April Rivers

If you want to register a name so that it can't be used by anyone else I think this is the place to look: http://www.inpi.fr Best regards April

Thank you for all your replies.  You have all said what I thought, that the menu (or at least some sort of list) should be outside but not neccessarily inside too. The reason for the post was that we had a visit from the Gendarmes the other day who said that it was an infringement of the law NOT to have a menu on display inside the café on the wall as well as outside.  And, that we must put a copy up before they came back. I told them that when a customer comes in we immediately handed them a printed menu but that didn't seem to make any diiference to them. We are not McDonald's (who do have a great big menu inside, but do not hand any out to customers) and I am at a bit of a loss as to what to do, perhaps contact the Chambre des Commerces, or Metiers for clarification. Any further suggestions would be greatly appreciated. April P.S. I believe these are the same Gendarmes who someone posted about on the 'Driving in France' thread.  They were stopped and issued a fine for have a EU (British) driving licence whilst driving a French registered car.  My point being that maybe they don't know what they are talking about!

Does anyone know the exact law as to where a menu should be displayed? I know one has to be outside but, should there be a copy of the menu inside (placed on a wall for instance) as well as the ones you give to customers when they sit down? Thanks in advance. April

I'm afraid I have to agree with some of the other posts in this thread, that the immobillier charges are way over the top for the service they offer. When my husband and I bought our house, firstly we were over charged (we accept that we were a bit green, but surely there should be safeguards against people being ripped off) and secondly we had virtually no help before OR after the sale. There was no clause suspensive in the compromis, even though we said from the start we would be getting a french mortgage, it took three months (after completition) for the water and electricity to be reconnected (I have since learned that this was meant to be part of their after-care package to help new owners with this sort of stuff) and finally we could never get hold of the immobillier for love nor money (nor phone, fax or email for that matter). I'm sure there are some very good estate agents out there but, I cannot understand why the fees are so high when it is essentially the owner who sets the price, the notaire deals with the legal stuff and once the compromise is signed it's not as though they have make sure a chain doesn't fall apart like they do in England. Strangely, we bumped into the ex-owner of our house after we had bought it and it turned out that they got the price that they asked for but, not the extra 10k or so euros that the immo charged us on top (that is on top of the taxes, notaire fees and the immo commission). I don't think it should be a case of take it or leave it at all.  If, for instance, you bought a washing machine for twice as much as it was worth and then you realised it would only wash on boil and the seller refused to fix it, what would you do?  Complain, of course.  So, why is it that you should not do the same when buying a house and expect some sort of after care? April P.S. I live in the same area as Quillan

Hello, I hope someone may be able to help me. I am trying to re-register my car, I followed the advice given on the forum (which has been so helpful, otherwise I wouldn't have known where to start) but now it seems administraion has got in the way. I'll explain.  My car was orginally made in Belgium (so it's LHD) and was brought over to the UK by the previous owners and registered as a British car (with UK plates and a V5C).  When I knew I was definitely moving to France I wanted to buy a LHD car and do a part exchange on my old RHD one (this is the reason I didn't buy a car when I arrived in France). Anyway, this doesn't seem to be a problem I just thought I'd give some background! I went to the Sous-Prefecture in Limoux (they were very helpful), they gave me all the forms, said I didn't need a certificate of conformity, told me to get a CT done (which I did) and take the forms to my local mairie who would send it all off. Fine so far, except, when I went to the mairie, the woman there told me I didn't need to send my V5C (to which I said I did but she was having none of it) then sent my forms off to Carcassonne.  Two days later I got these forms back in the post from the DRIRE at Carcassonne with a note saying that they should be sent to an address in Perpignan.  I thought this was a bit strange because it's a different department. So, I went back to mairie, explained that my immactriculation forms had been returned and asked why it needed to be sent to Perpignan.  She just shrugged her shoulders and said 'Oh, it's not Carcassonne then'. This was my first mistake, I didn't keep a copy of the address in Perpignan (the woman at the mairie sent it all off again for me). Yesterday, I had a ansaphone message from this place at Perpignan (of course) saying that I need to send my V5C to them otherwise they could not process my application.  My second mistake (and biggest) was deleting the message instead of saving it before I'd written down where this person was calling from, what their name was or their phone number. So, back to the mairie.  Helpful as ever, they hadn't got a clue where this person might have called from in Perpignan and said to me again 'Perpignan, are you sure it wasn't Carcassonne?' So now I'm really stuck.  I don't just want to send my V5C off to a random DRIRE office (if that's who it was calling) in another department, I might never see it again. I just do not know what to do, any suggestions? Thanks April

We use a vet in Quillan. Here are his details: M. VERNIZY Gérard 18 rue René Delpech 11500 QUILLAN 04 68 20 03 47 He speaks perfect english, is a proper pet vet and knows all about pet passports.  His wife takes calls during the day but he is open from 17.00h (until I think 18.30h) for appointments but I don't think you have to make an appointment to see him, you can just turn up and wait. He is located on the Ginoles side of Quillan at the end of the same road as the municipal campsite.

My husband had to register with the Chambre de Metiers to start his artisan business (Enterprise Individual) and this is what we discovered: We had to take a six day course (which goes over all the various aspects of running a business).  This obligitory before you can actually register.  I understand the length and price (ours was 197 euros) of the course varies from dept to dept. If wanted to help out with the business in any way at all, even answering the telephone to take a message relating to the business then I had to attend and complete the course too.  I  had to register at the same time as my husband as a Conjoint Collaborateur. As far 16 hours working time, we were told that this relates to work for other people outside my husbands/the family business.  At the course, they said I can work as many hours as he does (if I wanted to!) within his/our business and all aspects too. If I wanted to start my own business (at a later date) I would need to register in my own right as artisan and not a C.C.(as this was not an issue for us we didn't persue the taxes, etc. relating to this) but they did say I did not have to take the course again to enable me to do this. One point, as far as I am aware if you register with the Chambre de Commerce you can have a number of differnet businesses under your name (not sure if this just confuses thing though!). But as quite rightly mentioned before, you do need to register as artisans for the types of work you intend to do.  We found our Chambre de Metiers very helpful, but if you have a local business centre near you (Agence Pour la Création d' Entreprises) they can help you with business plans and contacting the correct people to get up up and running. We have found a book published by the Chambre de Commerce Francais de Grande-Bretagne called "Setting up a Business in France" very useful and quite straightforward.  We bought it from a Viva la France exhibition a few years ago but their webiste is www.ccfgb.co.uk (according to the front of the book). Hope this helps.  

Please can someone let me know? Best regards April

We found the same problem! What we did was: Used the cheapest white emulsion to try and counteract the the absorption (two coats) and then used the sous-couche platre over the top (one coat). It does take a bit of time but after these three coats the proper coloured paint when on perfectly, almost as if the plaster board had been plastered!   Hope this helps!

Hello I would like to get a very old and quite frankly horrible tattoo removed from my shoulder.  I began the removal process (by laser) in the UK and want to continue the treatment now I live in France. I have looked in the Pages Jaunes but all I can find is tattoo removal by a Vétérinaire!  Fine for poochies but not, I think, for me! Does anyone have any suggestions as to what the French is for human tattoo removal and what kind of treatment centres would offer this service? Many thanks April P.S. I live in Aude, if anyone has any local suggestions too.