tinabee

I would guess that the fact that CSG/CRDS is now collected with income tax has triggered this change. For income tax, if your bill was over a certain amount then you were required to pay in 3 installments. Now that CSG/CRDS is included on the same bill, this has taken many people over the threshold meaning that more people will pay sooner and in installments.

I am pretty sure we did all ours online here If you would like to make a claim to UK State Pension you can access our free e-claims service online hope this link works http://www.dwp.gov.uk/eservice/

[quote user="Lehaut"] We can even carry over underspend!![/quote] Now THAT is a novelty [:D]

Thanks for all the input - it looks like I have a fascinating  journey ahead of me, and of course there is a distinct possibility that I may not be successful

Thanks for that - forewarned is forearmed

We watch some French TV from time to time - mostly news, weather, a few documentary type progs, maybe a house-buying or best Boulanger type show.

This is all really helpful information for me, thanks everyone for posting.

I do not live in a property in a co-prop but do have an investment property in one. The only thing I would suggest is to keep on top of them. We made the mistake in assuming that they were acting in our best interests, and that other French owners would be keeping up-to-date with budgets, spending, meetings and decisions, etc. If I am honest, it was easier to assume someone else was doing the work but we have now realised that in a co-prop the ostrich mentality leaves problems unsolved and allows them to grow. I am now learning a lot about co-prop rules, regulations, budgeting, meetings, and a lot of other things I have absolutely no interest in. But, that is the price one has to pay to avoid nasty surprises. Good luck - and as with anything in France, research, research, research and go in with your eyes open.

Thanks for the link - I hope to get some time to have a play with it soon and will get back to you with feedback if I have any  

[quote user="Sunshine_2"]Yes same name as before but a long time ago although I remember both of you. The name was because where I lived seemed to have constant sunshine. [/quote] Sounds lovely - we could do with a bit of sunshine here in Normandy, welcome back

Thanks Lehaut and Val_2 for your replies - I suspect that there won't be much politics here, it is a very small village, and the Maire assures me there are only 4 meetings a year, since most local responsibilities have now been transferred to the Communauté des Communes.  I'll get practicing on the alcohol side of things, although my previous background delivering week-long management/sales development courses across Europe gave me a good grounding in that, as well as the public speaking aspect [Www]

[quote user="sweet 17"] [quote user="tinabee"]New Year's resolution - less lurking and more posting[/quote] Hey, TB, did you see my post on the thread re internet spectacles where I followed your advice and bought from glasses2you?  I really wanted to say "thank you" as it was getting to be quite a big problem, what with the frequent "discussions" (read arguments), chez sweet about buying glasses. You always sound to me like a person who knows what they are talking about so it would be good if you'd post more often. [/quote] I did Sweet - and thanks. I will try to post more often, and it is possible that I will be needing the help of the contributors on here more often this year. Firstly, I have just spent the day bouncing emails to and fro, answering and translating from French to English, as we are the owners of a leaseback property that is in some financial difficulty and the syndicate are trying to get owners to send proxy voting forms for a meeting on Friday. To date all of the communication with English-speaking owners has either been in legalese French or completely unintelligible automatic translations[blink]. Secondly, the Maire has asked me to stand for the local council - probably to liaise with the international residents of the village (English, Irish, Russian, Dutch and German apparently) since some don't speak French. I am hoping that the Riff Raff element will be able to pass on some pointers from his wife [:)] - and all other contributions gratefully welcomed . . .

[quote user="Pierre ZFP"]If they are in an area of suitable signal strength how about a PAYG 3G dongle? You don't have  a contract and of course not even a phone line.  Not super fast in France but OK for most things.  If you get a good mobile phone signal you should be OK for a dongle[/quote] Agree - we use one of these when on holiday http://boutique.orange.fr/ESHOP_mx_orange/?tp=F&ref=54848&IDCible=1&type=11&donnee_appel=ORESH but it does not work everywhere (or only has a 2G signal). If you go for this option, I recommend buying the dongle online from the Orange boutique, as last time I looked they cost more than double in the Orange shop in town!

New Year's resolution - less lurking and more posting

Is it just me or does "Have you got an Old boiler like a Chappee???" sound like the start of an old music-hall joke? [6]

[quote user="You can call me Betty"]1000 views and (with this one) 40 replies. So to all intents and purposes, the few are still providing entertainment for the many..[:D] [/quote]   and we do appreciate it, even if we don't always contribute 

[quote user="nectarine"]I come onto this forum every day and have found it invaluable, just reading all the subjects and 'taking in' the information, filing it away in my brain. Even if the subject doesn't immediately interest me, it's useful to know for the future. Originally I posted a lot, asking lots of questions, then gradually felt able to answer a few questions and pass on my own experience. I also belong to a couple of regional forums which are quite active ... they certainly serve a purpose in asking "where can I buy xxx" and problems with local services and the quirks of local prefectures. For here I go straight to 'active topics' and rarely look at the board overview. It seems to me that the Forum sections are very clear and well laid out, you'd know where to search on a specific topic. Perhaps, as someone said, there aren't as many newbies in France, housing market and all that. Is there any way to check how many people are logging on and not responding? Perhaps there are many who, like me, check in regularly, read a lot but don't feel able to reply (not enough knowledge) or the subject has already been dealt with, but our 'silent' visits do count towards forum activity?[/quote] Me too

[quote user="Russethouse"]Tina, in the link I gave it specifically talks about people outside the EU.....[/quote] Sorry Russethouse - I had just read an article from the Con*xion which was being discussed on another place. That one specifically mentioned expats in France so I must have mixed up the 2 articles . . .

If you have an S1 registered with the French authorities then you should also have a UK issued EHIC, which will allow you reciprocal access to the NHS whilst visiting the UK. This is an extract of a mail received from the Overseas Healthcare Team in Newcastle: "The European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) is used to obtain state healthcare when visiting European Community Member States outside of the one in which you reside. People who reside in another European Union (EU) Member State may only qualify for a British EHIC if they receive state healthcare at the expense of the United Kingdom (UK) under the European Reciprocal Health Arrangements. This means that if you live in France you must have an S1 form registered with the   French Social Security to receive   State healthcare." As far as I can tell, the UK want to charge people who do not reside in the UK but visit specifically for healthcare treatment, and/or who do not have any healthcare cover in their country of residence. So for example, people who have moved to another EU country, not registered for healthcare and so do not have any reciprocal cover.

You only need the DPE (energy diagnostic) to advertise your property. It is worth holding off on the other required diagnostics until you have an offer, since some of them are only valid for a short time. If you are dealing with a Notaire ask if they offer an immo service - their charges can be much lower than a regular immo, e.g. 4% instead of 8%.

[quote user="suein56"][quote user="tinabee"]Checked "erase all history" and it is not selected - so it must be something else erasing my history.[/quote] That's a bummer; what AV are you using ? Sue [/quote] I am using Advanced System Care and IObit Malware fighter - I have tried adjusting the settings on ASC but nothing seems to help, so maybe something else is erasing my history

[quote user="suein56"][quote user="tinabee"]My problem is as described - something in Windows update or my antivirus scanner or something keeps logging me out of everything, forums, email, the works . . .[/quote] Have you checked that the option 'erase all history when closing IE' ie including cookies, cache etc is not ticked under your tools/options for IE ? If it is ticked then it will clear all traces of your web browsing with the effect of logging you out of all your sites automatically every time you close your browser so you have to log in again each visit. Sue [/quote] Checked "erase all history" and it is not selected - so it must be something else erasing my history. Compatibility now set for this site - thanks Chrissie  

[quote user="AnOther"]I know that happens to some Betty, it's happened to me in the past, but that was not what tinabee was complaining of, or not as I read her anyway [;-)] [/quote] My problem is as described - something in Windows update or my antivirus scanner or something keeps logging me out of everything, forums, email, the works - it is enormously irritating . . . On most sites I can just log in again, but on this one the login button does not work. Also, I don't seem to have a compatibility icon to get the posts displaying correctly either.

[quote user="You can call me Betty"]You don't actually need to reply to a post to log in....just click on "reply" then it will ask you to log in, and once you've done that you can navigate away from the post you were going to "reply" to and you will still be logged in! [/quote] Thanks - I'll do that next time

sorry to bump this but I needed to reply to a post to be able to login again