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"on the black"


Patf
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[quote]will they also be making it illegal for me to clean the house as well ? yipee Mrs O[/quote]

Nice one Mrs O.

A good excuse for not doing the gardening either I think.

If people can't do their own electrics, painting, where will it all stop? Where does that leave that 90% or so of the British who buy houses to 'do up' themselves?

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As far as handymen are concerned, surely you can employ any local person  for some routine gardening and maintenance using the Cheque Emploi system, thereby legitimising the activity. I realise that it isn't suitable for contruction type work.
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Actually Quillan we're "holidayhomers" and we're with you "residents" on this. I'd much rather use a local artisan and certainly a registered and legal one and we've found (in our limited exposure admittedly)that the locals are rather more reliable and prompt than British builders and plumbers.

We've all paid our taxes - why should we support the cash in hand brigade who take from the state but never put back in?

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There is a report on this in this month's French News, in the Midi-Pyrenees section. I'll quote parts of it : " Most of the illegal work is performed on building sites, 46% in the Midi-Pyrenees," 27% in fruit and veg picking, , 28% in retail, hotels and restaurants." Any employer caught with undeclared staff can be sentenced to prison but is more likely to receive a stiff fine, in addition to having 6 months wages to pay the employee. Under french law the employee is only deemed a wrongdoer if he is receiving unemployment benefit or social minima." This sounds as if it applies to someone running an enterprise, rather than private employers. Or does it? French News sometimes gets things wrong. Pat.
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One of the biggest scams in France is employing unregistered immigrant workers. I don't mean holiday home owners using black-market Britsih tradesmen - though you might think so from some of these forums and press reports. It pales into insignificance alongside the building contractor on large building projects with teams of Arab or Eastern European labour, being paid a pittance but the custimer is charged full price. The same applies to seasonal work in areas like fruit picking, hotels and camp sites. In these cases the employer is the contractor, hotel owner, gangmaster etc.

That doesn't make the unregistered British cowboy builder any the more legal or acceptable, it just isn't a major fiddle in the same way as the big building projects, mainly in the south. I don't think French News has got it wrong, more perhaps presented it in a slighty ambiguous way to scare British home owners.

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This really should not be difficult. We are registered as an Artisan and as such carry ID cards issued by our local Chambre de Metier.

Also, and I think this has been covered before, if an unregistered person is working on your property for example, they are deemed to be your employee and as such you will be liable for any medical expenses should they have a accident.

Lets be careful out there!

www.uksatfrance.co.uk

 

 

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as such you will be liable for any medical expenses should they have a accident.

No, you COULD be liable.  Not all accidents are serious, and not all workers are vindictive enough to report you as the party entirely responsible for their accident.   I mean, someone turning up at Casualty with a cut requiring a few stitches doesn't get 3rd degree interrogation about the circumstances, and he wouldn't be stupid enough to say "actually, I was working illegally for a neighbour....." 

Serious accidents would be different, of course, and only you can decide the risk involved.

 

 

  

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Quillan, I think you were rude to say that Bobc was talking "utter tosh".  Rudeness does not become a moderator. 

Nor does attempting to justify why you are prepared to act illegally while living in France. 

Nor does your spelling.

It seems to me that your argument is that it's OK for you to break the law if there's only a low risk of serious consequences.  I find this quite illogical and utterly reprehensible, and for what it's worth my sympathies are entirely with Bobc.

Reminds me of the story of the lady who was appalled when a gentleman offered her £5 for sex, but who said she would certainly consider it for £10,000.  "What sort of person do you think I am", she said, "to sell my body for £5?"  To which the gentleman replied "Madam, we've established what sort of person you are; all we are arguing over is the fee".

I'm afraid criminality isn't divisible: breaking the law is breaking the law, however high or low the risk of a "fatal accident".   To suggest otherwise on this forum is an abuse of your position.

Incidentally, I'd sell my body for a bacon sandwich...

 

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We'd already got that bit SB

For one awful, cold-sweat second, I thought you were talking about me there, TU!

Fortunately for me, French men don't tend to carry bacon sandwiches around with them.  Or maybe they do, maybe they just don't offer them to ME!   

 

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