Daft Doctor

The builder of our house tried to specify reinforced hollow block walls for our basement, 50% of which is completely underground. It didn't take much Googling to find out this was a very bad idea. We opted to pay extra for béton banché, solid reinforced concrete cast on site. It is not only much stronger, but more moisture resistant, partly as it is more dense than the blocks, but also since the waterproof latex coatings are easier to apply correctly. It wouldn't be so important for a garden retaining wall of course, but if significant weight and/or moisture is being retained, I'd consider the cast option.

Thanks Norman, so CASA is indeed to be paid at 0.3% and social charges in general are I presume calculated on gross pension, i.e. before deducting the 10% abattement. C'est la vie!

Hi, I've noticed that since 1st April 2013 an additional French social charge, the CASA, is being levied on French pensions at a rate of 0.3%. This is in addition to the combined CSG/CDRS of 7.1% levied before that date. None of the UK online info sources seem to be mentioning this as relevant to UK non-state pensioners such as myself. Is it the case that the CASA is only levied at source on French pensions and that foreign pension income is exempt, or have the various info sources simply missed this extra social charge. Just wondered if anyone out there is 'in the know'. I know 0.3% is a small amount, but it's still worth knowing if it has to be paid. Quick second question, is the CSG/CDRS levied on the pension before or after deduction of the 10% abatement? Thanks in advance

I couldn't agree with you more yccmb, and I must stress again that my personal tutor was properly qualified, very experienced and came personally recommended, so was a good choice for me. She and I also had a very good rapport, which is vital when you know your brain is going to ache after an hour and a half of something completely alien! I also agree that some people just prefer learning through the 'safety' and interaction of a group situation, so it is just a case of knowing what you'd prefer and then set about trying to find it.

I think as far as learning French goes, it is very much horses for courses. I would view group French lessons as akin to group ski lessons, socially good but not necessarily specific to your needs. I did some self-learning with Michel Thomas and the like before I came to France, but for my first year here had regular individual lessons with a retired school mistress in town. At the beginning it was 90% grammar in the lessons, but by the end almost half was conversation, with the teacher correcting me as we went along. I liked the one to one lessons as much as I preferred private ski lessons, geared 100% to your individual needs and a more efficient use of time. Private lessons are more expensive of course, but for me they are worth it if you can find the right person. Aside from lessons though, as with many skills, learning French is best done by getting your hands dirty, attempting to speak it and write it as much as possible, and not hiding behind others to do it for you. The whole process of becoming a settled resident in France exposes you to a baptism of fire administratively, but you learn to read and understand French more quickly as you go through that. Having a house built, as we did, and dealing with contractors, the mairie, architects, etc all helps, and you insidiously become a bit better and confident month by month. Sadly at my age I will likely never be fluent, and will continue to make the same foolish mistakes again and again, but if the processing time in my brain continues to come down and I can continue to feel more confident speaking half-decent French in a wide range of life and social situations, I will be more than happy!

Hi, on a practical level, assuming you are EU citizens and can provide a bona fide French address, unless the local school is full you wouldn't have any difficulty enrolling your two children, even for a short period (although whether or not you tell the head teacher of the length of stay would be another matter). My main concern would simply be that 3 months is nowhere near enough time to get a feel of whether you'd settle permanently. The children would almost certainly hate being there, in mine and many others' experience it takes 6-12 months for children to adapt to the language and their new environment. For us it was like pushing a large boulder up an increasingly steep hill. We eventually reached the top of that imaginary hill, 'exhausted', after about a year. The boulder then thankfully rolled freely down the other side and smiles reappeared all round! After 2 years here our son said he didn't want to go back to the UK and is completely happy with life, school and the language. He was 10 when we arrived and your children, being so much younger and having each other for company may of course find it easier. If you can possibly manage it, I'd advise that you try to make more time for your experiment, it will have a much better chance of being an honest representation and have a successful outcome. Hope that helps

Regarding the estate agents and letting an apartment, French landlords often take out insurance to cover for non-payment of rent by tenants. For that reason you have to produce solid evidence of income. In our case we were refused an option to view a property to let because as we had recently arrived in France we didn't have proof of income in France. Its good that at least in Paris they'll accept your UK pay slips for that proof, but I think the bank account requirement is probably for the same landlord insurance reason.

Point taken Norman, but the fact that the UK debt level is so high means that every bit of national economic growth and income are desperately needed to improve that situation over time. The UK economy is growing at a much faster rate than that of the Eurozone, but that growth and the policies underpinning it are vital to get debt levels down. The UK has implemented measures based on its own economic situation, and are having some success. As usual, Brussels are applying blanket rules to countries which are at least in economic and (to some extent) cultural terms very different.

Some smart ar*ed EU commission member tried to say it was no different in principal to someone in the UK being asked to pay more income tax because they'd earned more. The thing with income tax of course is that no-one cares how the money was earned, and you aren't as an individual being compared to the others around you nor are you considered to be part of a bigger group. The fact is, as others have said, the UK have pulled their finger out and through tough budgetary measures and austerity have pulled things round. That the UK should be penalised financially for this and the French rebated when they have done f-all to cut spending and encourage growth is quite simply outrageous, especially when the EU commission doesn't even need this extra money. Every time this sort of stunt gets pulled by Brussels, the chances of the UK staying in Europe in the long-term gets more and more remote. It could literally boil down to who wins the UK election in May!

Hi Pommier, interestingly enough, although the PC was granted in January 2013 we have not yet received any demands for the taxe d'amenagement, which as you say should have been paid 50% in January each of 2014 & 2015. I know that no demands have been sent out, as my friend owns the address that is on the original PC dossier and I get mail given over to me by them, last in September. I'm expecting a bill for the full amount in January, though have no idea what the department and commune taux are/will be. I might ask that at the Mairie when I'm there.

Not yet EuroTrash, but I will do that before bothering the prefecture. In my letter I did ask for the attestation to be sent to our current address, but they may have ignored that and simply sent it to the address on the PC, from which (being our address before last) we no longer get redirection. I will head to the Mairie tomorrow to find out more!

Hi, we had our house built last year and into this, and the declaration d'achèvement des travaux was sent to the Mairie in mid-March. The finished article had a few minor changes to the facades, being mainly altered position/number of windows, etc, but didn't differ materially from the plans submitted and approved in the permis de construire. The statutory 5 month period for inspections by the Mairie elapsed with no word, so after a further month, I applied (delivered by hand with stamped copy as proof of delivery) on a standard letter template for an 'attestation de non-contestation de la conformité des travaux'. The Mairie are meant to send this out within 15 days of request, but a full month later it has not arrived. The regulations say that if the Mairie doesn't issue this attestation, it can be obtained by applying instead to the prefecture. The question I am asking I suppose is whether this piece of paper is important to obtain, or whether (as with the PC in many cases), a lack of response is as good as having the piece of paper and I should just forget it. I hope that those who have undergone the building process might give me their take on this, though I realise that how things work in practice may well alter from department to department and even between communes. Thanks in advance.

Hi, thanks for the advice, yes Mrs DD has her CV, but since it took 6 months to get my replacement when I moved from CPAM to RSI I'd rather not take the risk of 'losing it'. I could phone them but I'd need to rehearse the relevant vocab a bit. Alternatively I could email and hope for a reply at some point........ I'll let the forum know how I get on.

For the first 2 years that we were in France, my son and I were covered through an early retiree S1. I got my carte vitale and CPAM reimbursed any medical costs up to the threshold, but as we also had a mutuelle, the balance of any cost was reimbursed automatically by the insurer within a few days. Mrs DD on the other hand has a small business in France, so her healthcare costs are reimbursed by Harmonie Mutuelle (formerly RSI), and she has always had to send off the original statements of her reimbursement from HM to the mutuelle to (eventually) get reimbursement of any balance. When I queried with our mutuelle why this was happening, they told me that HM/RSI couldn't link their accounts with the mutuelle, so I just accepted it. After my S1 expired, my son and I became 'ayants droit' on Mrs DD's health cover however, and I was given a new CV, etc. I have since noticed that any health costs incurred in my name or that of my son still get fully reimbursed automatically between a combination of HM and the mutuelle within a week or so, which suggests that linking of accounts through HM is indeed possible. I want Mrs DD to benefit from automatic reimbursement as my son and I do, but there is nothing either on the HM or the mutuelle's website on this matter. Does anyone know who I should contact about it? To be honest, I am sick of sending bits of paper in the post to get a few euros back, given the time and cost involved, and if HM can do it for my son and I, it should be possible for my wife to similarly benefit. Thanks in advance for any insight, as always much valued.

I'm pretty sure that all of that 50 hours of work referred to by the OP will be wholly taxable in France, since the work is done completely outside the UK

Hi tinabee, I have to say I had absolutely no success with forms R105, I sent 4 or 5 off to various institutions along with copies of the letter from HMRC accepting my French tax residency, simply to be told that they would continue to deduct tax at source and I'd have to reclaim it annually from HMRC. The OP should maybe contact her banks in the UK and ask the question before wasting time, stamps and ink.

Hi, I think you'll find that UK border control are obsessional about checking passports, including at the tunnel terminals. The passports are checked and scanned at Calais for crossings into the UK and at Folkestone on the way to France IIRC. They will not let anyone into the UK without a valid passport, so yours will indeed have been checked.

Hi, UK rental income is always be taxed in the UK, but as part of worldwide income is also declarable in France (assuming you are French tax resident). French tax is initially calculated on the whole lot, but you are then given a rebate from your French tax equivalent to the %age that your UK rental income represents of the whole. Not 100% sure on CGT, but thought you were liable for payment in the UK until you'd been non-resident for 4 or 5 years. Others will know better on that one. If you are already filling in UK tax forms, you will I think continue to need to do so, and certainly if you have UK rental income. If you haven't already done so you will need to fill in and have signed forms 'France Individual' for each of you. These are then forwarded both to the French tax authorities and HMRC to establish your French tax resident status. Hope that helps.

Hi, we are French tax resident but as we have UK property income we have to file a self-assessment return. We always fill in the residence and remittance pages, as our small amount of UK bank interest is repaid as a deduction from our UK tax bill rather than a direct reimbursement (same net effect of course). Although slightly different from previous years, the questions didn't seem too tricky when I filled in this year's return in June. The HMRC document 'SA109 notes' (just google it for the link) is pretty easy to follow. Regarding the SRT, there are automatic UK non-resident and UK resident criteria. If after answering the relevant questions you fall into neither category, there are further questions to establish the number of 'ties' you had with the UK during the tax year. The questions asked aren't unexpected in the circumstances (family ties, accommodation ties, 90 day ties, work ties, and country ties), and are direct and unambiguous. You do need to state separately how many nights you spent in the UK in 2013-14, as this then dictates how many 'ties' to the UK you need to have to be considered a UK tax resident for the year in question. I can't believe that the OP hasn't some form of diary, calendar or whatever which would tell her where she was and when, but if she does guess there is always a (very) small risk that HMRC will ask for some verification. I think a bit of time interrogating your memory and any other means to answer the questions properly would be time well spent!

From personal experience I wouldn't be put off bringing your 9 year old to live in France if the financial aspects stack up. All have differing experiences of their children's language assimilation and the French school system, but my son was 10 when we arrived and he followed the pattern predicted by most. He struggled with the language and making friends for about 9 months, consequently hated being here. Then it all clicked into place, he became very proficient in spoken French, now does well at school and has some very good French friends. He stated some time ago that although he likes visiting friends and family in the UK, he much prefers life in France. Can't guarantee it would be the same for your child, but if you don't try it you'll never find out.

Hi Josie, not sure why you thought autoentrepreneurs pay a minimum amount in cotisations, but that isn't true. If your cleaning services qualify as a business under the AE scheme, then once registered you'd pay 24.6% of your turnover in cotisations. If your total income from all sources was less than approx. 27,000 euros per annum, you could also opt for a fixed income tax payment of 1.7% of your turnover. Registration, making declarations and paying your cotisations and tax are all very simple. A good video on how to register is here: http://www.startbusinessinfrance.com/video/post/video-how-to-register-as-an-auto-entrepreneur-online Hope that helps

I'm would never give specific, individual advice without seeing a patient, but as a former GP and accredited musculoskeletal specialist I could perhaps share some general insight. Most shoulder injuries do not require surgery, and certainly not urgent surgery. True 'frozen shoulder', though benefitting from early steroid injection, is rare, and usually comes on spontaneously rather than due to injury. The vast majority of shoulder pain due to injury will settle with time and physiotherapy. Some types of shoulder problem may benefit from steroid injection(s) down the line, but this is mainly to temporarily reduce pain and inflammation, so allowing physiotherapy and rehabilitation exercises to be easier to carry out and therefore more effective. In the immediate aftermath of a shoulder injury, good pain relief and encouraging as much active movement as possible is the best plan, with physiotherapy to follow as necessary. Specialists seem to be used a lot more frequently in France rather than in the UK, but unless things really aren't settling down with the above approach early intervention by these guys would rarely be justified.

We feed our border collie on raw chicken joints (very cheap from our local Aldi) and dechets animaux from Intermarche. He has a few 'Friskies' biscuits, to balance things up but it is mainly raw meat which keeps him going. He has a lovely healthy look, with a shiny cost, good, white teeth and doesn't have 'dog-breath'. It's interesting but when we took him to the UK last year he went onto croquettes for the journey and everything went downhill, he had bad breath, wind and loose bowels. So a change of diet might indeed be worth trying.

I must say my recent experience wasn't at all bad. I bought from a small family-run Nissan dealership and traded my car in against a used Qashqai. It's true the trade in price for mine was rock bottom and the only price movement I managed to negotiate on the Nissan was to get the carte gris thrown in for nothing (about 350 euros) and a years extra Nissan warranty attached to the 6months original warranty which was left . The customer service was very good though, unlimited time to test drive on my own, the car was pristinely prepared when I picked it up, the dealer explained every aspect of the car in detail and he phoned me about 3 weeks afterwards to ask if I was happy with everything. The car has been great and overall I'd say the experience was no worse than buying in a similar way in the UK.

Last year the Impots wrongly applied social charges to my UK property income and completely omitted my (declared) NHS pension income in producing my initial Avis. A couple of emails and it was all sorted out, this year they've got it spot on. Fact is they do make mistakes, so it pays to scrutinise every line and be prepared to argue your case.