toni

You really have to check around with car hire, especially with Hertz in my opinion. I have on accasion tried three different Hertz sites. For a while the hertzeurope one was cheaper than ryanair/hertz, then it was the other way around, the main hertz.com site was usually more expensive than the other two. Most recently I have found that carrentals.co.uk have been offering a better deal, particularly on short term rentals ie 3-4 days which with  Hertz seem disproportionately expensive. Perhaps the Hertz sites are operating under seperate franchises which leads to this variation in prices? Whatever the case it only takes a few minutes to check around and it is usually worth while.

As you'll see if you do read previous posts there is quite a lot of discussion as to the effectiveness of pool alarms, at one point I think there was a question of their continuing to be considered as a compliant means of security. The security cover may be worth it in the long run.

Your best bet is personal recommendation, are there any other renters in the area, you could also try the Mairie they may be aware of other owners or of locals who would be willing to do change overs. You also need to consider whether you would prefer a person able to speak some English - what nationality do you expect your clients to be? We are in the Languedoc and pay €80 per changeover on a 2 bed house- pool maintenance is extra. Good luck.

Hi Dreamer and welcome to the forum. If you have no pool cover at all at the moment then I suggest you do a search on this forum under 'Anfor regulations' or 'swimming pool security' , where you shoud find lots of posts on this subject. As of 1/1/06 all pools in France were required to have safety measures in place to prevent child drownings. Amongst the approved options available were pool alarms, fencing and pool covers. If you have no other safety measures in place as yet and are contemplating a cover I would suggest you consider getting an Anfor approved cover.  Any good pool supply shop should be able to order one for you from the manufacturer.

I'm sure I would be happy to consider other airlines but I as I live in Ireland its hardly practicable. In any event I am very glad to fly Ryanair to Carcassonne or Gerona as without them I wouldn't have made a decision to buy a house in the Languedoc in the first place! but I do derive some entertainment from their attitude to public relations and their attempts to find 'plausable' explanations for their latest manouvers. My main purpose in posting was, I suppose, to forewarn people of the expected rise if they are travelling with checked in luggage. Personally the changes will suit me as I usually try to get by with just hand luggage anyway plus under the new regime I will get priority boarding at no extra charge apparently. 

Or maybe he was there putting the finishing touches to his latest plot to seperate us from our money. From 20 Sept all passengers will be required to pay a €3 check-in charge if they use the airport check-in desk. Ryanair say its aim is to 'encourage passengers to make more use of its online check-in service' for which they are now removing the charge. In other words if you have anything other than hand luggage with you you will face an additional charge.  Asked why it was imposing this extra charge for airport checkin on top of existing baggage charges a Ryanair spokesman replied 'Because we say so'!!

I know its only August but I'm trying to plan my next getaway already- namely during the Christmas  or Feb mid-term hols! We would like to head to the eastern Pyrenées for some skiing and were wondering is it possible to get from Gerona airport to any of the French  ski areas without hiring a car i.e. by  bus, train or a combination of both as I don't relish the thoughts of snow chains, icy roads etc. Any recommendations on your favorite (family friendly) resort would also be very welcome.

Have you tried the Dublin branch of Alliance Francaise in Kildare Street, apart from classes they hold a number of French cultural events during the year. You might also check out your local library, these sometimes have French language conversation groups.

I always used to book with Hertz through the Ryanair website when travelling to Carcassonne, having first checked a few other hire sites and until recently I have pretty well always found the Hertz/Ryanair deal the best. On the last few occasions though I have found the hertz site charging silly prices especially for short (3-4days) rentals. I have started using Holiday Autos UK who operate through National Citer at Carca and found them fine. I also have rarely got a car from Hertz which hasn't got some sort of damage on it and have had to make the long trek back to the cabin to fight my way back up to the top of the queue etc,etc. It makes you wonder do they check the cars at all when they come back in or can we all enjoy a 'demolition derby' while in france at Hertz expense??

If you are able to, go and have a look at your account on-line, you can then download a new RIB for your a/c (just click on  IBAN/RIB on the top of the page. In my case my own a/c no had not changed but the code guichet and clé RIB had. Perhaps seeing a copy of this might help clarify things with your local CA man. If you are still worried it might be worth using the template letter on the CA normandie site to inform relevant parties. The only items that I have being dealt with by RIB are utilities etc so I think I'll wait to see how my July EDF bill fares before I panic (hopefully I'm not being over optimistic!)

Thanks also to Cooperlola, I have located that sample letter on the CA Normandie website, it will prove useful as a template.

Yes Goose, this is exactly the type of scenario that I fear may occur with many people, I for one would not put all my faith in the bank to handle everything smoothly! I think it is therefore important that people who may be affected to be aware of what is happening and to keep an eye on their own particular situation.

As those of you with  accounts in CA du Midi and CA du Gard already know a merger has taken place( on May 1st) between these two banks which are now known as CA du languedoc. I have just been reading on another forum that this means (incredibly!!) that most of us have had our IBAN and BIC no's changed and on checking my most recent statement have found that this is in fact the case. Has anyone else been affected, what does this mean for all those of us who rely on RIBs to pay utilities etc??

You might have a look at Dublin-Toulouse, also Aer Lingus but with some pretty good fares if you are flexible as to dates. It's about 125 miles from Toulouse to Bergerac. Other than that the nearest Ryanair will bring you to is to Biarritz which is a bit further away-175 miles.

[quote user="Ron Avery"] I think Fay Turney's career in the Navy will be very short lived. ? Yes, but think of what a great career she'll have in the next 'Big Brother '! [/quote]

Irish stew, guiness and beef casserole served with champ-see above- and for afters Baileys ice cream. There are also lots of nice recipes for salmon (smoked and plain), smoked trout etc

Yep, I think it's supposed to be a metro, found the Aussies a bit confusing too but overall easy to follow and good fun to do.

Presumably this is a once off event and what arrangements you have come to with your Polish renters is nobodys business but your own. If the house is standing empty and its not peak season and you are happy with the service being offered by your changeover person I would be very prepared to consider a (once off) substantial reduction on your normal letting rate- after all what have you to loose other than the goodwill of your local caretaker!

I live in Ireland and have never heard of them or seen any of their adds. I have got almost  all of my reservations this year through a well known (in Ireland) rental website which charges approx €60 I think. PM me if you want the name.

Pee-wee, you might want to have a look at a previous thread  from last year in the Legal and Finance forum in which several other posters have experienced a similar problem with French bank cards being cloned in the UK!

I think what the poster may mean is 'where are the free flights'?? If you go onto the Ryanair site and click'find lowest fairs' at the top of the homepage you will be able put in your destination and dates and it will tell you on what dates,if any, the elusive 'free' flights are to be had. Unfortunately you will have to add in taxes etc also.

 You could try www.rent-holiday-homes.com which is also a free site which allows you to upload a fair bit of information and 5 or six photos as well as a location map, it also translates basic info into french,german etc which is useful if you are trying to reach other markets.

We bought our house ( maison secondaire) last year . We did write to the local Impots a few months ago to inform them of change of ownership-we didn't want to get a nasty 'surprise' sometime in the future, we received the demand yesterday to our home address.

We purhased our house over about 15 months ago and still haven't received any 'title deeds' although we did get a refund of fees some time ago so presumably this means the registration of title is completed. In contacting the Notaire do I ask for a copy of the Acte,dossier or expedition ?? Are there any other docs I should expect to receive.

In our case the vendors had already moved to their new home so the gap between signing the compromis us getting the keys was exactly 2 months.