monaco

Many thanks, Cerise, I think I  will just leave the car at the airport and not bother with the hotel.  On the subject of batteries, I have left my little 10 year old Nissan Micra at various airports in France for up to three months (family ill health prevented my return to France) and I have had no problem with my battery.  I don't have a clock in my car, except when the radio is on, but I believe that if you have one you have to take off your battery leads to stop it draining the battery.  Mind you, I know very little about car mechanics, but I'm sure we have some contributors who are knowledgeable.

Can anyone work out the car parking charges on the Toulouse airport website?  I need to leave my car for one week in July, and I believe Car Park 5 is best for that, but I am going back to the UK for three weeks in August, and I think it might be cheaper to take a room at the Campanile the night before the flight and take a taxi to the airport.  Mind you, when I did this at Bordeaux airport they taxi driver charge me  20 euros for a two minute trip from the airport hotel to the terminal.

I think I remember that when I bought my house in Aude there was an inspection report about asbestos, along with the anti-termite report.  Is this not obligatory?  I believe it is very dangerous to try to deal with asbestos yourself, as even a few threads breathed in can cause asbestosis.

Thank you for your private message, John.  I am not sure that my reply was sent correctly, but it was to say that I would LOVE to rent your accommodation on a long term basis but I fear I could not afford it. Carol

It has been hot here in Lot, just north of Cahors, but very, very, stormy.  Many fields with maize just growing are now seas of mud. I always unplug my computer at the first sign of electric storms, I don't know if this is necessary.  My satellite dish won't work in heavy rain or even thick cloud and it always seems to go off just at the crucial part of a programme.  Our pool is opened, but as it is unheated it is taking a long time to warm up because of all the rain.  MY walks are also more restricted as the paths through the woods are very muddy and there are several small landslips blocking paths.  Our gravel drives are now half way down the hill. The forecast on Meteo is for still more rain. My daughter lives in East Yorkshire and had a small flood yesterday because the local drains could not cope with the torrential rain - three inches overnight.   AND it is only 12 degrees there, so I am not complaining to her about warm, wet, Lot!

I am a sweet old lady who lost her home through no fault of her own - where I can I find these  lovely people who will sell me their home cheaply because they feel sorry for me?  I am a permanent resident of France.

I sold my  own house in a very remote part of Aude with an advert in French Property News  on-line.  It cost me less than £100 and I had many UK viewers.  It sold in a month.  French buyers are less likely to pay the price you want - UK buyers are used to UK prices so they think they have got a bargain in France.  If you offer to help them get settled with the transfer of telephone, bank accounts, electricity, etc. it will be a good selling point if they are first time buyers in France.

I do appreciate all your thoughts and warnings and this weekend I found out some of the practicalities for myself.  I was offered a three-night stay, free, in a park in the midi-Pyrenees.  The location was superb, with a breath-taking view of the Pic du Midi.  There was a very limited range of caravans on offer  from the manufacturer, but the site was privately owned and run and I could have bought a van from anyone.  There was one pitch facing outwards on the perimeter of the site which could have been made very pleasant, with a small garden.  However, I was highly suspicious that the next field might be developed as another site - I could ask to see the cadastre and also the village plan to see if that field is zoned for tourism, etc.  However, I was completely put off by the cost of electricity.  The owner charges the same for every caravan, no matter how many occupants, and whatever appliances are used.  He offered to do me a special deal as a permanent resident, of 5.8 euros  A DAY (yes, you read that right) for Nov/Dec/Jan, with only 6 amps, and 9.3 euros a day for the rest of the year, with 12 amps.   When I asked why it was so expensive, he said it was to cover the washroom facilities, lauderette and camp lighting, but I would have though that the ground rent of 2,000 euros per annum would have covered that.  With 100 pitches, so a gross income of 200,000 euros, I think he is being greedy.  There is no way I am paying twice as much for electricity in a caravan as I paid in a draughty, three storey detached house in the Dordogne. I had a lovely weekend, the weather was perfect and I did a lot of touring.  I have decided that I want to be nearer to Perpignan, so I am going to keep on searching for a very small property in an isolated, non-touristy area, in need of renovation. P.S. I also found the caravan bedroom claustrophic!

Paul, there must be tens of thousands of mobile homes in France - have you heard many tales of woe?   Do you have any positive suggestion  to make to me, or are you just saying that no-one should ever buy a mobile home?

Thanks, Benjamin.  The site I am interested in is in the midi-Pyrenees, well away from the coast and much smaller than most of the other Haven sites.  I t might attract families with children, but not groups of single young people.  There are going to be few facilities for holidaymakers and I think it will attract more of the hiking/biking types.  They have offered me a free three-night stay and I will ask a lot of questions at the presentation.  Incidentally, when they said it couldn't be used as a permanent home, I think they meant from the French authorities' point of view, rather than giving any indication as to tenure!

The site I am thinking of is run by Siblu which seems to be a bona fide company.  I would, of course, read any contract very carefully. I used to be a conveyancer, so I am used to reading small print!   However, I will continue to try to find a house I can afford somewhere in the wilds of the Pyrenees.  I do prefer the thought of being sole owner of my own home/land. Thank you to everybody who has kindly bothered to reply.

Many thanks, Benjamin.

Hello,Nick.  I am English, I just worked in Monaco for a time so I find it easy to remember.  Someone has suggested that as long as I have an address for the tax office, my insurance company, CPAM and so on, no-one will question my residency.  I can certainly prove by my bank statements that I have spent at least ten months a year in France for the last five years.

Many thanks - that is a lot for a mobile home.  I actually want to be free of rent, so I am hoping to buy a mobile home outright - I would like to buy a piece of land which had a mobile home already sited, with electricity, water, etc. I think that would qualify as a permanent principal residence.

Many thanks for your replies.  I must say warning bells rang when the agent told me it must be a second home, as I don't have any other home.  I will go and look anyway, because the site is in an area I particularly like visiting and it is a very cheap weekend, but I certainly won't be signing anything.  It is very hard to find these sites that can be used as permanent homes.

Thank you, Benjamin.   I intend to live permanently in the mobile home, apart from  two to three months I will spend in the UK. I have established myself as a resident of France, with a Carte Vitale, four years of Declaration des Impots, etc.  I have been renting for two years but now wish to buy a mobile home as my permanent residence.  I am now almost 67, so ten years or so would be enough - at the end of that time I would probably move in with one of my daughters, who wants to live in France anyway.  She is just waiting until all her children have left home.

I am going to look at a mobile home park on Thursday, with the idea of buying a mobile home as a permanent home in France. I have been resident for five years and want to keep my residency.  They have told me that I can use the site as a permanent address . It is open for eleven months a year and I would spend Dec/Jan in the Uk with my daughters.  However, they have also told me that it must be considered a second home and I will have to use my daughter's address in the Uk as my princpal residence.  I can't see how that would satisfy my residency requirements.  I am also concerned about the payment of Taxe Fonciere and Taxe D'habitation - I know the owners of the site pay business rates to cover these and I would not object to paying them if necessary.  I will make an appointment with my friendly local Inspecteur des Impots before I sign anything, but I wonder if any contributors know the rules.

Thank you, Cooperlola, I will certainly make a French will.

I have made a verbal living will for my daughters to follow.  If I am mentally competent I don't mind being a bit of a burden, as long as I still have some quality of life.  However, if I become demented and cannot enjoy a conversation, reading, music, TV. etc. I would prefer to die.  I watched my mother's personality deteriorate over five years until she was in a state of permanent anxiety, not knowing who she was or who we were.  At 90, she developed pneumonia, which to us seemed nature's way of saying it was time to let go, but the hospital insisted on filling her full of antibiotics and were very proud that they had saved her life.  What life? She lingered for another year of misery. I do appreciate that I cannot ask my daughters or medical staff to break the law, but I do not want any artificial means of keeping me alive to be used. 

I am divorced, with two daughters.  My English will leaves my small assets equally between them.  Since this is what would happen anyway under French law, do I need to make a French will?  We are talking about less than 100,000 euros in property. I gave my half share of the matrimonial home equally between my daughters to get them started on the property ladder some 26 years ago.

Ihad had my 'new' name for 25 years when I came to France and my passport, bank accounts, etc. were all in my new name. However, I did still need to produce the deed poll when applying for my Carte de Sejour, etc.

Thank you Paul, your kind reply makes me feel so  much better!  The business would not have failed, it was flourishing, and no -one expects a routine small operation to lead to disablement. My daughter was told she would need only an overnight stay and would be back in her business in two days.  Perhaps you have never done anything in good faith that went wrong?  If so, you are a very lucky person.

I asked for mine after six months - I don't know if the notaire had just been holding them.

I found myself deeply in debt through no fault of my own.  My daughter had started a clothing business which was going very well and I had let her raise some of the capital on my name. She had what should have been a routine operation in a private hospital in the Uk and  was left permanently disabled.  I tried to run her business for four months but I  know nothing about the retail clothing business and I was also caring for her four children and visiting her in hospital and I am well  into my 60's. We had to close the business with huge debts.  We put her house on the market to pay the debts but it needed some renovation and took a year to sell. The debts mounted and I hardly slept for a year, borrowing from one credit card to make the repayments on another and so on.  Finally, I had to sell my lovely lttle home in  France that I had worked so hard to get, and go into rented accommodation.  I was able to pay off all her debts and had enough left to put a deposit on a little house for her and her children.  Her own house sold but she had to pay a huge penalty for early repayment as she had raised a business loan against it. I seriously considered declaring myself bankrupt but I did not know how that would affect my status in France.  All the debts were UK based, either to banks or credit cards.  I had paid every single private creditor, given staff proper notice, etc. I am a retired tax inspector and have always lived well within my budget.  I didn't spend a penny on myself other than for food, petrol, etc. until all the debts were paid. My daughter has been pursuing a medical negligence claim for nearly four years and it is now nearing settlement.  She will be able to pay me back a certain amount, but I will never get back to the position I was in - house prices have gone up and I am now too old to get a full mortgage in France. It never occurred to me to renege on my debts - if I had declared myself bankrupt I would have repaid all the debts in full and got myself discharged as soon as possible.  I live on a very limited pension income but I still have my integrity intact and although she came very close to death my daughter is still alive and her children still have their mother, albeit unable to work, work very far, or recover from post traumatic stress. I am enraged by the idiots who borrow thousands on credit cards, spend it on cars, clothes and holidays and then blame the credit card companies for lending them the money. The other truly unfuriating thing is that people think we live in a 'compensation culture' .  Well, my daughter was very nearly killed by a surgeon's negligence and lived in agony from a perforated stomach for weeks.  The negligence was blindlingly obvious to everyone concerned, but she has been put through hell, having to travel all over the country, which is very painful for her, to see various specialists and medical experts.  There has never been an apology, of course, as the Medical Defence Union would not allow that, and it took months and months to get her notes from the hospital involved. So, if you think getting compensation is easy, you are profoundly wrong!

I have been resident in France for five years and have had two speeding tickets, both for small amounts over the limit. I paid on line with my French debit card and I think the fine was reduced from 60 to 45 euros for quick payment.  I was never asked to produce my UK driving licence and after two years I am not expecting to hear anything further.  Both offences occurred because I had not realised that in France a rectangular village name plate is an automatic warning of a 50 kph limit, no matter how small  the village is, how good the visibility, etc.  I am actually a rather slow driver, frequently urged by my daughters and grandchildren to 'get a move on', so , no lectures, please.  In 42 years of driving, these are my only brushes with the law - not even a parking fine before then.