Peekaboo

I am actually sitting with my friends now so they are very grateful for your responses.  On expiry of the E106 May this year, they went to the CMU and they took all their health records and relevant documentation from UK .  It took until September for the CMU to turn them down.  Can they contest this?

Their company is in its formative stages and therefore they have not yet made any contributions yet.  Ultimately they have been told they still require private health insurance to top up the state cover.

My friends have a health cover dilemma.  They have lived here for over three years and no longer covered by the British healthcare system and their application for a French carte vital has been turned down. Until now they have not worked in France, but have recently set up in business here.   They now cannot get private medical insurance because they do not have a social security number and just to add to the complications their third child is due any day. Does anyone have any suggestions for a way out of this?  Help would be much appreciated. Many thanks

Have just been reading some of the contributions to the forum in respect of house buying/selling - some of you appear very knowledgeable and I am hoping you might be able to throw up a useful contact for me. I am currently working with a French Immobillier here in the Alps and have been bringing British clients to them, they in fact came to me asking if I would help market their property in the U.K.  They as an organisation do not have their own Carte Professionelle but have a silent partner who does and to whom they pay a small commission on property sales. This is common practice here (according to my accountant).  At some point in the not too distant future the silent partner is going to retire, he's already very wound down in respect of any business interest and I am looking to replace him.  Having looked at the practicalities of getting my own carte professionelle I have ruled this out for the moment. Does anyone know of anyone who would want to pursue this business opportunity?  Location is irrelevent, our current partner is based some distance from us (I am in 74). Many thanks 

My brother is about to purchase a ferme alpage and have the renovation work project managed by a local architect.  The architect has experience of working with French nationals and has informed us that TVA is reduced to 5% for renovations such as this but is not clear if this is true for people buying a second home and not living in France.  Can anyone answer this question for me?

Thank you for your swift response.  I think we might have a problem with putting in a liner.  We have an integral jacuzzi effect set into the main steps of the pool, lights and a water jet mechanism at the far end of the pool (I think you are meant to be able to swim against it, so far only a gentle doggy paddle keeps you from banging your head at the other end of the pool).

We moved to France in August and inherited a Fibreglass salt water pool.  Having just emptied it in readyness for the winter we have noticed several blisters appearing.  We are not sure how old the pool is (at a guess over10 years old), the colour looks faded and the surface is quite marked. Can someone advise on whether the blistering is a problem and what can be done.  Also, if there is a paint that can be used to rejuvenate the colour. Many thanks Peekaboo

Thank you Gluestick. Your findings are very helpful, I would be grateful if you could share your chums borehole geo-thermal installation results, once known - I have just begun reading up on this and it could be the answer. However, I am still looking for firm evidence that these systems work in minus 25 degrees or possibly more. With all these "alternative" energy supplies it seems the initial outlay costs far more than the savings !  Our renovation won't start  before Spring 2007 and I suspect we will install underfloor heating (wet system) anyway and can change the power source at a later date. Thanks to Will too.

Having just searched for any exchanges on this subject, I see that this was last discussed back in February 2005.  ( Forgive me if I am wrong and you are all bored to death on the subject.) Does anyone have any updates or recent views?  We are buying a property in the Alps at an altitude of 700 m with 1600 square metres of land, this has a small swimming pool a three bedroomed chalet and a larger 6 bedroomed house - not a massive amount of land left but bigger than you would imagine with that lot on it.  Recent investigations in the U.K. has led me to believe that you no longer require acres of land for chauffage geothermie and I would love to know if anyone has installed one, successfully using it and what contacts they have made in France (department 74 Haute Savoie would be great news). News on grants etc would be good too ! The entire property is typically electrically heated - ouch !  The small chalet is already underfloor heated and we are intending to radically alter the large house and install underfloor heating there also.  We will also install a wood burning stove in the main living space (can't have a house in the Alps without a log fire).  Looking forward to some good news !  

Hi there.  No I haven't tried a long journey.  The most is 2 - 3 hours and they seemed very content.  They are very laid back by nature and affectionate with each other.  I am off to the vets today a one hour round trip so we can try the cage for size then.  For the journey to France I think I will take a litter tray on the journey and give them access to it on a pit stop or two but enclosed in the boot space.  With that and a bed wet pad on the base of the cage I should have covered all angles.  I am fussing more about the cats than the kids.

Thank you.  I had thought of this and having now set the cage up will place it in the house for the cats to get used to along with the drinking bottle I have attached.  In fact the cats are off to the vets tomorrow so I might give it a proper trial. Both the cats are used to a lead, being half Persian they are more like dogs anyway and very manageable.  The kids took them for walks around the garden from a very young age, although we no longer use the leads it wouldn't take much to reintroduce them, however, I wouldn't like to chance their escape during the journey to France. Thanks again everyone.  Lots of ideas there.

Hi Miszter Thank you. Our UK school system can be very inflexible, hopefully the French one will be a little less so. Good luck with your move.  

[quote user="Robbos"] Convinced they can hold it in if your journey is less than 2 days!  the dog was much more conventional!!   xxx K [/quote] Very like my children then!  I know more about this than I thought.  My daughter refuses to use the loos in the Motorway picnic areas and my son will go anywhere !!!  I am sorted.  Thank you.

I am liking this forum more and more.  Thank you so much.  Love the idea of a nappy for puppies!  I will look out for equivalent here. Danielle

Can anyone answer a really silly question?  I have looked at advice re. what type of carrier to use in transporting two cats to France and today been out and bought my plastic coated metal cage with a shallow tray in the bottom.  It's not really deep enough to put a useful amount of cat litter in and the cats will be in this thing for a minimum of 12 hours. Do I starve them the day before in the hope they will not need to be too active in the toilet department or let them sit in it !!!!