pagnol81

We travelled from St Valery sur Somme to Calais that same morning and soon realised that the road was extremely dangerous. There were signs up for black ice, slow down, but still some lunatics were whizzing by as we slowed to 40mph. We saw at least 6 cars that had left the road and more on a trailer at the peage. The traffic travelling south was solid like the M25. Never seen the A16 like that before. We now know that the road had been closed for a while. It was a very scary journey.

Hi AnOther We needed this form because we are tax resident in theUK. Our home was a residence secondaire. Update The freedom of information act was of no help for this problem. We contacted our local MP by email and received a letter wthin a week promising to pass our complaint to the relevant department. Not long afterwards I received a telephone call from a man in the Complaints department of HMRC, who mentioned my MP's name, and who then said our certificates would be in the post that day! My initial letter to HMRC was dated 4th October and I received the certificates on the 9th November. As we had already had paperwork go missing in the post we decided to take a day trip to deliver the cetificates as we were due to sign on monday 15th November. All went well and we returned home thinking we wouldn't be holding up the sale. We then received an email from the Notaire suggesting we sign on the 27th December. After all our efforts we were totally deflated. I contacted our French buyer who lives and works abroad and he explained that he had had delays with his paperwork as an expat. I'm hoping the weather is kind to us as we travel on the morning of the 27th December.

Thanks for your suggestions Paul. We thought of the Freedom of Information act but our UK solicitor says that does not apply in this case. Shame as I found out that they have to reply in 20 working days or maximum one month.  We've emailed Rt. Hon George Osborne MP, David Gauke MP ,Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury and our own MP Damian Collins. My husband phoned HMRC again this morning and having been told the same information i.e. 12 weeks response time, he insisted on talking to a Complaints Manager. We may have to send/fax our letter again but there's hope she may be able to help and shorten the time. Its strange, I always thought there my be problems/delays with the French paperwork and its HMRC who are holding us up!

The Notaire says he requires the Certificates " au jour de la cession" which means we won't be signing in November. I have sent other Tax paperwork as suggested but have received a firm Non! HMRC said their earliest response could be Christmas Eve.When that day passes who knows when we may expect a reply[:(] Can our buyer pull out?

Thanks Judie, I will do as you suggest.

We wrote to HMRC on the 4.10.10 asking for certificates as required by SARF. We telephoned yesterday to ask when we might receive them. The answer was it would be 12 weeks before they even look at our letter and couldn't even confirm that they had received it. We are due to sign between 14/20 November 2010. Will the Notaire be able to keep back funds to cover the CGT ( holidayhome) and give us the balance? Has this happened to anyone else?

Thanks Will

I have searched again and found the thread "selling to an English couple" back in 2007.

Several people have mentioned in this thread about going to the local tax office to sort this out. Does it matter that ours is a holiday home?

I have searched unsuccessfully, buy can anyone find  a thread where both seller and buyer were British and bought/sold a property in France with English pounds? If not, can anyone explain how this works?

Just received an email promoting the new Ramsgate Ostend service but also saw that the Norman Arrow is returning to the Dover Boulogne route http://www.aferry.co.uk/ldlines.htm

Thanks Patf, that will do nicely.

Thanks for your reply. I know I can terminate on 20th Jan by recorded letter  but was looking for help with the wording of the letter. I'm sure on another forum I saw a link for such letter but as always now I want it I can't find it!

Thanks for your reply but nothing suitable there. Anyone else have any suggestions?

Can someone direct me to a template letter to cancel a "mandat simple" please?