Brier

We've just been through this ourselves with our accountant. His advice was that if your income from gites and or B&B is over €23000 or if it makes up more than 50% of your income then you pay tax professionelle. As ever - only one persons opinion. Others may differ.

www.laymyhat.com may have what you are looking for.

Thanks to everyone for their replies. We have our meeting at the Chambre de Commerce to register our business tomorrow so we'll see how we get on. Whatever they allow us to describe ourselves as, I think that we are going to continue to use the word "gite" but not the term "gite rural" based on the replies here and some further research that we've done.    

We visited our local Chambre de Commerce last week and were advised that we couldn't use the word "Gite" to describe our properties unless we were registered with Gites de France. The same thing applied to "Chambre d'Hote" and "Table de Hote" for B&B facilities with or without evening meals. The suggestion was that these terms were registered trademarks or whatever the French equivalent is. Has anyone else received "official" advice that supports or denies this? Thanks

"I know that you cannot open or pay into an existing ISA if you are not Uk resident and it may well be the case that you are not allowed to keep an existing Isa once you are no longer resident, I am uncertain on this point, perhaps someone else may know?" On moving here we contacted our ISA suppliers (both cash and shares). They told us that we can keep the ISAs but not pay into them. They send the annual statements to us at our address in France. Hope this helps

[quote]I have bought most of my fittings from the local diy shop at hugely inflated prices compared to the UK but still cheaper than the two "chauffage specialists" that I tried here in Department 17(Charent...[/quote] Try Brossette if there is a branch near you. Ours is about half the price of the local Bricos for copper pipe and most fittings. Their web site http://www.brossette.fr/ should point you in the direction of the nearest store.  

[quote]Hi, I have a BT Synergy 2150 cordless phone and answer phone system which I have brought with me from the UK. It was quite an expensive system when bought a couple of years ago (with 4 cordless digit...[/quote] We had exactly this problem with our DECT phone. We discovered from the manufacturer that it is important to use the original lead supplied with the phone as it is wired differently to the standard ones. They advised a socket to adapt the French socket to a UK one but we couldn't find one easily so we solved it as follows: A French adapter with an RJ11 socket (same as for a modem). An RJ11 to UK socket adapter sourced from a computer store in the UK. The original phone lead. The phone now works perfectly - It even rings! Hope this helps  

[quote]Yes I know this is not about pool rules and regs. But who has experience of pools like this? The builders are finishing the installation and the construction method seemed a good idea when we placed ...[/quote] Our local pool installer uses this method. We don't have one - We couldn't afford his devis but if we had the money this is the system we would have chosen. He (and his pools) have an excellent reputation in the area.

[quote]I have downloaded a pile of info from the net on how to maintain the swimming pool. Having read the documentation I have decided either i obtain the services of a maintenance company or I sign on for ...[/quote] We found this web site helpful for our first year with a pool. http://www.poolstore.co.uk Click on "Help and Advice" in the menu. Hope it helps

[quote]I was one of those who posted that AGF paid for the headlights to be changed over which was great for us, however that was well over 9 years ago so looks like they may have had too many requests and h...[/quote] I posted on this as well - Ours were paid for by our insurance and that was only last year. Maybe we were just lucky.  

We had a similar problem and raised the shower tray about 10 cm using blocks around the edges. If you leave a gap on one edge then you can access the drain for making connections and make good when you are sure everything is watertight. The drain was routed along the adjacent wall and boxed in.

Mr Bricolage do a limited range of pine and oak door and draw fronts - we used them to make customised units for an awkward corner in one of our gites. We've also seen similar ranges in some of the other DIY sheds.

We certainly qualify for the "soft touches" description (see earlier post by "doggedly") We fed two starving stray cats and they promptly presented us with a total of 5 kittens between them. 3 toms (2 ginger, 1 tabby)and 2 females (1 black and white, 1 tabby)! These now need homes. We cannot keep them as well as the two strays and the 3 we brought from the UK! If anyone within striking distance of Charente is interested in re-homing one or more then I can email a photograph. Brier (16) www.chezbaiges.com

Close to Saint Angeau (16) Brian

Try http://www.leisureandland.co.uk/ Hope this helps Brian

>Does anyone have advice for how >to listen to the current >test series in the West >Indies? (from Geneva) Talksport have the live radio rights. Their website http://www.talksport.net/default.aspx allows you to listen on-line although I haven't been able to make it work so far despite a broadband connection and being able to listen to the BBC perfectly well. If you manage to listen can you tell me how please! Hope this helps. Brier www.chezbaiges.com