Ysatis

We also bought a mobile home from England. We live on the Cornwall/Devon border (Cornwall side) and bought the 'van for £1000 ( half price as it had a superficial dent on the exterior), from a firm near Exeter. I only wanted cheap and cheerful, but not knackered. The one we have is 34x10ft, 1991, 3 bedrooms and very good condition and clean. We then paid a further £1800 to have it shipped from Exeter to Poole and then an English man (pure coincidence) based in Rennes collected it and transported to our land near Civray, south Vienne. The chap who we bought it from arranged everything for it's transportation. We supplied a few detailed maps and a photo of site to help and asked some friends meet it/him. We did consider arranging tranport ourselves, and did a lot of telephoning around but decided to buy from Exeter as it was easier on our part and I think slightly cheaper. It couldn't have been simpler. Exeter was very helpful, and efficient, not at all pushy or giving the salesman's patter. They even hung on to the 'van for about a month or so until I had asked permission from the Maire, and then it was delivered within 10days, and that was over the Easter weekend. Take into account that a 12ft wide 'van will be more expensive as it needs an escort. Regards,

No, we didn't. I think our minds were on just submitting the plans without hic-cups and at the time I think that was enough for us to tackle. Also, not sure if my french is to the standard of understanding planning rules and information. If we return to France for our usual October holiday, I might make a point of going to the Mairie and finding out. Hopefully my french may have improved by then, having a stab at A-Level in September!! And if the nerves will hold out. Regards,

Just to update our situation briefly.    I telephoned our Notaire and asked for clarification of the C d'U extention and he replied the next day confirming that our CU was not going to be extended. This meant we had to down tools and donate the week to drawing plans and gathering together several 'dossiers', we did six to be on the safe side, but needed five. Made an appointment with the Maire for the Wednesday (26th July) and booked the ferry (23rd). At the Mairie's, we filled in the relevant forms and had them checked by the secretary, who was extremely helpful. Two days later we had the 'receipt' hand delivered to our caravan on our plot of land, it made me wonder where in England would that happen. It all went painlessly well. Now we have a three month wait according to the secretary and the date on the 'receipt', to see if it is approved.  That's it really. I was concerned that submitting the plans five and a half weeks before my current CU expired would be too late, but as they didn't get screwed up and chucked in the bin, that, in this case, wasn't a problem. I guess my own situation has answered my original question, that yes, a CU can be refused an extention. Regards, 

   I feel such a dummy re: SD[:$], sorry. I see now the connection. Not sure if our village has a Techie Mairie as our land is in a hamlet and the  nearest village has a population of about 1300 but I'll see if Civray has one. I suppose a good place to start is pages jaunes.  

What are SD links, I'm not at all knowledgable about computer technology (if that's what your talking about). We are in south Vienne. I'm just trying to find some detailed information about planning, zones and building issues and wondered if it would give me such information. Regards,

Thank-you BJSLIV and Sunday Driver.    I tried both your suggestions and was unsuccessful. Out of curiosity, have either of you had success in 'getting on' the/a  DDE web site regardless of area. Regards,

Thanks for you reasurance pads, I don't think I would worry so much but the similaries are so close. I can't do anymore now to ease my worries until Monday when I shall phone the Notaire to get some clear confirmation on the e-mail. I'll let you know how we get on. Regards,

   A month to the day, 13th July, of applying for an extention of our CU we received via e-mail (blank) with an attaching letter quite breifly saying that our application for an extention to our CU has been not granted by the 'l'equipement'. I have a big concern, the attaching letter was addressed to a person of the same surname (spelt wrong by one letter, but we have found this a common mistake with us in France), and a different address to ours.Urging us to submit the plans for planning permission to our Maire, but refering to a renovation not a new build which is what we want to do. We have two schools of thought, a) It's the correct information to the person on the letter and sent to the wrong e-mail address or, b) It's the correct information to the right people (us), but headed wrong,    We are of the the 'b' school of thought, too much of a coincidence that someone who lives 700 miles from us (in England as we are), with the same surname(different first name) as us, applying for the same thing with the same notaire as us, so we are assuming the bad news is for us.    I spent most of Friday trying to phone the Notaire to no avail, then realised it was Bastille Day, (I'm sure I can be forgiven for forgetting with receiving my recent news), to try and confirm if the letter was meant for us.    Let's assume it is, we now have exactly 7 weeks until our current CU expires, so we are now drawing plans and getting a dossier together for the Permis de Construire. Thankfully my husband is a self-employed carpenter/ builder by day (publican by night) and can spend a few days drawing them and we hope to get on a ferry Sunday night, whiz down on Monday and submit them on the Tuesday, hoping that the Maire or staff can see us. Assuming that goes to plan, that will be 5 weeks and 5 days before the CU runs out. More concerns as we already know they 'have' to be in 8 weeks before CU runs out.    How rigid is the 'have to be submitted 8 weeks prior', when we arrive at the Mairie, surely they will accept our dossier and not turn us away with an apology for us submitting them too late or will they be processed just the same but annoyed with us for cutting it fine.    Worried,   

   Can anyone give me the Web address for the DDE. I have tried www.equipement.gouv.fr  but I get no response.Even when I go on certain sites like 'service-public' and you have an option to click on a link to the DDE web site I have no success. Regards,

I successfully downloaded the Sketchup program and had a 'play' with it, not sure what I'm doing but I'm sure with practice it will be a useful program.

That sounds interesting, I'm intrigued to see how they get on. I wonder if they have any knowledge of the french language before they made the program, I'm guessing they would. Regards,

Thanks bigjimbishop,    If we are going to try drawing plans using the computer it has to be easy to do and understand. Neither of us are that good with PC's, my husband has no experience of using one at all. But thanks for the information and I will have a look at the program sketchup, see if it's something a novice like me can cope with. Regards,

   Thanks painterman, andyh4, piprob and alane for all your replies. I t all sounds reasonably straight forward if you are competant and familiar with drawing plans, which my husband is apart from the computer technology that is available. My husband uses the good old fashioned pencil.We have done some research and feel that it's something we can do ourselves. Again, many thanks. Regards,

Has anyone applied for an extention to their current Certificat d'Urbanisme refused, providing the proper prceedure was followed, for example, applying for a 'prolongation' 10 to 8 weeks before the expiry date. I'd be interested for what reasons it was refused, we are almost 3 weeks into applying for an extention to our CU and have not heard anything yet, and if it was refused we are at our deadline to apply for Planning Permission (again 8 weeks before the CU we have expires). Regards,

   We want to build a house under 170m2 and understand you don't need to employ the services of an architect. Can anybody tell me that if you don't need to employ an architect, what does that mean to me; ie: do I have to submit plans that conform to a certain French standard as I've heard from some French estate agents that you can draw them 'on the back of a fag packet', so to speak, unless you exceed the 170m2.    Has anyone been through the process of drawing their own plans (not going over 170m2) and submitting them for a P de C, if so, any information would be appreciated. Regards,

We are not in France permanently, but have a building plot in a hamlet 5 minutes drive from Savigné, south Vienne and love it, hope to have the house built within a few years. Enjoying the adventure.  

We are in the process of having the CU extended, just waiting to hear from notaire (who is applying for it). There is a barn and some pigsheds on the land, can that help in some way. Could we put in for some permission to tidy them up to help our case, we don't want to convert them to live in at all, just to keep them as they are. Would installing the fosse septic be classed as 'building'? How can I find out when the changes will take place, is it a case of talking to the Maire, who might push us to build quicker than we would like (due to finances) or will he give it to us 'straight'. Once we have the CU extended (if it is, that is) will the 'pressure' be off us for a while to start building. I'm beginning to sound desperate but I don't want to lose the possibility of building our house but at the same time I don't want to be 'pushed' financially if I don't need to be. Once again I thank everybody for their input. Regards,

Thank-you BJSLIV for your response, it's been useful and helpful.    I shall wait patiently for the extention of my CU...hopefully it will be approved. I look forward to any other comments others may wish to add. Regards,

Our building plot is almost on the edge of a hamlet and a house used to be there but was in disrepair and fell down, or at least part of it, in, I beleive the 1996 storm. Would this make a difference or maybe an advantage to the CU being approved an extention. A couple of short and sweet questions. 1)  'batiment legere': is that a house of simple construction. 2)  can you elaborate a bit more on the PLU as I see the initials crop up all the time but don't really know much about it's meaning. 3)  If the CU extention is granted, is it possible that, say, 3 months later it be retracted. 4)  You say get the plans in for PP before the new PLU is approved without delay, does this mean just because you have a CU that is extended say, to July 07, if the PLU is approved before then, I might not be able to build or build perhaps the type of house I want. Lastly, how do I find out about what you have mentioned, and preferably in English? I have done some research on the internet but haven't come up with anything with a clear explanation. Regards, 

I agree with Norman. My French is not brilliant but I do talk to my children, aged 2, 7 and 15yrs(today in fact) and 18, in French at times, short and sweet but fairly often, sometimes they don't like it and tell me to speak in English, but we have a pattern at bed time when I tell them it's time for bed in French and sometimes they won't even go up the stairs until I do say my few phases in French. Another thing I do, more so with my two youngest is say things in English repeated in French, just as Norman suggested, when I cooking dinner I say both English and French of what's on the menu, and various things like that. I don't have any tapes or DVD's for them as I feel it's not so important for them to learn the language as we are not planning to move there. One thing I have playing in the car is a CD called ' Les Portes Tordues ', my seven year old has remember a bit and recognises words as I try and translate it for him, when I can't be bothered to translate, he tells me when certain phases/words are said and I must admit, I'm always surprised how quickly they retain things. My 2 year old always makes me smile when I have this CD on because he always repeats the last word in the sentence, similarly he does this in English, and he shout's out 'toujours' at the top of his voice. Repetition is the key and keeping it simple, just like you would teach your children in English. My sentences have to be simple because I get part way through saying something and then I don't know the word for something, which forces me to look it up for next time. Regards,

   Thanks Gail for your reply.    Our CU expires on the 2nd September so I wrote to our Maire on the 12th June, via e-mail, and he answered saying that we couldn't extend our CU as it was not in our name. He urged us to submit plans for Planning Permission very soon and informed us that our land is in zone" N au PLU ",  but this was/is impossible as we haven't drawn them yet. So I wrote to our Notaire as the CU was applied for by him and the previous owner, ( it was a clause we had put in the sale that we would only buy if the land had a CU, so I assume that's why it was in their names ) to ask if he or the previous owner could apply on our behalf. The Notaire replied the following day and said he'd done it that day, so I'm hoping that it will be extended as we have made the request in good time. I must admit I can't relax until we have been told that it has been granted, hopefully sooner rather than later. Is it normal practise to be told before the two month's ( prior to the expiry date ) is up.    Can anyone shed any light on what zone " N au PLU " means, I know that the 'N' is for 'natural' and 'PLU' is for Planning Local Urbanisme', if I'm incorrect could someone correct me. Below is a quote from my e-mail from my Maire and would be grateful if someone can be more exact about it's meaning. " Les terrains que vous avez acheter vont être classés en zone N au PLU, actuellement en cours, ce qui signifie que si aucun bâtiment en dur n'est construit sur le terrain, toute construction sera impossible."    I read it as: "The land that you have bought are going to be classified in zone N to PLU, currently in progress, which means that if no building is hard (started, I assume) on the ground, any construction will be impossible". I worried a bit reading this and wrote a seperate e-mail to our Notaire to clarify this and asked his opinion on whether there was aforeseeable problem with building. I have yet to have a reply. I really hope that an application for an extention of the CU won't be in vain, if it's turned down, we surely won't and don't have time to submit plans for PP as the 2nd September is less than 9 weeks away. Am I worrying unnecessarily or should I be panicking! Regards,

No, we did not know that, thanks for the information.Was it something that can be done yourself or is it a job for the specialists? Sounds like the latter. Regards,

Thanks everybody so far who has passed on their experiences and advice. My husband has read them all with much interest. We are not ready to install a pool at the moment and this has given us time to do more research and decide which route we will take. If anybody has had problems with 'doing it themselves', we would also be interested in hearing those tales aswell. Regards,

Thank you both for your replies, they've cleared a few things up for me. Regards,

   We have just received our first water bill and would be grateful on some information regarding the bill.    Just a small bit of background in case it's relevant. Bought a building plot, near Civray, Vienne, in September '06, water was already at site and we had it connected (October) with a meter and standpipe and  paid a few hundred euro's for the work.At the end of October we stayed at our land for 12 days in a caravan and that's all the time we have spent there, so far.    Could somebody be so kind to translate a few things on the bill (incidently dated 30/05/2006 and for the period 13/10/2005 to 16/05/2006, and sent to our address in England), I've got the gist but would like to have another opinion. 1)  Facture intermédiaire 2)  Primes et forfaits         Redevance Branchement         19,76 euro's   (??)        Redevance Compteur 15mm   3,67 euro's     (is this the actual meter reading) 3)  Papillon à joindre à votre règlement  ( directly underneath is a picture of sissors and a box to the left at the very bottom of the bill, with all the  above information). I assume I cut that 'box' out and attach it with my payment, which will be by cheque to: 4)   Tresorerie de Civray   (again, I assume, here)  Any additional information on a water bill would be useful. Regards,