Colandhelinfrance

Thank for the McDonalds info. Without seeming too thick, will I be able to connect with my laptop which has wifi built in, or would I still have to get a broadband dongle?    

Hi Folks, Has anyone any information regarding a WiFi internet service at Leclerc stores, in particular the one in Ruffec please. We are comming over for a week and would like to be able to pick up emails. I've heard that they can provide a service, I'm wondering whether its just a hot spot, or if you can pay them per usage! I cant seem to find any postings on this subject. I have looked into getting a broadband dongle in the UK, but the roaming costs are astronomical. Many Thanks

Hi Folks, Can any kind person please tell me the size of hole cutter required for fitting the round French Sockets? Many Thanks.

Whilst searching for information on French house selling packs, I stumbled on this article in the Independent Newspaper. What is happening in the Brittany area? You will have to look at the following link, as there is far too much info to post here. http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article320002.ece   Separatists eh!

Two Close neighbours of ours have had very different Foncieres from last year. One has increased by 100 euros and the other has reduced by 8 euros. Neither of our neighbours have altered their properties in any way whatsoever. !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you for the reply. I will try to give a little more info. Originally we had around 580 sq ft of floor space, which included One Bedroom - One Living Room - One Small Back Room - No Toilet. We Renovated and added -  One Small Bedroom - One Bathroom with Toilet - One Kitchen - One Living Room - One Small Toilet & One Back Room. We do not have central heating. The building was already there, but the flloors had rotted away, so this used to be an old house, it was not habitable in the state it was in. Do they not have an upper level for Tax Foncieres?

Could anyone please tell me if they have had a sizeable increase in their Tax Foncieres this year. Our average bill used to be around 450 euros, we have added 4 rooms to our house (we always had these, but have had them renovated) the ground area is probably an extra 470 sq ft added to the original size. It has risen to 1100 euros, I can not understand how it has gone up so much.   I take it that this is the (BASE) that is shown on the Tax Foncieres form! [8-)]  

You are so right, but just wait for the comments on my post !!!!!!!

What makes you think that retired English will purchase this run down property? This property will require a lot of work, requiring goods and services, it also has no foss, it will certainly generate work, work, & more work (pumping) money into the local diy & building merchants, and of course if it is renovated & altered, a building tax will be payable, I know that a percentage goes to the local because we were stung for 2300 euro for just this.  

There have been far too many non related replies to our post, so I have removed it. Its a pity people can not stick to the subject of original posts, after all I sure thats why people post a subject, !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello folks, Can anybody tell me if they have any knowledge on the tax laws when selling your house in France please? I have heard that it all depends on how long you have owned the house for etc.

Hi, Yes Thierry of TCM is registered, and No the work isn't blackish. I will attempt to cut & paste my earlier posting. Before you all remind me of the golden rule (dont pay the whole amount until the work is finnished) I know, I know. Well, we thought we were being nice friendly people by befriending our French artisan Thierry. We actually passed him Four friends who all had major work done. We had extensive renovation work done to the tune of around £40,000. Everything seemed to be going fine, work completed we checked for any snagging that needed doing, made our list, gave it to the artisan, he completed three of the small jobs but has not attempted to complete any others. A major snag was the staircase, a wooden twisting(but not quite spiral) type. These are a bad fit, extremely steep and as we both think, dangerous. A second important problem arose, the shower was leeking into our front room, so when you sat on the armchair, you could treat yourself to a lovely shower. We of course reported this, and after five attempts spread over a 10 month period to repair this failed, I decided to look behind the cut away plaster board in our bedroom (they needed this for access) and to my horror, all they had been doing was spreading silicone everywhere at the back of the shower, there must have been four tube fulls there. So after spending last New Year at our house with friends, we called in Thierry and at his own suggestion, he said that he would change the whole shower unit, also he would finish off the other eight snagging jobs, and also run another circuit into our kitchen (the electricity keeps triping)  He also agreed to change our staircase, especially now that my wife has just had a major back op. Well you guessed it, its now September and he has not even attepted to carry our any of this work. Since this has been going on for two and a half years, we decided we need to take action. Is it correct that we can report him to our maire , and eventually get someone else to complete the work and make him pay?     

The posting was only three columns down on the first page. But no, your right, why bother !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Many thanks for your reply, for a more detailed story please look under my earlier posting under =  "Want to Try My New Shower Suite"    

OK, So you dont like in depth postings, so I'll keep this one short! Could anybody enlighten me as to our posision regarding unfinished work by our French builder please? We have been waiting for about a year now for some very important work to be completed, but our builder is ignoring us totally. Can we report him to our local maire, and get him to contact the builder and if this fails, get another builder in to complete the work and then send the bill to our original builder? thank you  

Before you all remind me of the golden rule (dont pay the whole amount until the work is finnished) I know, I know. Well, we thought we were being nice friendly people by befriending our French artisan Thierry. We actually passed him Four friends who all had major work done. We had extensive renovation work done to the tune of around £40,000. Everything seemed to be going fine, work completed we checked for any snagging that needed doing, made our list, gave it to the artisan, he completed three of the small jobs but has not attempted to complete any others. A major snag was the staircase, a wooden twisting(but not quite spiral) type. These are a bad fit, extremely steep and as we both think, dangerous. A second important problem arose, the shower was leeking into our front room, so when you sat on the armchair, you could treat yourself to a lovely shower. We of course reported this, and after five attempts spread over a 10 month period to repair this failed, I decided to look behind the cut away plaster board in our bedroom (they needed this for access) and to my horror, all they had been doing was spreading silicone everywhere at the back of the shower, there must have been four tube fulls there. So after spending last New Year at our house with friends, we called in Thierry and at his own suggestion, he said that he would change the whole shower unit, also he would finish off the other eight snagging jobs, and also run another circuit into our kitchen (the electricity keeps triping)  He also agreed to change our staircase, especially now that my wife has just had a major back op. Well you guessed it, its now September and he has not even attepted to carry our any of this work. Since this has been going on for two and a half years, we decided we need to take action. Is it correct that we can report him to our maire , and eventually get someone else to complete the work and make him pay?   

I agree, they should be stopped, but these tactics are extremely severe, I will certainly be upset if I am followed after a trip to 3m back to my house, do they not require warrants If they have cause? Also, I think that the French community benefits from the extremes of cash being ploughed into their economy, just look at the massive new Leclerc in Ruffec, for the French customers, I dont think so.

What happened to the layed back approach of the French ?

I agree Katie, I wonder if our Police go around asking these sort of questions to French nationals living in the UK! The bit that gets me is that, most of the questions they ask, the system already has the answers. These friends live in France permantly. Whaen asked why the question were being askes, the reply was "This is just a normal control.

Why are the Gendarmes comming? Has anyone had the experience of being visited out of the blue by their local Gendarmes? Two of our friends who both live near to Ruffec have recently had a visit. They were asked all sorts of questions such as "Why did they come to live in France, and unbelievable comments such as " Oh what a nice house, I wish we had a house like this, me & my family are living in a one bedroom apartment (what) One of our friends were left a note on their door, for them to go to the police station in Ruffec, and were (although nicely) grilled with questions such as, "have you been married before - haow many children have you - what is your mothers maiden name etc. Anyone else heard of this?  

Thank you all for your advise, I will look for a contractor. What I was asking for though was if anybody knew of a local  in my area please?

Hi, Many thanks for your comments, are you in my area?   Thanks, Colin

Hello Good People, We have a slight problem. Having a holiday home @ Peussec, Aizecq (close to Ruffec) in the Charente region, complete with a 2 acre field. We have tried to find a local farmer to cut our grass, to no avail. I have invested in a sickle bar mower, but this is a massive task. Visiting normally for four or five days at a time, I am spending two days trying to cut my grass and really getting nowhere. Does anyone know of a farmer or anybody with a tractor & cutter in my area who could assist?

 If anybody actually has an AMSTA Heated Towl Rail, and knows how to use the strange timer type functions, could they please let me into the secret.I realise that this is a little boring, but I've tried the different settings, and still cant work it out. Just to clarify, this towl rail has a timer box with : moon - sun - frost - 2hour timer - on & off symbols. I can supply a picture. Many Thanks. Oh, in case of comments such as = go back to the shop or ask the installer etc, I've tried all options, and no, I have not got the instructions. 

Hi, Does anybody know of a good chimney sweep in the Ruffec area please? Many Thanks