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quillan


oscar
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i have just joined the site and was wondering if anybody can help me. i am in the process of buying a building plot just outside quillan and although i visited the site for a viewing, i don't really know much about the area. is it as nice a place as it seems to be and are the locals friendly. also is this region very popular with british buyers.

thanks

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Maybe piprob could help,if you know that the locals are friendly well thats cause there is not much work outside of the holiday trade,and I think that another factory was shut down last year in quillan,I drove through the town yesterday on my way back from the airport,nice place to do nowt in is what I would say because there is not a lot to do........sorry quilly.
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It's not so bad but overpriced for property and land. Restaurants are nice, but there have been factory closures so the town is relying more and more or tourism. But, the town is in a staggeringly beautiful location that the factories (especially Formica) have probably been damaging tourism anyway. I think it will come back sometime soon.But Limoux and Mirepoix only just to the north have been making all the running in the tourist stakes recently with all the books about the area.

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Land is a bit expensive here as good plots are rare, most of them seem to be around 2 acres with only 500M2 suitable to actually build on the rest is virtually vertical. Lots of Brits on the west side hence the Quartier des Anglais. As said there is lots of work going on to improve the place at the moment for the tourists. Quillan in it's self has the normal bars, cafes, banks, railway station etc but it's the setting that sells it. It is also reasonably central for visiting places and there is loads of sporty stuff to do from walking to white water rafting. So to say there is nothing to do is not true more so if you like sport which is what people come for. Don't forget the centre of town does get noisy in the summer with the fete for two weeks and the International Folk Law Festival for a further two and the jaz festival for one week.
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I prefare the seaside and yachts not going down a river in a canoe or hanging off the side of a mountain,so for me there is very little do.Horses for courses,land is much less expensive than the neighbouring deparments,driving back yesterday I saw more brit car in 30mins than I do in month,and even a brit reg builders wagon??
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I agree about the Brits but there are just as many leaving as there are coming, hopefully the ratio will move towards more leaving than coming. I guess it's to do with Perpignan and Carcassonne airports and Quillan being about central for both. I know personally of two families where the father commutes to London for the week and I am told there are others as well. It's when it gets to August and the fares go up to £500 return they feel the pinch. One of the things that happens is that when they go they work on a 40% increase in house prices per year which is totally unrealistic and the houses stay on the market for a year or more, it's the same with land. The French have cottoned on and any land that is available with outlying planning permission goes for around 50€ to 60€ per M2 when it should be nearer 20€. They then find that to get a house built there are only two builders of repute in the area and the waiting list in reality is around 2 to 3 years. One of the reasons for this is that the French flog the house/land and have a house built on the proceeds and it's French first, Brits second.

There are a lot of British builders round here, they can't build houses but they do other stuff. They tend to build the British way, straight out of the 'Readers Digest Book of DIY'. The class of British builder depends on the lengh of ferry trip and how much of it they can read on the way over. As I said in my PM we get quite a few people come and stay with us either hunting (houses that is) or having a house built and we hear all the tales of woo, it's rather sad really. The thing is you try to tell them and they think you are a idiot or are jealous (you know where I live so jealasy is the last thing on my mind) and can't possibly know what you are talking about, I mean they have seen people buying 10 bedroom houses and having them completely renovated and a pool installed for £20k on the TV so what do I know? You should sit outside the Palace in the summer and listen to them it's an education on stupidity and gulability. You even hear the Brit builders bragging how they have had another fellow Brit over for a few grand, it's all very sad. I mean it's bad enough trying to deal with the natives if you can't undertand the lingo let alone being screwed by your fellow countrymen. Still happy days, it's bums in beds for me so I just let them get on with it.

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thanks for all the replies. the land i am buying is in a place called belvianes and i believe it is a very good price. i will be doing most of the construction myself but obviously using a local sparkie e.t.c, so should not get ripped of too much
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>I agree about the Brits but there are just as many leaving as there are

coming, hopefully the ratio will move towards more leaving than coming.

By chance I spoke yesterday to someone who does international shipping brokerage. For France (I assume he meant SW france seeing as that was the context ) there are 10x as many Brits going out as compared to coming back to the UK. For Spain, the figure is 1 in 4 going back and for Italy, 1 in 100. 350,000 Brits leave the UK every year.

Who's replacing the Brits leaving your way Chris? More Brits?

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You could be right more brits,I mean how many french property show are doing the rounds each year showing houses with open space lots of greenery(some people even by from a picture)????There is one couple within the last six months which we kind of "know" who came on a holiday thinking about buying maybe,bought a house to renovate for E100,000 because they like to ski,and will spend the next three years worth of hols doing it up,still it is not my money,and then think that they will make money renting it out,the market for tourists is so over supplied,a little homework works wonders.Do not wish any one ill but one look on GdF (no not gaz )and E100,000 will buy 10/15 years of hols with flights,with E100,000 still in the bank......................
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Hegs - Belgians. I don't know where these Brits are going, probably up on the plateau where it's much cheaper.

Oscar - Welcome to my part of the world, I live in Belvianes. I would strongly recommend you visit the DDE in Quillan and ask about building permission, there’s a very nice lady there who speaks English if needed. We (Belvianes) were on TV in 2004 because two British women bought land here on the pretext they could build and they couldn't, they have been stuck with the land for ages as they can't sell it for building. The first reason is that you are on the edge of the national park and the gorges at the bottom of the hill have been granted World Heritage status and secondly the font (14th Century) in the church is a ancient monument so the 6 week rule does not apply as permission has to be given by the government, something about Department of Ancients (somebody will know the correct name I am sure). They will not even allow people to add balconies up there so I would get some plans drawn up and visit the DDE before you part with any money. We have also had three attempts at planning permission for extensions turned down.

You should also know you are in an earthquake area and you will need to use special building methods to meet the current local regulations. It's not that difficult but you need to know how to do it (concrete pillars, ring beams for the house plus pillars and beams round all external doors and windows). There is a English guy in Quillan who is building his own house but he worked for a French builder before starting on his so he knew what to do, when he is down next I can introduce you. You should also speak to the mayor (mornings only) if you want to attempt to live on site in a van or something, he is very strict on that sort of thing.

I don't mean to put you off at all but you really need to do a lot of homework before commiting to see if you have the ability and the patience (an absolute must round here) to do this.

If I can help in any way then PM me and good luck

 

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