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Everything you always wanted to know about France |
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France Voila - Living, Renting or Buying
Our business is our advertising sites for property and rentals at http://rentalsfrance.com/ RentalsFrance http://francevoila.com/ France Voila Please make use of these sites for rentals and sales (and please do look at the adverts, they keep this newsletter going). ======= Plans for "Da Vinci Code" tours and tours to Cathar, Templar and "Holy Grail" sites in Languedoc are advancing - the demand I am getting is very big. Please write to me if you are interested, I am thinking of five days of air conditioned luxury, good food, wine and conversation for a small group in the South of France, plus other tours in paris, London and Edinburgh which can be planned together. mailto:tony@frepro.com tony@frepro.com ======= This week I write about... 1. Compulsory Road Safety Equipment 2. Calling Home - Cut the Cost 3. Property Management and Maintenance 4. Leasebacks, Big Problems Ahead 5. Renting a Villa With a Pool 6. Skype Me Up Scotty 7. EuroRail 8. Service in the Right Language 9. TV Licensing in France, New Rules ======= 1. Compulsory Road Safety Equipment Almost all European countries now require drivers to carry a warning triangle, in Spain you should carry two triangles, but the list of other compulsory equipment is growing fast. Many countries expect cars to be equipped with a first-aid kit; in others, including Greece, a fire extinguisher is obligatory; and Spain and the Czech Republic require drivers to carry spare headlight bulbs. In most cases, an instant fine is payable if regulations are not followed. It is extremely confusing, and quite expensive, to adhere to it all, says the AA. If you were to drive across Europe, you could pay £200-£300 to stay within the different laws. It believes the regulations may be in breach of the Vienna Convention, which states that cars need only comply with the relevant laws in their country of registration. A list of requirements for all European countries is available at... http://www.theaa.com/allaboutcars/overseas/compulsory_equipment.html All About Cars However, the traffic police will fine you first and you can argue after with the European courts to your hearts content - so if you are travelling do make sure you have the minimum equipment with you This list does not mention reflective safety jackets which are also required in Spain, so it is advisable to add this to the list for all countries. The best place to buy these items is in a Spanish or French Supermarket. ======= 2. Calling Home - Cut the Cost Here is a mail from a reader who is offering a low cost phone service... ...I have only been in France six months and in that time I have run up horrendous bills with France Telecom phoning home to my children, who like all children will call me and say call me straight back Mum ! I did tell them I was moving to France for a better quality of life, now that they have grown up, and I think they believe I am now saving loads of money and can afford to pay for all their calls! It was for this reason when I saw a small advert on TLK2 asking for agents to promote their new service in France to get cheap calls to the UK, I decided to pursue this opportunity. I must say I have been absolutely thrilled with the savings I have made (although Im not telling the kids) at 3 centimes a minute with no hidden charges, which is a fraction of what France Telecom charge, and certainly much less than other providers that are around. Not being fluent in French yet I was also pleased that it was a completely English speaking company and all the forms were in English, which knowing the amount of French forms I have had to fill in since arriving here was a very refreshing thought. I am now telling all my friends about this (all two of them well, I have only been here six months!) and I am sure they will tell all their friends too. So, if you would like to enjoy the savings I have made and not feel guilty each time you phone home then give me a ring or email me as follows and I will gladly help you switch over to TLK2 with no hassle: Tel: Ginny Groome 04 67 09 31 84 ginny.groome@fsmail.net ======= 3. Property Management and Maintenance One idea I have often wanted to see working is a network of people, or companies, who help owners manage their properties in France, either for rental of when they are away. Here is a mail from a reader who is setting up a service with the aim of franchising it to other regions... We have created a company in Gers (32)which provide upkeep and care of properties and grounds. We offer a large range of services for permanent and non permanent residents. We have our own site http://www.icn-services.fr ICN-Services Thierry DUFLOT +33 6 23 77 48 23 ======= 4. Leasebacks, Big Problems Ahead Tony We have completed our leaseback purchase for 18 months and only once during this time did we receive our rent on time. It now transpires that the managing agents have "sold" the management of the property to another company We have now received a letter from them advising that the property has not had good occupation levels and they are now asking us to agree to deferring the index rental increase for one year and thereafter to accept only 50% of the stated index increment. The letter contains a veiled threat as it states that once we agree to this change by signing the letter then normal quarterly payment of the rent will resume! We do not want to agree to this. This opposes all the reasons why we wanted to invest in this leaseback scheme. What do you think? We have another property that pays us the rent regularly but we had to claim back the VAT which took about 6 months. The process was undertaken by a French accountant appointed by the agent. I now find that we are registered as a company and we are having to pay VAT. We told him that we have a mortgage and this is a holiday property, but we still have to pay. Is this right? Many thanks for any assistance you can give. Sheron == Hello Sheron I am sorry to hear the problems you are having with your investment in leasebacks. Unfortunately this is becoming far more common as the ambitious returns forecast and rental levels projected, especially for Tourism, are not being met. The management companies are usually just a shell company with few assets and then there is nothing you can do to get compensation. Also the management company can confuse their trail by selling their leases to another company who makes lower offers, as in your case. Unless you are a French resident tax payer, there never were any advantages in the leaseback plans, it looks as if you are now caught in the system. I am looking for news and forums on this topic as I believe there has been a lot of misrepresentation. One I have found is http://forums.french-property.com/showthread.php?t=1021&goto=nextoldest Forum If enough people can support a new forum or can give me information about legal help etc I will look into opening one. best wishes Tony ======= 5. Renting a Villa With a Pool We will be renting a house in France and have a two year old child. The house only has a pool alarm - no other safety device or enclosure, can you tell me what the legal requirement is for pools at rental houses? Thank you, Wendy == Hello Wendy The law states clearly that - all properties in France with a fixed pool must have "An Approved Security Device" This includes "approved" fencing, barriers, alarms and covers. The approval is given by AFNOR http://www.afnor.fr/portail.asp AFNOR Each copy of the details costs about 75 euro and is in French, although there should be some translations by now - there are different reports for alarms and for barriers. Unfortunately it seems many of the "approved" alarm devices are not working correctly or have serious problems. We have heard that out of 22 devices originally approved only two are now satisfactory. There is still a huge amount of confusion about this Owners must have approved security or can face fines of 42,000 euro or imprisonment. Unfortunately our local Gendarmerie tells me that they have no instructions to do anything until next year, not have they been told what is approved or not. For years we have been campaigning for all pools to be properly fenced and gated to the standards of public pools. In my opinion an alarm telling you a child has fallen in (or a leaf, or it is raining) is useless, in water, kids can die in 35 seconds. Tony ======= 6. Skype Me Up Scotty I like Skype - 110 million people cant be wrong - well almost, unless they vote for the wrong person. I have never been comfortable with the telephone, it is intrusive, it is still expensive - especially mobiles and real conferencing conversations are not always an option. Skype http://skype.com/ Skype Is either free to anyone with Skype on their computer, to a land line is only 2c a minute, or to a mobile 23c a minute (UK, cheaper for other countries). There are many features, you can have local phone numbers and voice mail and they are adding new services fast - I just checked, there are now over 111 million users, over a million more since yesterday. Slowly I may get used to the phone culture - next I will be texting ======= 7. EuroRail We are promoting EuroRail from our sites, if you are coming to France then using the excellent and economical French rail service is the best way to get around. Check out their prices from the button on most of the pages at... http://rentalsfrance.com/ Eurorail ======= 8. Service in the Right Language One of the best ideas we have seen in a long while is "Pass The Phone", clearly readers are finding this valuable as many are signing up for total peace of mind when they are making their trip to Europe. The call center is in Spain and the team speak 5 European languages. From booking a table to help in an emergency, Pass the Phone can solve the problem for the price of a coffee and donut. Subscribe from our pages at http://1stps.com/passthephone.html Pass The Phone ======= 9. TV Licensing in France, New Rules Hello We've got an apartment in Cannes which is used for business rental and our occasional holiday use. It has a TV (terrestrial only) and DVD player - please would you be able to give me some advice about TV licences, so we don't fall foul of the TV detector van? Many thanks Fran === Hello Fran The television licence fee in France (mainland & Corsica) is 116.50 euro. It is now in the same area as income tax so evasion is a serious offence. All properties with any TV receiver must have a licence. I picked up this snippet of information recently but cannot find verification ... TV licence & local taxes To improve the recovery of the TV licence fee an invoice is now added to the local tax, the taxe d’habitation. The payment of this tax will be due either by 15 November or 15 December of each year. Some exemptions will apply. Companies will get their TV licence added to their VAT Hope this helps Tony ======= My mum is walking fine now afer her hip operation last month. Clio is preparing for her exams next month, Jack is now at the end of his first school and getting ready for Colege, Miranda is working hard and we are getting ready for our first summer i nthe new home. I really do try to reply to all mail, most are questions about property or living in France. I publish comments in this newsletter which I believe are of interest and may help find answers to questions put by others wanting to come to France. By linking the points I make to our weblog at http://www.fblog.com Fblog I hope readers will lookat all the adverts which help support our overheads. Our business is our advertising sites for property and rentals at http://rentalsfrance.com/ RentalsFrance http://francevoila.com/ France voila Please make use of these sites for rentals and sales (and do click on the adverts). ======= |
