who will wonder why our vendor is being put through a certain amount of financial hardship now, because pressurising us, by the immo' to sign before we had the DDE planning permission has not worked and we've insisted upon waiting until we have proper permission- after all if planning permission was not forthcoming we would not be buying the house.  So it is not a case of simply 'broken promises'. They can be resolved or worked through by good communication and a bit of care to one's fellow mankind. The point about artisans is interesting though. We shall see in time, but from a hard grafting family myself, artisan style work should not be too difficult to deal with even though I still have lots to learn in all sorts of areas, and I'm sure there are plenty of artisan people that do take a pride in a job properly done. Thanks though for your thoughts.
  4. Thank you. I've just replied on the other thread, so won't take up too much of your time on here, but thank you for your advice. We do have the paperwork to prove that the immo' has lied, now so especially that the notaire has sent some other documentation to us. We've kept a diary, copies of letters and emails and phone conversation, dates etc, proof of posting, even the envelopes letters to us arrived in, the lot. ) ( Hoarder of paperwork now I'm afraid because of a very nasty past experience in life- I keep everything.) Thank you again. Painterman.
  5. Thank you to those that have replied. I do appreciate your comments. The house is still not yet ours and we have been plugging away at it for months and months. What we are discovering is that some of the dates on the paper work are somewhat incorrect. Thankfully we have the proof of this, and I'm afraid the problem is down to the immobilier holding back all sorts of relevant paperwork that should have been dealt with at notaire level- but if the notaire that he appointed is not given the paperwork by the immo' then the notaire can't deal with it. Only because we started dealing in detail direct with the notaires has have all the problems come to light one after another. We sorted out more in one week of taking direct action than the immo' had in nine months or thereabouts ( I shan't pull the diary out to be so specific on here but everything is diarised). I know that you have to be very careful when making accusations about people lying- but not just for us but for other people, the risks of dealing with an immo' who is not being honest costs thousands of pounds. I'm not trying to be 'noble' about this, but we thought that we had done sufficient research before we embarked on the house hunt directly in France. We did ask the right questions, but the immo' we have since found out from various people, (including advice from the notaires to put right what the immo' has told us that was wrong), has been obstructive by not replying to us, verbally and in writing (more fool him an unscrupulous person may say), & ignoring letters we sent by registered post  asking for copies of documents that were supposedly in his possession but actually we have found that at those points they  were merely still thin air (none existant).   If my 'thread' can help anyone else stuck in our position, or stops someone from ending up in this position, then I'll try to help. Like others, I know that I can only do what I believe is right, but by going through to the notaires and now  FNAIM directly, I hope that, and I'm sure that, the notaires and FNAIM will be honest and professional in any advice or help they can give. The notaires certainly have. We wish we had contacted  FNAIM  sooner. We have been too patient. It is not yet a time to say 'Oh yes we'll make a compromise about the fees' because at this moment in time the immo' is totally unwilling to compromise. He wants the whole lot. As I've written before, if the purchase would have gone through at the proper time, give or take a few weeks, then paying the full fees would be no problem. Now it is a point of principle for the lack of work done by the immo' and the dishonesty that we have had to take. The Chambre de Metiers is next on my list of contacts, before the Press if I have to, but we may contact an avocat first.  No- one should have to do what we have had to do to safeguard their deposit monies paid when the immo' shows the yellow triangle as being a member of FNAIM, and we have confirmed that he is. Once again thanks for all your replies, and if anyoneis in the same position as us, please do 'pm' me and I will try to help as best as I can. Painterman & The Mrs.  
  6. Dear All, id on't think that I should 'hog' this thread too and so will keep this brief. If you have lost you deposit through no fault of your own  in the last two or three years when trying to purchase a French property because the immobilier has either been incompetant and / or dishonest with you then please will you read http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/725864/ShowPost.aspx Thank you.
  7. Dear All, id on't think that I should 'hog' this thread too and so will keep this brief. If you have lost you deposit through no fault of your own  in the last two or three years when trying to purchase a French property because the immobilier has either been incompetant and / or dishonest with you then please will you read http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/725864/ShowPost.aspx Thank you.
  8. Warning!!! We have been trying to buy a house in France for a year now, we paid our deposit and signed the compromis de vente last August 2005. We were told by the immobilier that the purchase would be complete by December 2005. At this moment we are now nearly there at completion, BUT we nearly lost the house a few months ago because the immobilier tried to make the vendor put the house back on the market and hopefully the purchase will not fail at the last moment because of some unforseen (to us) reason because our intention has always been to complete on the property even though we have had some very sad and  very worrying days about it. We have put a complaint in to FNAIM. We hope that they will investigate thoroughly. We are also going to contact the Chambre de Metiers if this is the correct place with details of their Siret number. If you have lost your deposit because you have not been able to get either honest replies, or you have had no reply at all, AND you had/have already signed a contract and paid your deposit, then please will you contact me. This is probably going to be a lot of unpaid work for me but I am livid. The reason for this is that I spoke to the immobilier's manager a few days ago on the telephone. We had a short conversation and I tried to negotiate a reduction in the fee because of all the dishonesty and incompetance that we have had to deal with from the immobilier. The extra costs we have incurred run into thousands because of the delays. The immo' manager was not prepared to negotiate a fee reduction. The purchase price is 95,000.00 euros and the immobilier fees on top of this are 10,000.00 euros- pretty high for the immobilier doing so little and also lying about what he had done for us. (If the purchase had completed when it was supposed to we would not have 'quibbled' about the immo' fees but would have paid them promptly.) As we have not yet completed on the purchase, we have not yet had to pay the fees in the contract, which by the way, on the contract a false date had been put by the immo' because we were not even in the country of France at the time to have agreed this amount, but unfortunately for us we missed noticing this date when we signed the contract as we were busy trying to understand the words.  This French estate agent has connections to a well known usually more upper price bracket of property estate agents in the UK who as far as I know actually have a good reputation and they probably will not be too happy with the press information that may be about to be produced soon about the French immo'. The immobilier manager did not replace his telephone receiver properly after he had finished with me and it was quite a short ' I don't care about you type' of conversation , (no apology for the inconvenience of being made to wait a whole year, and it is only with the help our the notaire that we have managed this far) -and I heard the immobilier manager say in English to a female colleaugue "These English people do not have the confidence or the language to be able to do anything about it". Now there is no room here for sarcasm. This is costing us ten thousand euros for this disgraceful 'service' by the immobilier for the house purchase process. I know that I am not allowed to name and shame on this forum, and therefore I cannot put the immobilier name and office(s) here, but if you have lost your deposit through no fault of your own personal circumstances and if the problem has been entirely with the immobilier, then I would like to hear from you please by 'PM - private message' and maybe we could collectively take our problems forward to FNAIM (as the immo' we are using is registered with FNAIM and the yellow triangle that is supposed to stand for good ethics, honesty and professionalism) and the Chambre de Metiers. We are also looking to involve the Press in this when we have obtained contact details of them. I have retained copies of my letters and emails, with proof of posting by registered post and noted dates, and content etc of telephone conversations I have had to make with this purchase. So if you have proof also then it may be worthwhile to contact me because maybe together we can stop these people doing this sort of thing to others. The estate agent tried to blame us for all the delays, when in fact it has been his lies, his dishonesty that have stopped us making progress with the purchase for many months because for quite a while we had trusted him, until he tried to pressurise us into signing and paying for the house without the necessary planning permission. This is so unprofessional.  We have met some very lovely French people whilst staying in France but this immo' and his manager are something else if they knowingly take advantage of people who have not yet mastered the French language. I would not extend my complaint to say that this sort of thing is a regular occurrence with the immobilier, but imagination can lead you to think of the money making possibilities without comeback?... That if an immobilier can get away with this once, as in our case, then it may be possible that an unethical work conduct could develop in the future, and I would like to make sure that this does not happen. Anyone past and present willing to help and support each other? Please could we rally together?     
  9. You could maybe try the pages jaune for "assainisement", now is that "assainissement" I can't quite remember? They give advice for septic tanks but for a fee. You'd need to find out how much they charge first before coming to look at your system. But do be careful as regulations have changed since Jan 2006 for septic tanks and the DDE regulations on them. I've read on here that people do often say to go to the Mairie first but perhaps you could ask your neighbours how their systems are set up first before contacting anyone in authority who may have to be in touch with the DDE as a Mairie or an "assainisement" person  may have to. A little direct approach for research with you neighbours may help you to then  look in the right direction for some solid sound advice from a suitably qualified person that you would be able to count on. Good Luck.
  10. Hi Montagrier, My reply is not about polished concrete floors but polished concrete counter tops (sink and kitchen work tops to the likes of me). I've not ever done this procedure but we (self and better OH) bought a book called ' concrete countertops' by Fu-tung Cheng with Eric Olsen ISBN : 1561584843 by Taunton Press cost us £17.46 and my wife is most impressed by it. The book describes and gives colour illustrations of how to make the kitchen worktops etc, but the bits that may be useful to you I have quoted in a private message to you because I'm not sure if I'm allowed to quote it on a public forum because of the copyright things. So, I know that kitchen worktops are a bit different to flooring but I'm sure there are some similarities there too. The book also tells you briefly about the different types of cement and their uses, so as to avoid shrinking and cracks, but it also tells you about how the finishing techniques of grinding/polishing affect the final colouration of the concrete and the aggregates that you use with is and the sort of sand that you can use too, and then  it goes into detail about the different types of cement in some detail. Great book to give you some insight to working with concrete in this decorative way  but a floor on a much larger scale....?  Personally I'd like to tackle the kitchen worktop side of things for us but a floor would be too much for me if I wanted it polishing- that, I'm afraid, I would leave to those who do that for a full time living because if I were to do this wrong, what a job to correct it???? If you're brave enough to do a whole floor and have the time, patience, and energy, then I wish you good luck. I hope that you find the excerpts that I quoted from the book useful Regards, Painterman  
  11. Hi, I agree with the others about leaving the tomatoes on the plant until they are ripe, unless you want green ones for a particular recipe- but to add to this, in the past (& now) whilst still in the UK, when we have a glut of ripe tomatoes, more than we can eat fresh, then I freeze our tomatoes whole. I only grow the small vine type now (gardener's delight type) with lots of cherry size tomatoes, but if you freeze them whole until you want to make a pasta type sauce, then it doesn't matter that all shape is lost when they defrost. No tomatoes wasted then at all.I put them in plastic sandwich bags for freezing in the correct portion size that I need to use for pasta sauce- usually one medium sandwich bag size full. I usually grow between six to eight plants and this supplies us with all the summer tomatoes that we need. I never pick off the side shoots of this type of tomato plant because they are the bush sort. The Mrs. 
  12. This looks so good! Very nice to see some really useful constructive ( no pun intended) advice on how to do something which adds the beauty of wood to a home. Nice one! [:D]
  13. Hi everyone, and thank you very much for your speedy replies. I will now look into the websites you mentioned too. Nick Thank you also, and I shall try to PM you for the diagram which will be useful I'm sure. Thanks again...[:)] 
  14. Hi everyone, I have two short questions please. 1. Can a fax machine I use in the UK be used in France ( if we ever get that far with the house buying) or are the signals different? 2. Is it possible to arrange a French postal re-direction service at a local post office, similar to what we have in the UK to make sure that (if house ever goes through) we can actually make sure we receive our post (Bills mostly I assume)? Desperately trying to keep this short....[:)][;-)] Thank you in advance to anyone who can help with these.
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