bubbles

We are sellers and nobody told us we had to sweep the chimney so you can probably cross that one off. Quite agree with you, Sweets, you don't want to inherit someone elses fosse contents - I would definitely insist on it being emptied!

Glad someone else remembers that, Idun. I was beginning to think I imagined it. It did tend to be rather confusing if you happened to travel to France during that inbetween period.

Have you ever seen a straight banana?

Thanks to both of you. Will brave the post office when we are over in France.

Does anyone have any recent experience of having mail redirected from a French address to an English one? I did a search but the last post was in 2005. Any uptodate info would be great. Thanks

We will be in France for 2 weeks in the near future. We will have no internet access in our house (cancelled it and have now sold the house anyway so there's no point in reinstating it). Did a search and Leo apparently thinks French dongles are a waste of time. Is this still true? Should we buy one in England before we leave? How can we find out which providers have coverage in our region (Perpignan)? We are currently using a 3 dongle here in England and it is fantastic - cost £19.99 and lasts for a month before needing topup. Something like that would be perfect for our needs. We just need to send emails and check our bank stuff really.

We're still waiting to be reimbursed by British tax authorities. Our French tax office sent us back the duly signed original of the French part of the individuel thingy. Can't think why. England denied all knowledge of receipt of the English version but kindly said they would accept the French one!! We have now sent them that and await........how many months I wonder.

I agree with you, Bugsy, we never seem to get any post on a Monday when we are in our house in France. We posted an important letter here in England on Monday. It arrived at its destination (near Perpignan) this morning, Saturday! Normally I would expect it to get there by the Thursday. Even the Estate Agent seemed to think the delay was something to do with the strike (greve in French!)

Ah, but could a real Frenchman talk and still keep both hands on the wheel? Surely he would have to gesticulate.

Thanks, everyone. Looks as if I'll be better off suffering a McDo's so I can use their internet and book in advance.

Dropping the co-pilots from the cockpit? Hope Mr. O'L will provide them with parachutes!

Does anyone know if you can just turn up on the day to travel on this? I am pretty sure you can but.......then, does it cost a lot more? We won't be sure which day we will want to travel until very near the time and will be without internet connection during the few days leading up to our Channel hop. I was surprised that single tickets can be bought for £40 or so for November but they can only be used for 2 hours either side of the booked crossing time.

Have I missed a bit about the law changing on 11th November? Please dont be cross with me anyone. I probably wasnt paying attention. Sleep deprivation is taking its toll as we look after our 3 small grandchildren this week.

worked for me! 20,000th or thereabouts in the league table

Ixy, we didn't have the diagnostic checks done until today! We were told they are only valid for 3 months and it was best to wait for a buyer first. Received and accepted our offer yesterday - sent them a fax to that effect. Agent organised the checks today. Got email timed one minute to 7pm saying that the compromis is now signed and on its way to us here in England. So it can all be done very quickly it seems. Still got everything crossed mind you.

From what I've read elsewhere, I think number 3 should be a No, no!! We are in the process of selling and are about to look into the 2nd option. Hey, I bet the euro weakens before the acte de vente! It's looking very strong for us right now and would make quite a bit of difference to what we actually receive.

Thanks, PD - it is our primary residence and we pay our taxes in France so we won't be liable to CGT in France or in England. Well, that's what we've been told anyway. And, would you believe it, one of the other agents we signed up with has now found a buyer too - offering the same price. What should I do - get them to fight it out? or stick with the first one since I sent a fax agreeing in principle to accept their offer? What if the second buyer increases his offer to the full price? Would I then be legally bound to accept it because of the mandat? Nice problem I suppose.

Thanks, Idun. I'm taking note of all these gems. Keep 'em coming.

Hi, Nectarine. Don't think there's any secret. And I dont like to be cocky at the moment since I am just too scared the deal will collapse. Will give all the gruesome details when and if the deal is sealed.

Yes Stan - I was going to ask them if they were interested. Just thought I'd keep the thing simple at the moment and not muddy the waters so to speak. I'll mention it to the agent once we have compromis sorted I think. Thanks.

Thanks, Nectarine. That makes perfect sense. So our fax is actually our part of the famous comromis de vente, non? So, in fact, we probably won't need to be in France until the sale is finalised - probably in the new year? Of course, there is the small matter of disposing of all our furniture and shipping clothes and whatever else we want to keep. Anyone out there in or near 66 who may be looking to equip a house in the near future? Could be some real bargains going soon.

PS any indications of time scale and when we should anticipate having to return to France to sign stuff and empty the house would be welcome too. Very tricky this since we are in England supporting our son and his three small children while their mother is in hospital at the moment.

We have our French house advertised with three different agents. One agent has found a buyer who has offered close to the asking price. We have agreed to sell to him. We have been asked now to send by a fax an accord de principe to the agents, basically stating that we are in agreement to sell our house at the said price. We've never sold in France before and we are in England at the moment. Just wondered first of all if this sending of a fax is normal procedure. And, second of all, what do we do about the other two agents? At what point do we inform them that we have agreed to sell via a competitor? Bit scared. Bit excited. Just want to do it all correctly. Thanks for any help you can give me, folks.

GG, SW17 lost her knickers ages ago so that won't be a problem!

Just keep smiling as you ask him the questions. Add a few desolees in between the questions. And maybe the odd "this may seem a bit silly but"s. And perhaps even make a copy of the questions to give to him as you go through them. I did this with a specialist once. He was really sweet (but then he did charge 40euros for the one consultation). And he congratulated me on my excellent written French which was very gratifying - although probably just flannel and not totally true. I'm sure it'll be fine and your doctor will actually admire you for your thoroughness.