teabag

Latest update: I got a printout from my bank detailing bank charges and fine taken, took it back into the Tresor.  Lady at the desk almost hid, head tresor appeared from a little room off the main waiting room, THANKED me for taking the piece of paper in and said  this would be refunded direct to the bank toutes de suite.  What's the betting they get it wrong again this year?  And what's the betting it doesn't take so long to get it sorted now I know how their system works.

Success or at least I think I have success Tried the letter writing, the mild threats etc. The Tresor couldn't give a damn.  So today I got really cross and decided to go and confront the Chef de Tresor Public and not move from the reception desk until I had a proper appointment or I got to see him there and then. I think the shock of the site of a very cross, very determined English woman allowed me to see the Chef very quickly.  His excuse - he didn't understand my letter or what I was asking for.  Probably because a French academic friend had made sure I used the right wording, right verbs and grammar before sending anything to them.  Then after standing my ground and refusing to let the Chef tell me I had to pay for their mistakes, I even told him to phone my bank and handed him my mobile to do so for confirmation that I had not at any time cancelled anything, he finally said he saw what had happened.  He very hurridly went to find some other paperwork, shouted at one of his staff, ran back into the interview room and actually apologised.  He said he would action the refund without further delay and repay bank charges.  As to why the demands were sent to the UK, his excuse on that one was that the cadastres had all been changed and my details must have got mixed up.  He repeatedly said I hadn't notified him where I was living.  I produced the house deeds and the letter of confirmation from the Notaire from when I bought the house. He went very quiet and a little pale. So it can be done, you just have to make sure you have every mortal bit of paper and refuse to move until it's sorted.  The more paper you have the more scared they become because you can guarantee that you will have more bits than they have, which means they may well have lost bits and that causes mega problems for them Word of warning though.  The Tresor Public has the right to completely clear your bank account whether or not you know about it so if you don't owe anything spend a day harrassing the Tresor till they sort it.  It does work - eventually On to the RSI now next in the line for being sorted. Thanks to everybody who replied, all advice was very welcome and notes kept for future reference.    

OK, now I'm beginning to get really annoyed.  I wrote to the Tresor Public, sent the letter AR, should have had a signature but according to La Poste they refused to sign for the letter.  Then I got a message on my mobile phone telling me that I had stopped the prelevement - which I didn't, and no way were they going to refund the fine. No way did they think it was necessary to write to confirm this.  There was no mention of the fact that they had sent the demands to a non existant address and at the moment there doesn't seem to be any way to budge them. They made the mistakes, loads of them, refuse to admit that and are still making me pay for it.  What can I do to 1) get my money back   2) make sure they have the correct address  3) stop the same thing happening again I've notified them now 9 times, 6 times in writing and 3 verbally, even the notaire when I bought the house gave them the correct details and nowhere on the Acte de Vente or any other paperwork is there any mention of a long defunct address in the UK. Added to that, I registered on l'autoentrepeneur and the RSI have messed that up as well asking for money I don't owe because they admitted making a mistake but won't confirm it in writing.  I have contacted them several times but knowing what these departments do I'm expecting to get fines for not paying them something I don't owe.    Has anybody any advice, the whole thing is starting to make me ill

It's ridiculous, the men apparently don't have to have the wifes' permission to sell the house, they just get on with it if it's in their sole name.  I keep being told it works both ways but even a French lady in the village had her house sold and she could do nothing about it.  She didn't have to sign to give permission. When this house is sold (if it ever sells) the last thing I'm going to do is buy anything else here.  It's not worth the hassle.  I also understand that if one partner has debts the other partner is equally liable even if they know nothing about them. And if a house is in one partners' name and the other has debts then the house, bank accounts, everything from the partner not in debt can be seized.  I'm just hoping that isn't right because if it is then that really is draconian[:@]

Probably would, need the milk sugar and biscuits as well though[:D]

Thanks Clair for that info.  Only trouble is that in that ladys' case she had already bought another smaller place so she hadn't actually deprived him of anything.  The only reason she put the house in her name was apparently because he had another house somewhere in France which he sold and she didn't have to signe to give permission.  Gets complicated this law business, I think each department operates slightly differently anyway but c'est la vie.  Never mind, we choose to live here so we have to play by the rules.

To Andyh4 Thank you for that reply but I don't think there was any need to have been quite so abrupt.  I don't consider that others on this board would know better than a French 'expert', I only wanted other peoples' views. Unfortunately not all Notaires seem to read from the same hymn sheet.  A Notaire in a different department informed one lady that she could not sell the house she owned without the permission of her husband and because he wanted her to keep the house he refused to sign anything.  They are not divorced, separated or even thinking about it.  He is away a lot on business so she wanted to move to a smaller house, closer to a village but although the house is in her sole name she can't sell it without his say so.  Although she asked at the time of purchase if there would be any problems on selling, she was repeatedly told that the house was in her sole name.  It's only since trying to sell that she has come up against problems.  I have heard of absent children trying to claim rights to property that was nothing to do with their parent, mostly French, but I assumed that if they were trying to make any claim then there may have been some loophole for that to even be considered.  Hence the reason for the question. I am still not too comfortable about the house selling.  If something is in my name and I have paid for it, then I should be allowed to dispose of it as I wish and not have to ask permission to do so. To parsnips,  your very kind reply much appreciated I certainly was not made aware by the Notaire that my husband would need to sign anything for me to sell my own house and I did ask several times but the whole thing seems very biased and unclear.

Two questions I'm a bit confused about. 1) If a house is bought in one partners' name i.e. the wife, and it is a second marriage with both partners having offsprings from previous marriages, do the offsprings from the husbands' side have any right to claim anything from the house when there is a death of either partner? 2) The house is bought in the wifes' name only so does the husband have to sign to give permission to sell and what happens if he is no longer living in the house and can't be contacted? Odd questions I know but when I bought the house I was told by the notaire that my husbands' kids would not be entitled to inherit anything from it on the death of either party and if I died first then my kids would only inherit the property when my husband died.  Very confused, I bought the house in my name to try to avoid any problems for my kids as it was all my cash that went into it and I have no intention of letting someone elses' kids who I don't know, have never met getting any share whatsoever of it. Help, everso please

I was offered an insurance which covers card loss, cancelling of prelevements and I think fraudulant use of the card.  This was from Credit Agricole Britline and it costs 5 euros a month.  It also ensures that if you tip into overdraft you are allowed 400 euros without charge which was extemely useful when the tax office emptied my account without telling me I owed them money.  Something quite unusual for the French banking system. I can't remember all the details but I am sure if you phone the Britline number they will help and in English which helps in itself sometimes when under stress

Some Tresors are pretty good like that, a friend had the same problem with demands going to a wrong address and was refunded with not trouble.  I think it's just the office I have to deal with and the attitude of some of the male staff there who definitely don't like having to deal with females.  Unfortunate but just one of those things that happens.  On the last visit I dealt with a lady who had to keep going to ask the males questions.  I don't think they liked the fact that their mistake had been spotted and no way were they going to admit to anything, but I'll keep at it; eventually I'll get it sorted.

Thanks to everybody for all the advice, it was much appreciated and the fight will go on.  Female I may be, English I may be but no way will some French jobsworth take my money and blame me for their mistakes. Thanks

Has anyone any advice on how to complain to and about a Tresor Public and its total inefficiency? I hadn't had a bill for the Taxe Foncier so I went to the Hotel d'Impots and they told me that the bill had been sent to an address in the UK.  I haven't had an address in the UK for 8 years.  When we moved house in 2007 the Notaire forwarded all the details to the Tresor Public including the fact that the house was owned in my name and not a joint ownership.  I gave the Tresor all the details again, they said they had revised their records and as the tax was much higher than I was expecting I asked for a review. I filled in an H1 form complete with French address, filled in forms for delai 3 months prelevement at 202 euros a month with French address.  They took 67,67 and 68 euros instead of 202.  They sent a demand to the UK again, then they stripped my French bank account to pay for the tax.  Not only that, they fined me for their mistakes. I have been into the Tresor now 3 times, twice I got a shrugged shoulder treatment and told they 'didn't make mistakes'.  The last time I went in there, I was armed with 'avis d'impossition' for 2007 copies of forms for 2008 all of which were sent to the French address, and handed over a letter asking for the refund of the fine and an explanation of what had happened. The Tresor said I wasn't entitled to a refund of the fine, I hadn't complied with their requests and more or less told me to go away and live with the fact that I'm paying for their mistakes.  After much argument finally the agent at the Tresor backed down a little when she had finally realised that they had made one almighty blunder and said that the boss was away and he would give his decision when he came back off holiday. Has anybody any ideas on how to make sure that they refund my fine, admit they were at fault and possibly pay up compensation for all the agro they caused?  I know it's a very very long shot but somebody somewhere must have had something like this happen and got it justifyably sorted. Any help would be greatly received.  Thanks to anyone in advance