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cassie

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Everything posted by cassie

  1. SPANC said we needed to have primary ventilation into the house ( fosse with sand filter type treatment. the plumber installed a 32mm. air admittance valve in the kitchen ( for when emptying the sink,etc. ) and a 100mm one, connected to the toilet waste pipe in the bathroom. the SPANC employee said that both of these have to go through the roof. How can we convince her that these valves were invented so that it was not necessary to make holes in the roof!?
  2. Many thanks for all, very useful, responses. The machine cost 539 euros and the, ready-filled, pipes cost 99. I have used it only a few times for heating (only as back-up for wood-burning stove ) and a few times for cooling in the summer. The machine is working (for heating) again today! On" heating" mode, does it use the refrigerant---indicating that not all has leaked away? Is there some sort of microchip somewhere which may be faulty and, hopefully, easily replaced ? Thanks again for responses
  3. I bought a mini air source heat pump (Airton) 9 months ago at Brico Depot and it is not working properly. I .finally, after many days and many phone calls, got through to the Airton help-line to be told that I have to pay for someone to come and look at it , even though it is ( theoretically?) under guarantee. She told me there was no engineer on their books in my Dept (35) and she asked ME what other Depts. were near to me! so that she could give me a contact name. Is this the norm in France that I have to pay for a call-out from someone who may live 100 miles away ? Having taken stuff back to Brico- Depot in the past they have been less than helpful, saying that problems are their responsibility only for 30 days and after this time I have to contact the manufacturer if there are any problems. Is this true in France ? ( unlike in U.K where guarantee problems are the concern of the retailer during the guarantee period ). I have unplugged and re-plugged the machine and looked at the wiring. The fan works when on the "fan" setting . Believe it or not, I have just switched on the "heating " setting and it is working..... this happened once previously, a few days ago. 30+ times previously, over a 2 week period, I have switched it on and the set temp. has flashed but there has been no heating and, after a few minutes, the sign "FA" ( meaning "FAULT" ?) appeared on the "screen". Any advice, either about the machine or as to who is responsible for fixing it and what my consumer rights are, would be very much appreciated
  4. Many thanks just tried it ....but it didn`t work cheers
  5. 9 months ago we purchased an Airton inverter heat pump from Brico Depot. Have not used it much, as have wood burning stove but it worked O.K. until today. Have phoned their helpline 12 times but after a short time they say " an operator is not available" and they ring off. Their forum is currently not in operation. Maybe somebody out there can help me. The problem is as follows : Using the remote we choose "heating " mode and when we set the Temp. it flashes a couple of times on the machine and then displays "FA" and nothing happens. We assume "FA" means FAN but to us it currently means something rude ! We have changed batteries in remote but same thing happens. When we put it in "FAN " mode.....it works.....hence electrical connections are O.K but we want heating, NOT a fan. Any advice appreciated (The external unit looks o.k).
  6. thanks for all responses. We have bought an SD card and downloaded W. Europe maps onto it for £45 from TT website.....seems to work o.k. and beats Renaults offer of 162 euros for a pre-loaded SD card
  7. Many thanks to everyone who responded......we will try Tom Tom website first
  8. Have just purchased in the U.K. a 2013 Megane Dynamique with in-built sat nav. and used it to get to Portsmouth. On arriving in France I find NO coverage of France !! Maybe its just me and someone can tell me a trick to find it.......... or maybe I have to pay somebody/somewhere to upgrade to include Europe. Any advice greatly appreciated
  9. Eighteen months ago we moved to France. We have recently filed UK tax return for 2013/14 and our first French tax return for 2013. question (1) Will we continue to have to fill in UK tax forms as well as French? (we have our savings and private pensions in the UK) (2) We are considering buying property in the UK to rent out> I would appreciate advice regarding taxation of rental income and Capital Gains tax( CGT )when we come to sell. At time of sale will we have to fill in UK CGT forms and will we get the tax relief currently obtained by UK tax citizens? ( approx. £10,000 each) Is rental income taxed in the UK? or France ? We need information to decide whether to put property in joint names or my wife's name only, as she has lower UK income. Many thanks
  10. Sorry for not thanking you earlier,,,,,,,,,but,,,,,,,,,,in the meantime we have moved to France and purchased a bolthole in the Rhondda!  ( Not many people got a holiday home in the Rhondda !...... but the price of £ 38000 DID have something to do with its appeal !!)  Thanks for your answer but I was surprised it was the only reply!  We now have a solution which  all  French and English neighbours say is the best deal around. It is for Livebox,,,,with Orange (france telecom) at a total monthly cost of 36.95 euros which includes ALL calls within France , and 100 other countries to fixed lines ; all calls to french mobiles; internet connection. There is NO monthly line rental as ALL calls are via the internet.    Sounds too good ? Time will tell when we see our first bill. We arranged it via the local Orange shop in our nearest town and 10 days after the visit we had a new line installed and were up and running !! Thanks again Normanh
  11. We will be moving/retiring  to near Fougeres dept. 35 (Brittany) in a couple of weeks and will need to get a new phone line installed.....presumably only france telecom do this ? ( there is an  old, unused phone point in  another building on site) Recommendations of companies offering line rental and broadband , with an idea of price/how to contact, etc. would be much appreciated. We require cheap calls to u.k. and  broadband ( for emails and surfing the net.....NOT for downloading music or films) Do all packages come with wi-fi  connection ,as we have ipad we wish to use as well? A very brief chat with France Telecom says our nearest neighbours can only get 2 mb......so, we may be better off  via  satellite........ but how do we find out what`s best for us ? We will be relying on a Leclerc  pay-as you-go mobile and U.K. mobiles until we are up and running Would also be nice to hear from any Brits living in the area.
  12. Many thanks for responses. The plan is to finish work end Nov and move if and when U.K. property is sold ....... i.e. .as soon as possible afterwards
  13.  Am looking to re-locate to France within the next 12 months. I have read that an S1 form ( for people like myself who will be "inactif" in France) lasts "for up to two and a half years". What date is best to officially re-locate to get this  maximum time period ?  
  14. I would like to buy a small piece of non-constructible land, approx. 2,000 sq. metres., from a neighbour in E. Brittany. Before approaching them I would like some idea of costs. Does anyone have any idea of  a) the  going price for rural land? b) notaire`s charges for buying and selling (assuming I also pay the vendor`s fees ) ? and c) cost of geometre expert?    Are there any other costs ?
  15. Thanks to all for your useful responses. As regards the DWP phone line......I seem to get different answers when I speak to different people
  16. My wife and I hope to retire to France within 12 months.   I cannot get an S1 form ( to join the French Health Service) as I do not have the relevant U.K  Nat. Insurance "stamps" for the qualifying years.  I have read, on the French-Property. com website, that  one can be granted cover on a spouse`s S1 as a "dependent younger spouse". My wife  does have the relevant "stamps" However , I am older than my wife! Previously, on various websites/ forums, I have NOT seen the word "younger " Can anyone please  tell me what the situation really is ?  
  17. What is a CV? How does one go about trying to find out if ANY particular "pre-existing condition" (e.g. high cholesterol ) is enough of a potential problem to prevent re-location to France
  18. Thanks for the info on the terrifying price for Lipitor. I believe that the health service re-imbursement % varies from drug to drug.....assuming one is affiliated, what % will the health service re-imburse for Lipitor ? How can one find out what it is for other drugs ?
  19. Thanks for all advice so far! Can I "join the health service " by registering as an A.E. and renting out my property as a gite for a few weeks per annum ? How do I find out the cost of French prescriptions , e. g. for Lipitor ( statins....taken for high cholesterol). Will the fact of having high cholesterol make the top-up insurance significantly higher than not having cholesterol problems ??
  20. We are curently renovating a property in Brittany with the intention of retiring there in Jan. 2013. We will NOT be of retirement age and plan to live off money made from sale of U.K.. home until pensions kick in . What bureaucracy do we have to go through on/before arrival to become official tax residents in France? Do we need to prove (to whom ?) a certain level of income ? Assuming we are allowed, how do we join the French "N.H.S" ? A friend has said that we should sell our U.K. principal home before we move or we may have to declare it on French tax documents when it is finally sold and pay tax on its increase in value since we bought it.....is this correct? Any advice or links to previous threads would be much appreciated.
  21. Strongly recommend you open a Britline account. I doubt we could have purchased our property without transfers to this account. It is a bit of a Pfaff getting certain docs from e.g. U.K Barclays account but, once obtained, signed and sent to Britline ( Credit Agricole based in Caen) everything has gone very smoothly since. Easy to contact English Britline staff either by email or phone to increase limits on card/ cash withdrawal, etc. Added bonus.....just paid for hotel,etc in Portugal in euros by Britline card........ no transaction charges/rip-off exchange rates , etc as would be the case using U.K. debit/credit card! By the way, do not DREAM of transferring cash from U.K. Sterling account to euros in Britline account via one of the Big 4 banks... you will get 2-4 % more euros if you use Moneycorp or similar company. Re: buying! Many pitfalls and do NOT sign the binding Compromis de vente until all points arising from the Dossier have been addressed ( all sellers have to provide all sorts of info in this dossier )..............in our case this took 6 months !!.............. even then the Notaire did not mention ( some dispute as to whether it is his responsibility or not ) that we cross private land to enter our property! Prepare for the roller-coaster, learn French and, if in ANY doubt, get stuff translated. Good luck
  22. [quote user="cassie"]I need a t.v. for my maison secondaire and wish to buy in U.K as they are much cheaper and often have instructions in English! Will ALL PAL t.v.`s work in France ?[/quote]
  23. I purchased a 16th. century longere in E. Brittany with the intention of retiring there. A quarter of it has been renovated and the rest is in a poor and dangerous state with holes in the wall and roof. The local ( English) estate agent said we could, as was our intention, repair a further 25% and knock the rest down. The architecte conseil came to have a look and said it was too beautiful to knock down. We said that we did not have the money to repair it. She recommended putting a large bache (tarpaulin ) over it to preserve it. This seems pointless as we will NEVER have the cash to repair it! As we are afraid that, when it falls down, it will destroy the section in which we are living we are now renovating an outbuilding with the idea of moving in there as soon as it is built. We have sought advice as to what to do next from lots of people and all of it is conflicting! We have NOT applied for official Permis de Demolir as, at the moment, we have nothing IN WRITING saying that we cannot knock it down. Some say that , once its existence has officially been brought to people`s attention via the P de D. process, we can be FORCED into maintaining it at our expense...... which a) we cannot afford and b) the French have spent the last 400 years allowing it to deteriorate so why should WE pay. Others say "let it fall down and then take the rubble away" but it is a massive structure and when it falls down the earth will shake and I may be in bed in an adjacent room ! Others say... we should be able to obtain a Permis as it is very dangerous. Once it has collapsed it will cost a fortune to take the rubble away. If it is demolished in a controlled manner, the sale of some of the special features, e.g. monster oak beams, large fireplaces and arched doorways will atl east preserve them for use elsewhere and should offset some of the cost of site clearance. Any (sensible ) advice would be much appreciated.
  24. I need a t.v. for my maison secondaire and wish to buy in U.K as they are much cheaper and often have instructions in English! Will ALL PAL t.v.`s work in France ?
  25. Thanks P. I have posted also on this site thanks to friendly advice that the other site was not the correct one. Your link takes me to a French site listing, I think, sale of documents giving various plumbing regulations . This does not answer my question as my French is not yet good enough to understand everyday conversations , never mind technical plumbing terms. But thanks for taking the trouble to answer......the more advice I can get the better !
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