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Everything you always wanted to know about France |
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France Voila - Newsletter #65
Pezenas - France - September 28 , 2002 1. A Place in the Sun - See Us On TV 2. The Berendina - a Dream Afloat 3. Restaurant Reviews 4. What's Going on at School 5. Owners in France - Belt and Braces Needed 6. Renting Your Property In France 7. Discounts and Coupons from us 8. Update on Swimming Pool Safety Standards 9. Nizas - Television - Yoga and Wine Plus answers to some of your questions and a new regular series of restaurant reviews starts at... http://francevoila.com/ The archives with over 600 features and articles are at... http://francevoila.com/archives/ == Sent from France by.. http://francevoila.com/ All you need to know to visit - or live - in France. Full details to subscribe, change address and unsubscribe are at the end of this newsletter. Write to me at... mailto:tony@nizas.com I really do try to answer all letters - if you don't hear from me in a few days - write louder. ===== Thank you to everyone who wrote asking if we were affected by the floods in Southern France - Our valley, where Nizas sits in the sun, was not affected but we saw the storms all around us. We were in Aix en Provence on the day the rivers burst their banks and saw the blocked roads and emergency services, it wasn't until I got home I realized we had just missed serious dangers and tragedies. ===== 1. A Place in the Sun - See Us On TV I think it was Andy Warhol who said "everyone will have 15 minutes of fame" - well we got ours last week when the UK television crew came to our house in Nizas to interview Carole and me for the popular (5 million viewers ?) program "A Place in the Sun". Needless to say we had never seen it, but my Mum was most impressed when I told her. It was a hot sunny day and for 4 hours we were in front of the cameras in our garden and we were not allowed to drink from our full glasses (continuity). The idea is that a couple come from England to look for their dream home in France and our part was to talk to them about life here. We really enjoyed ourselves (especially when they stopped filming) and the crew were charming and wonderful to be with. The Mayor of Nizas took part and our garden was full of our friends. So look out for us after Christmas in the cold grey weather when you can see a bit of genuine Nizas sunshine. http://nizas.com/film/ ===== WHAT LANGUAGE DO I WRITE IN ? I am always getting into trouble for my spelling on our websites and in this newsletter. I am originally from the UK and when I write words like center and realize I am told I am wrong although they look fine to me. But then I cannot bring myself to write words like nite and tire (night, tyre) but I do usually say auto and realtor (instead of car and estate agent) so it seems there is no consistency in my writing. In fact I am trying to communicate as efficiently as possible so that the maximum number of readers will understand me. This newsletter goes to 73 different countries and people from many more countries look at our sites. Add to this the fact I am working every day with computer programs which mostly use an American spelling standard so I do mix up the spellings. If it really annoys anyone I am sorry (but not very much). I cld b wrse nd rit in texto spk. ===== 2. The Berendina - a Dream Afloat Regular readers of these newsletters will know I am a great fan of the Canal du Midi. This truly magical waterway was built in the 17th century to join the Atlantic to the Mediterranean. A fantastic engineering feat which was thought to be impossible, the canal passes through some of the most beautiful countryside in France and is officially a "World Heritage " site. Most days I am sitting in front of a computer screen and writing about wonderful homes for vacations here in France, but rarely seeing them, so when I was asked if we would like to spend a few days on one of the luxury boats for hire on the Canal du Midi, naturally I jumped at the chance. The owners of this classic Dutch barge which was built in 1920 had a few days free between charters and the Tidswell family started preparing for the voyage. It would be less than true to say there was wild enthusiasm by the younger members, our two teenage girls and an 8 year old football fan were showing signs of TV withdrawal symptoms. The short drive from our home to the home base of the Berendina was painless and the first sight of the boat was encouraging. As soon as we were aboard, Clio, Miranda and Jack chose their personal staterooms, each with private bathroom and shower (plenty of hot water). Jack found the ships bell and was told he could ring it once a day. They were all totally captivated and we all enjoyed a wonderful time together. You can see the website at... http://ahfrance.com/ The layout of the boat is slightly different from their website, there are now three staterooms with the crew quarters at the front. We could only spare two days over the weekend, work and school made sure of that, but the boat, it's Skipper Neil and his wife Katherine worked a magic spell that made the trip an intense and wonderful experience. Neil has Skippered charter boats for 42 years and is one of the most experienced captains afloat - but this is only a part of his talent - he is a genius of a cook. With a rich and varied life, never far from the sea, Neil is the perfect companion on a trip. Katherines' knowledge of the local area is phenomenal and to share her pleasure of France and this classic waterway is a joy. Designed to accommodate 6 people in great comfort, a cruise on the Canal du Midi with Neil and Katherine in their floating home is to experience the very best of France. Fresh market vegetables and fruit, three different cheeses with each meal, some of the best wines in the world, often selected from the vineyards we passed through and the cooking was all of the highest possible standard. I could fill a book with our experiences from just this short weekend voyage, Katherine brought up their air conditioned "people carrier" and we took a trip to the Cathar stronghold of Minerve. She also arranges trip to the local markets as well as wineries and the many historic towns and villages. We all made two very special friends in Neil and Katherine and have no hesitation in recommending their wonderful service. In a 14 day trip to France, you could incorporate a 6 day charter with a start in Paris and an end in Provence, we can arrange this for you. I never thought I could enjoy going slowly through our local countryside and not miss the computer and the e-mail piling up - now I can't wait to be able to go again. http://ahfrance.com/ ===== PETS IN FRANCE Hello! I found your email address on the France Voila site, and I was wondering if you could give me some information about bringing two cats and one dog to France. We are moving from the US to Paris in October. What are the requirements for the animals? Thanks a lot! Sincerely, Sarah == Hello Sarah Travelers may bring their dogs and cats to France under certain conditions. For more information, call the Agriculture Attache at the French Embassy in Washington, D.C. at Tel: 202-944-6361. Tony == If you are coming from the UK, I have found this useful site who can help and advise http://www.dogsaway.co.uk/ ===== 3. Restaurant Reviews We started our own restaurant reviews, with a slight difference, you get two for each place we visit, one from either Carole or myself and the other from one of our children. We have several to report but there never seems enough time - however, I have just heard from someone far more qualified to write about French cuisine, Graham Tigg will soon be a neighbour of ours. http://www.cix.co.uk/~gtigg/ I have been a fan of Grahams' recommendations for 5 years and have never found his judgement or comments to be wrong. I have his permission to link back to his site from some of our properties where he has visited a local restaurant so I hope this will be a useful feature. ===== PROPERTY INVESTMENT IN FRANCE Tony, I have friends who have just moved to France who are builders. We are looking at buying a property that needs quite a lot of refurbishment for renovation and then sale. We intend to put any profit back into a larger property and start again. Can you please advise me on the best route or website to search for a property. Many thanks Rob == Hello Rob Over 40,000 properties in France will be sold to UK first time owners this year add all the other people from the USA, Germany, Scandinavia and many countries buying property in France and you will see the only way to be able to find suitable properties is to be here "on the ground". My advice is not to try to renovate old properties as an investment project, either for resale or for rental - it invariably costs much more than first estimates indicate - French builders never give fixed quotes on anything other than a new building - very wisely. There is a lot of talk, websites, discovery tours etc about buying property in France for "investment" - this is very misleading. There are some opportunities but unless this is your business, keep away. Come to France because it is the place which suits you, not because you want to make a profit. There are a lot of costs, taxes and expenses in having a property for investment - we are constantly researching this to give our clients the latest and best advice. Tony ===== 4. What's Going on at School Dawn Ramsay has written an inspired piece about her personal experiences of the first few weeks for her daughter in the local French school... http://francevoila.com/features/ramsay/school.html This article makes some very important points and is a "must" for anyone considering bringing their children to France. ===== BUYER BEWARE Hello, we are desperately looking for any advice regarding a property in the Lot, which we have agreed a price on . We do have a French speaking, English based solicitor who has advised us not to go ahead with the purchase because a tenant residing in part of the house is not being written into the contract and signing that she will leave on a fixed date. However the draft contract from the Notaire states vacant possession on completion!. The house is of course everything we want, but we just don't know which way to go.Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. Regards Martin & Alison. == Hello Martin and Alison Unfortunately I agree with your UK solicitor - tenancies in France (as in many places) are strong legal rights and you could find that you have a lifelong problem - even longer as this could be passed on to the tenants relatives. The Notaire is mainly a "tax collector" and the horror stories we have heard of negligence and incompetence would fill a book. Only sign when there is clear vacant possession. Hope this helps Tony ===== 5. Owners in France - Belt and Braces Needed Don't get caught with your pants down. If you own a property in France and get any income from it from rentals then you must make a declaration to the French tax authorities. This is most important and there are no exceptions. I cannot stress hard enough the importance of making sure you are correctly registered for taxation in France, any money earnt in France MUST be declared for tax in France - it does not matter if France is not your principal residence, or you are not a resident of France (although you may be surprised to find that in fact you are, you can be a resident of more than one country according to French law). If your property is in France - then ANY income from this property is considered as being earned in France. The Good News is: Making a declaration of the income does not necessarily mean you will have to pay tax on that income in France. Most countries now have "double taxation" agreements with France and the UK has a very special relationship, you can declare the income in your own country (it is likely that you are also obliged to declare this but I am only concerned with the French tax laws). But, if you do not declare the income from your property in France and the French tax office finds out that you are letting your property (and they will - they certainly will) then you will be assessed for tax, plus interest, plus fines with a 7 year statute of limitations if you can prove that you made an error (very difficult) and no limitation if they claim you acted to evade taxation. The taxes are not penal and declaration is simple, local tax offices I have found to be very helpful and you often deal with one person across a desk (even getting a cup of coffee if you are lucky). The Bad news is: With modern communications and the new laws in place from OEDC, with very few exceptions (at this moment only : Luxembourg, Monaco, Malta and Switzerland - but only for a few more years up to 2010), there is no secrecy from ANY bank anywhere, all information about all income and interest paid is now freely exchanged between governments and your bank is not allowed to inform you of this - in fact if your bank manager (do they still exist) tips you off they personally face a prison term. Even worse, all banks are now legally obliged to report any income from overseas or any "unusual" transaction. This "exchange of information" has completely reversed the way ALL banks, especially "offshore banks", operate. This has accelerated since September 11 2001 and all governments are now very active in collecting taxes where people have interests across national borders. In fact we are discovering that this form of revenue generation is the biggest growth industry in the world and it does not take any skill or intelligence to research and enforce. Since 2001, if you evade tax on your rental income you are classified in the same group as international terrorists and drug dealers and face the same penalties and policing. Part of our service to owners is to make sure they get the best deal and are compliant with all the latest laws and standards, we can also assist with specialist financial advice through our associates. you would like more information we are adding more articles to our pages at... http://francevoila.com/rentals/ or you can write to me at... mailto:tony@francevoila.com ===== MY MAILING SERVICE Tony- Thank you so much for sending out all of this great information. I learned in one of your most recent emails that you are very satisfied with mail-list.com. We are looking to change to a new company and the price is right for that company. Can you give me a little more information about the level of service you have received? I did look them up on the website. The problem we are having is that our companys' server is often busy/down and so we cannot send a group email instantaneously. Have you had any trouble with this? Any other comments/complaints/rave reviews? Merci beaucoup! Genevieve == Hello Genevieve I have been dealing with mail-list.com for over 4 years and have never had a problem with their service or their delivery. They have a very powerful set of tools to help you and I have always found them helpful and give immediate assistance. I consider them excellent value, I have recommended them several times to other webmasters and have only had very good feedback about their services. Success with your mail list Best wishes Tony http://mail-list.com/ ===== 6. Renting Your Property In France Our business is serving clients who rent private vacation properties and helping owners of these properties to present a good service. We are not an advertising website. The Internet has rapidly changed the way all travel and vacation business is being run, recent studies show that now over half of all travel business uses Internet as the main source of information and over 35% of transactions are directly Internet based. The Internet is now the single largest supplier of travel and tourism services. Some ticketing operations are almost totally Internet based, RyanAir, for example, now gets 97% of their sales and reservations through the Internet. We have been developing our Internet services for Villa and Apartment rentals in France since 1997, not as an advertising site for property owners, but exploring ways to give a service to the people renting the properties. Our sites are designed to be personal and simple to use. We are now in the process of building new services using some "state of the art" systems to give more functionality to our services as we are having to increase both the quantity and the quality of the properties we offer, yet at the same time we will try hard to keep the personal touch realising that all vacations are a big investment in time and money. If you have a property in France which you are renting or considering renting, please contact us and we can work with you to design the best marketing arrangement to suit your needs. We do not have a rigid framework as we realize (realise) that there are many different preferences and requirements for both owners and renters. There is some information at... http://francevoila.com/rentals/ and you can write to me at mailto:tony@rentalsfrance.com ===== DRIVING IN FRANCE Dear Tony We are renting your property during the Christmas Holiday. We are also renting a car to travel around the district during this time. I am an extremely nervous passenger. I need to know what are the "rules" to be driving a car in France. We need to know the fine points of driving a motor vehicle in an unfamiliar area of Europe. If you have some time, please let us know. My efforts in "surfing" the net have been very unproductive. Thanks Nancy == Hello Nancy This is a most important question - there is an article with many links and advice at... http://francevoila.com/features/driving.html best wishes Tony ===== 7. Discounts and Coupons from us As I get more deeply into the new design and services for our websites, I am finding that a few of the properties we are listing have different prices on some other sites. In earlier newsletters I explain some ways you can search for other listings for a property and I say then and repeat now WE WILL NOT BE UNDERSOLD - what I mean is that if you find any property rental we are showing on any of our sites is listed at a lower price somewhere else, we will make sure you get that property at the best price available. Not only that, we will giver you a voucher to use to reduce the cost even more. As a starter we are offering everyone who subscribes a free coupon, if you have not yet got yours get it now (only one per e-mail/surface-mail address) http://rentalsfrance.com/coupon/ Checking my logs it seems a few people may not have got the page correctly so if you have not printed your coupon out yet do try again. The database will tell me if you are trying to print out more than one so no cheating. Some agencies and owners we deal with may be offering discounts for next year. We will be adding a special link on their property pages which will enable owners to instantly show special offers. ===== ADSL IN FRANCE Love the site Tony! I can see it will be a valuable resource for me. We are in love with France and need to know more about the availability of ADSL or Broadband in the South of the country, my business relies on the internet. Do you know any way I can check availability for these in a given area? Thanks in Advance Mike == Hello Mike To find out if ADSL is in a town in France, go to this page http://www.ligneadsl.francetelecom.com/ Cable will depend on the city and the contractor - most big cities are on cable. We have ADSL in Pezenas Best wishes Tony ===== 8. New Swimming Pool Safety Standards in France Dawn Ramsay has been researching the new laws relating to private Swimming pools in France. In the last newsletter she outlined the proposals. Well the law is passed, the dates are fixed for enforcement and the power for policing and prosecution has been put in place - however there are some slight hitches. Dawn has done more research and you can read her findings here... http://francevoila.com/features/ramsay/pools2.html ===== SHOPPING AND BUYING Dear Tony, My husband and I are very interested in purchasing a piece of land in the Lot region. Would it be possible for you to give me a real estate agent 's e-mail or fax contact ? Let me take this opportunity to inform you that I have a personal shopping service and I mail just about anything from pharmacy product to food items to clothing.....to Americans overseas. Please pass this on to your "followers". Awaiting a reply I remain, Respectfully yours, Joelle mailto:jmahe519@hotmail.com == Hello Joelle Finding good estate agents is a nightmare - I have given up on recommending people. More property is still sold privately than through agents - owners and buyers do not like the high commissions and often poor advice given. We are developing our sites and expanding to be able to give more information and introductions for buyers and sellers. Our colleague, Dawn, in the West may be able to help some more. I like the idea of your service to ex-pats and will give you a (free) ad in my newsletters (I include Joelles' e-mail address above) Best wishes Tony ===== 9. Nizas - Television - Yoga and Wine The holes in front of our house are all filled in and we have new water pipes and drains all through the medieval heart of Nizas. They filled the holes with the black basalt from the local quarry so it now looks like a diabolic beach from our front door. No doubt the barrel will also reappear soon. Our personal highlight was the TV crew in our back garden (see article 1), but for all the village it is the harvest which is the most important event in September. We are a working farming village, huge grape harvesting machines tower over the street as they growl their way from field to field. It is like a crazy Formula One race with giant blue and yellow harvesters (Renault F1 colors) zipping home to lunch. Most grapes are machine picked and the hand picking is only for table grapes and some older vines which are too close together. There are still a few specialists who make wine only from the hand picked fields, but this is getting rarer. Many people write to me asking if they can come to France and do some grape picking. The work is very hard and unless you are experienced you will not be wanted as you can slow down a team, even if your back and knees can take the strain after the first few hours. I managed to take four days off and go on a relaxation yoga course run by Anne Soulet. Anne and I have been exchanging e-mails for over 2 years and it was a delight to meet her at last. She has a home not far from us in Audabiac north of Uzes http://rentalsfrance.com/granddarene/ To find I am not only overweight, but in a general condition that if I was a car I would not be allowed on the road, is an important discovery. I will do something about it - after the wine festivals next month. To find out more about Anne.. http://www.geocities.com/asoulet/index.html My thanks also to June, Deborah, Nina and Trish for putting up with me. One of the many highlights of the stay was the communal feast we had with other villagers around the ancient village oven in Audabiac. To see some photos of my trip to Audabiac.... http://nizas.com/feast/ ===== ARTISTS IN FRANCE Dear Tony, I wanted to let you know how much I enjoy your ongoing news from your part of France! It is like opening a friend's letter and catching up on all of the community activities and the seasons' delights in reading your newsletter. Also, I am an artist and I have a question, is France still as accommodating of artists as it used to be? Would I be taxed on selling paintings sold in France as well as works sold outside of the country if I were living in France? As you can see, my dream has always been to be an artist living in France. Can you give me some general clues to the viablilty of this dream? Merci, Janine == Hello Janine Yes France has a special warmth towards all types of artists and performers. Individual tax questions are always difficult, but the general rule-of-thumb is that - if you live in France you are liable to be taxed on all your income from anywhere - no matter where the income is earnt. If you bring the money into France - you will be liable to tax. But you do need individual advice. Best wishes Tony |