kettle738

Thank you for the posts they are very much appreciated; my understanding of the situation with these termites is that they were not present....or at least not found when the house last changed hands in 2000.  Yes I do have a real fear of these creatures and it is perhaps fair comment that we have come to the wrong place, although perhaps my biggest mistake is looking at an older property. I think the notaire route is good advice which we intend to take; and as mentioned it is not the critters that have been found so much as the ones that haven't. I will let you know how I get on......thanks again for the advice.   Kettle 738  

We are buying an old farmhouse and Gite in Dordogne 24  We have signed the compromis de vente which contains the following clause suspensive. Que le rapport des termites apres la visite de controle ne revele pas de situation aggravee au rapport initial. We have just received the termite inspection report report which is negative except for  'Traccs de termites' in the 'Menuseries lintaux, solivage' in the Salle a Manger. Further to this is the comment  'Batiments tres encombres ce qui ne permet pas leur examen exhaustif' which even with my limited French clearly means the examination was compromised or limited by the amount of junk at the property.....which is quite impressive by most standards. I made it clear to the agent from the start that we have a rather morbid dread of these creatures that eat your home from within, and I cannot help but feel that the issue is being glossed over. I know that just the mention of these things, even in a single beam means that we will never ever be truly happy with this property no matter how much reassurance we are given.  The seller is a really nice chap and we do not want to upset him in any way.....but on the other hand I know we will bitterly regret buying knowing that termites are or have been in the building. The house to my knowledge has not had a specific termite treatment.  Any inspection is by definition limited to the expertise and knowledge of the examiner on the day; this examiner may be the best in France....or not, who knows, he certainly found these.  What I do know is that I worked with qualified vehicle examiners for many years, most of whom were very competent, but some of whom I would not trust to set the tyre pressures on my bicycle...all equally qualified though to the casual observer. I do not want to get involved in repeated further inspections or treatments....the psychological damage has been done and we want to walk away.  Does anyone have any knowledge of similar circumstances, or whether the grounds are strong enough to justify this. kettle738  

We are new to France, buying a house near Le Bugue (24).  The telephone line test site tells me the house is 5.5 km from the exchange and all France telecom can offer by way of broadband speed is 512k, none of the other providers on the site are any better. Does anyone know of any options that may be worth exploring, and is there any hope of obtaining an improvement or upgrade to the line from France Telecom?........my experience of these subjects is very limited, what are the most obvious effects of being limited to 512k? Thanks in anticipation.............kettle 738   

That worked a treat, I will do my best to self translate them, I need the practise, very many thanks.   Kettle 738

Thank you again for that, I tried to download the form for an attestation d' identete, however it requires a French version of Adobe Acrobat to open it which seems to clash with my existing Adobe programme; being a slight numb nut as far as computers are concerned, that's an insurmountable problem.   Is there aywhere else that this form can be found? Failing that, we are to visit a friend in Gers in September, I guess I can probably get him to access it for me. Thank you again, it's a bit of a killer being at the bottom of the learning curve.   Mick.

Very many thanks for the hugely detailed reply, as is usually the case, sods law applies in that the bike will only be 29 years old when we hope to move, but at least I have the choice of following the slightly complicated process or waiting for a year until it turns 30 years old. The Carte Grise Collection is definitely the preferred route; one thing though, exactly what function do DRIRE perform and how are they found........internet search or through the local hotel des impots? TTFN............Kettle 738    

We hope to move to France (Dordogne probably) next year; I'm reading pretty much everything I can and this forum is great.  We won't keep our British car, more trouble than it's worth as I can sell it on very easily in the UK.  My problem is motorcycles which are a bit different because I get attached to them; one is a 1995 BMW R1100R, which shouldn't be too much of a problem, but the other is a 1978 Suzuki GT750, a three cylinder two stroke, just the sort of thing that emissions rules have outlawed.  I have had this since 1989 and it's a low mileage, sparkling dry use only minter, so I intend to trailer it down and I want to keep it. I can't imagine getting a certificate of conformity for a 28 year old bike but I'm more than happy to submit it for testing.  How will I find my local DRIRE, are they likely to give me any grief because it's a two stroke?  These bikes were very popular in France when they were new, but the DRIRE identification form I have downloaded only mentions cars, is there a bike specific form? Hoping someone else out there is equally attached to an ancient two wheeler and a bit less bewildered than me.