Harrassment

[Catalpa]

[quote user="Christine Animal"]

Another thing that gets me are those British cars that fly through France at such a speed so they can say they did Calais - Nice or wherever in such and such a time. [/quote]We can only hope that they will be passing Chancer's drive en route. [:D]

[Lambkin]

[quote user="NickP"]If you're going to be pedantic I think you will find that the French kill more of their own on the roads than drivers from other countries . Also theres only one r in harassment. [Www]

[/quote]

Also there's an apostrophe in theres. [Www]

[Théière]

[quote user="Chancer"]

I just don't get this whole anger thing about the British or any other nationality not registering their vehicles yet insuring them and CT'ing them, so what! - live and let live I say

Their vehicle is insured and tested why are they more likely to maim someone, and if they did the poor victim would be no more disadvantaged by the registration status of their vehicle.

Unregistered, uninsured and untested I also would denounce especially if I thought they were drinking and driving

[/quote]

Completely agree until Q's statement.[:)]

[quote user="Quillan"]

no, it will be some jerk who thinks they are being clever and saving money by not registering their car. [/quote]

I wouldn't have appreciated being grassed up and that may have lead to a very bad bought of behavior from me. I genuinely didn't know the rules back then and had my UK vehicle tested and insured in France. Much better to have a quiet word with the owner and inform, then it becomes their decision to correct the situation or not. Now I don't bother with flying I drive over so no UK vehicles in France other than the visiting ones. I have this forum to thank for the knowledge.

[NickP]

[quote user="Lambkin"][quote user="NickP"]If you're going to be pedantic I think you will find that the French kill more of their own on the roads than drivers from other countries . Also theres only one r in harassment. [Www]

[/quote] Also there's an apostrophe in theres. [Www][/quote]

Are you shore? [Www]

[Lambkin]

well i fought there woz ...

[Quillan]

[quote user="Théière"][quote user="Chancer"]

I just don't get this whole anger thing about the British or any other nationality not registering their vehicles yet insuring them and CT'ing them, so what! - live and let live I say

Their vehicle is insured and tested why are they more likely to maim someone, and if they did the poor victim would be no more disadvantaged by the registration status of their vehicle.

Unregistered, uninsured and untested I also would denounce especially if I thought they were drinking and driving

[/quote]

Completely agree until Q's statement.[:)]

[quote user="Quillan"]

no, it will be some jerk who thinks they are being clever and saving money by not registering their car. [/quote]

I wouldn't have appreciated being grassed up and that may have lead to a very bad bought of behavior from me. I genuinely didn't know the rules back then and had my UK vehicle tested and insured in France. Much better to have a quiet word with the owner and inform, then it becomes their decision to correct the situation or not. Now I don't bother with flying I drive over so no UK vehicles in France other than the visiting ones. I have this forum to thank for the knowledge.

[/quote]

Unfortunately having 'quiet word' often ends up with abusive comments from the owner, try to be helpful, even offering a couple of times to go to the Prefecture with them and 'walk them round' the system but still got abusive comments which I can do without. It's much simpler to write their number down and stop off at the Gendarme's on the way home.

By the way the information is on the insurance policy but like many (including myself sometimes) they never bother to try and read it or take it to a friend who can translate the important bits for them. Whats the saying, something like "ignorance is no excuse" but when somebody has already told you but you choose to ignore then on your head be it.

[mint]

[quote user="NickP"][quote user="Lambkin"][quote user="NickP"]If you're going to be pedantic I think you will find that the French kill more of their own on the roads than drivers from other countries . Also theres only one r in harassment. [Www]

[/quote] Also there's an apostrophe in theres. [Www][/quote]

Are you shore? [Www]

[/quote]

No, certainly not "shore"; I reckon that they're completely "at sea"![:D]

[Christine Animal]

[quote user="gardengirl "]I see far more cars with German, Belgian and Luxembourg plates going at mad speeds along autoroutes all through the year![/quote]

 

There was a programme about these bolides going through France.  Maybe it was about the Gumball:

http://lci.tf1.fr/france/faits-divers/gumball-3000-trois-bolides-interceptes-entre-190-et-222-km-h-6508502.html

http://www.lepoint.fr/societe/sept-britanniques-interpelles-en-france-lors-d-une-course-de-vitesse-sauvage-09-07-2010-1212987_23.php

It seems the couple of retraités were not in France but in Macedonia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Gumball_3000_accident

 

 

[Christine Animal]

Double post, sorry!

 

[idun]

The gumball, yes, a race, like Top Gear and their foolishness.

I went up to Calais with a french man and he was stopped for speeding (160kph) just north of Dijon, he was put out about it as he didn't know that that was one of the places with speed traps. He kept going on about how he was used to doing Paris /home in about 3.5hours, where as I would allow 6 and do it in approx 5 on a good day.  There are plenty of french cars that go way way over the speed limit, but there again, I would not have speed limits on proper motorways anyway. If people cannot 'drive' then maybe they shouldn't be on motorways to start with. Having a license doesn't mean that people can drive, it just means they have passed on little test.

I know 'the environment', but few of us use these roads all the time and it would be good to get from A to B quicker and legally. Now the normal roads, and if the speed limit was sensible then I would have that enforced strictly.

[Chancer]

[quote user="Quillan"][quote user="Chancer"] [/quote]

Well without dragging the whole subject up again basically they may have bought insurance but after anywhere between 30 and 60 days it technically becomes invalid if they don't change their registration to a French one. This means that anyone run over, killed or maimed, neither they or their families will get any compensation etc. My point also being that not being one of the most luckiest people in the world these things always tend to happen to me i.e. I wouldn't get hit my a properly registered, insured etc French car, no, it will be some jerk who thinks they are being clever and saving money by not registering their car. Likewise having registered one for a friend it's not exactly difficult so there really is no excuse.

[/quote]

I accept that you really believe that Quillan and that is the reason that you do, or would dob people in, perhaps your posting was a bit of a shot across the bows, who knows?

But you really are mistaken in thinking that a French insurer would not pay out 3rd party claims because of a technicality like registration, they are legally bound to as are UK insurers, its the claims for the drivers own losses that they may, and it is a may, refuse. I think that we would agree - should refuse. 

I could creep into your property tonight, pinch your car, go and do a burglary, get chased by the Police drive through a red light and T bone and seriously injure an innocent driver, your insurers would have to pay out for the third parties injuries, treatment, his vehicle etc, you the 2nd victim would lose your coefficient de réduction and would not be a happy bunny, this is exactly what happened to my housesitter in the UK (he was the injured victim) with the French system of a vignette it is much easier to trace the insurer should you quite understandably not want to play ball.

In my view its being anything but clever not registering a car as the fixed costs over here are so much less (CT every 2 years, carte grise once vs road tax each year)

Mind you is someone is not properly domiciled here, working hand to mouth on the black, car perhaps French insured but maybe no CT, spends a lot of time in bars, bref a Chancer!!! Then I agree that there could be a risk of flight should they have an accident returning from the cafe, they wouldnt have a lot to lose and very little to gain by sticking around, they woudl be pretty untraceable and not having declared a sinistre would certainly slow things down for the innocent third parties, THESE SORT OF SCUM DESERVE DOBBING IN!!!

Sorry about that I dont know what came over me, I must have had a Harry Enfield moment [:P]

[Joanna]

[quote user="Simon-come-lately"]

Oh and by the way - the problem is not that 'they are French and you are not' - the problem is that you have made no effort to resolve things yourself. Running to teacher (the Maire) just won't cut it! Deal with the situation - no good biting your tongues! Maybe, just maybe, integrating and making friends might have given you a whole different and more positive experience. Give me strength !

Simon :-)

[/quote]

Oh what rubbish!  One of the purposes of the Mairie is to ajudicate in disputes  - we've gone our various mairies over the years several times and it works.  No amount of integration is going to help you with a b***** minded so and so who keeps on uprooting your postbox because he doesn't want it near his house, (there was nowhere else for the box to go as the post won't deliver down our track).  A letter from the Mairie saying he was breaking the law stopped that dispute before it got to shouting and/or threats.  Likewise with the man (not even of the commune) who stated he was allowed to cut wood next to our house at any time of the day because he was running a business and invited us to talk to the Mairie about it if we didn't believe him.  So we did and he wasn't.  He now cuts his wood during normal working hours which is fine.

However Mogs, if the Mairie told you to complain to the police about your neighbour I'd have done just that.  There's no point in trying to be nice or integrate with people like that - they're bullies (or bonkers) and people like that take niceness to be weakness and behave even worse.  I learnt that lesson from our first neighbour, a redoubtable lady who had to stand on a box to see over her wall.  There was a problem with chasseurs locally and we, new to France, tried to be polite and asked them nicely not to shoot over our garden, result no change.  The first time they shot over Madame B's garden she got on her box, and let fly hurling abuse and threats.  Prompt retreat of chasseurs.  The next time it happened with us we started to shout too, they left and didn't come back.

A lettre reccomandé can be effective too especially with the sort of nuisance the OP was having -  the French often don't take you seriously unless it's in writing, so a letter saying that you have neither the responsibility or authority to do something and so the addressee is asked to stop requesting you or your guests to do it or telling Madame X that you are sorry that you cannot let her graze her horses on your land shows that you're being serious.

Incidentally we've been here a long time and have always got on with our neighbours just as we would in an English village - some of them are great, some of them are indifferent to us (and vice versa) and there's the occasional prat.

[Catalpa]

Top post, Joanna. [8-|]

[Mac]

At last a sensible response from Joanna. In every community you live in there are some people that you get on with and some you don't. Just because we live in France does not mean that we have to put up with impolite and loutish behaviour( from either French or English) because we are afraid to make waves. If we live here legally or have a legally bought holiday homes we pay our taxes ect the same as the locals do and are entitled to the same courtesy. Integration has nothing to do with it-manners have.

I do get the feeling that S-C-L has the attitude (to paraphrase G.Orwell ) French good,British bad.

[Russethouse]

 I get the feeling that S-C -L thinks everywhere is like where he lives and all neighbours are like his too. Of course in an ideal world we'd all be friends and get on with neighbours but if thats the case we are lucky.

Steves experience is distilled into a short time - maybe if he was there full time it wouldn't be such a problem....

Any way Steve has decided to sell - bon chance.....

[cooperlola]

[quote user="Joanna"]just as we would in an English village - some of them are great, some of them are indifferent to us (and vice versa) and there's the occasional prat. [/quote]Much like a forum, really, Joanna.

[julia]

I have just got to the end of this thread, all the way through I kept waiting for someone to sugest a lettre recomade.

Over the years we have had various issues with neighbours, noise, tappage de nuit by the shedload, dog poo, illegal walls outside our window blocking light, all sorted out.

Speak to the people concerned first, if they have any respect or values they will see their wrongdoing and appologise, if not they will laugh , shrug and do it again. Then you go to the maire, report it, the person will receive a lettre . If they still continue, send a letter to the Maire, Gendarmes and the person concerned. we have also been as far as tribunal over one neighbour. problem now solved.

Do not always take your maires word for everything though, he advised us that our neighbour had the right to put up a wall in his garden which blocked the light to one of our rooms , as the wall respected the distances etc, we did not accept that ;;;it was only 60cm from our window and1m80 high, we spoke with our insurace jurifique, the distance should actually be 1 m 80 away from our wall, said wall now demolished , much to the disgust and cost of our neighbour.

So Steve next time someond comes up your drive to let their dog do its toilet, take note of who they are and scoop it up and give it them back, send them a lettre recomande quoted the laws on cleaning up dog mess!

Send the bloke who is harrassing you to cut someone elses hedge a lettre too. and send coppies of the lettres to the maire.

Stve, best of luck I know just how you feel!

But personaly I would stay where I am, once the lettres have been sent and people are informed what their own laws are...........after all they know them when it concerns them and their property, your peace and privacy should return.

And our French neighbours all fall out with each other too, latest example in our small road, we are 14 houses,1brit owner(us) one belgian holiday home, 6 french locataires the rest are french owners.

of these houses none of the locataires speak now, even though they all went to school together, 2 of the ajoining french owners had a huge argument only last week about cat poo and a window that looks into the others courtyard. one of the other french owners does not speak with 1 of the locataires even though they used to be great mate. The owner of one of the houses also owns one of the rented properties and she has threated eviction of her tennant beacuse of their behaviour.

Beleive it or not, we now have a very calm rue, because a lot of the voisins do not even acknowlege each other

[virginia.c]

Sound advice Julia. Pleased that it worked for you and that you now enjoy some peace!

[mogs]

We have only lived in our hamlet for 3 years, the first year we moved we built a house during a very difficult time health wise (I had cancer and underwent chemo, radiotherapy and surgery). During this time the said neighbours complained about noise, however we never made a noise during lunch hours, sunday afternoons, bank holidays or early/late. They also complained about bonfires (we adhered to restricted times), our children playing in the swimming pool and laughing, shreiking and even the smell of the farmer muck spreading and disco music from a nearby campsite!!

Sadly our newly built house caught fire after 11 months of living in it, we all stood and watched the house wrapped with flames, we totally lost everything. Fortunately we were well insured so the rebuild has begun since May this year. We've again been getting complaints that our builders are making too much noise, my OH has had the cement mixer going on a Sunday morning (for 10 minutes), we thought Sunday mornings to make a noise is ok but the other neighbour ganged up and said only a lawnmower. We've yet to check this point with the Maire but in any case, we apologised and turned the machine off when they moaned. BTW when we had the fire all the village offered help by way of clothes, and small items (except for these neighbours) and we made sure our thanks and appreciation was sent to everyone, people's kindness really touched us.

We've decided we are never going to win with these people, last year they called out the gendarmes 3 times because the neighbouring campsite had children playing in the pool and making a noise, during the day so we know it is not just us.

When we move back into the house once completed I have decided I will not tolerate this bullying any more so I will call out the gendarmes.

I just want to be allowed to live without harassment, intimidation and aggro for everything we do or don't do!

[Russethouse]

I'd never buy a property next to house with a pool, I had friends who had a pool and I know how much noise we all made - plus the four kids next door have got a 'maxi paddling pool' and the shrieking, hour after hour has to be heard to be believed. We work from home so after several several hours of high decibels we've had enough........and pray for rain [;-)]

 As they are generally very nice people we say nothing,  I like the sound of children playing but not the earsplitting screaching -  

[Patf]

By the sound of it, those of us who don't have problem neighbours should be grateful!

I think the secret is, find a house where the neighbours are all at least 200m away.

[cooperlola]

[quote user="Patf"]By the sound of it, those of us who don't have problem neighbours should be grateful!
I think the secret is, find a house where the neighbours are all at least 200m away.
[/quote]When I read the o/p's first post though, I got the distinct impression that they are relatively isolated and yet still there are disputes over boundaries etc.  We had a similar pain in the butt near us in the UK.  When she finally put a 7'solid wooden fence round our house and garden so we could no longer see across her fields (yes, fields, there was no house next door), we knew it was time to go.  Some people just have the capacity to destroy your will to live, especially if you are at home a lot during the day. 

[roxy]

This is just to say that my house is on the market in the UK with a view to me moving to France. As I am a single woman on my own, the preceeding posts have made me exceedingly nervous. I am too far down the line to reconsider - I wasn't expecting it to be a doddle but poison-pen letters, denunciations - crumbs, whatever have I done. 

[suein56]

[quote user="roxy"]... I wasn't expecting it to be a doddle but poison-pen letters, denunciations - crumbs, whatever have I done. [/quote]

The right thing, in my view. We love living where we do, have delightful neighbours and lots of friends. No poison-pen letters, no arguments, no boundary disputes. Though we do whinge, like everyone else hereabouts, about the rising cost of living ...

Sue

[idun]

Roxy have you seen this thread too?

http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/2621322/ShowPost.aspx

 

We never know the 'right' thing. We buy whereever and we haven't a clue as to how we will find our neighbours and they us. I don't see how it should be any different on a very basic level to anywhere else. There is good and bad,  the difference being that it is probably different to what we are used to and  there will still be good and bad and indifferent. In fact sometimes I have the impression that we spend more time looking when we buy a car than we do where we chose to actually live.

Also people move and then the new neighbours, what will they be like, or buildings could start being built nearby, but that is a risk anywhere.

 If it goes wrong in another country though, with different rules and a different language it could be harder.

As a woman if I were to move to France again alone, then it would have to be a city or big town, not a village. If I had found myself alone when I lived in France I would have left.  I have said this in the past and haven't changed my views about it.

Anyway, how is it too late? Surely it isn't too late to do more research and find somewhere where you will feel safe. I think that that is all any of us can want anywhere, to feel comfortable and safe in our home.