Gala Placidia's activity

Jane, my advice would be different. You should talk to your neighbour and explain what you would like to do and ask for his help and opinion. If you involve him in the project, he may surprise you. He is a professional and he knows what can or what cannot be done. And he will not object against his own project. You would have to pay professional fees; however, this is a small project and it should not be much. I guess that you paid for the geometra's ineffective intervention and other charges. To sell your property and to buy a new one also costs money and time. If everything fails, you can always look at other options. Forget abouut local gossip and inuendo. Never get mixed up in those things, particularly in a small town. Always talk nicely about everyone. And, as general advice to anyone doing renovations, never demolish any existing structures before getting a building permit in writing or an order from Council to demolish it, also in writing. You loose a valuable bargaining tool.

A most interesting post for us, as well as we were wondering about the topic. Perhaps Charlotte could look into the matter, particularly the jurisprudence case mentioned by Ram. This type of residency applies in Spain. If your income originates in another country, you can choose where you pay your taxes, providing that the two countrees have agreements in place to avoid double taxation. On the other hand, it is advisable to lodge a nil return form to avoid problems.I guess that it should be the same case throughout the EU. I know quite a few UK pensioners who do that in Spain.

I also think that if the owners are on site all the time, it makes a big difference, as Angie has said. The other alternative would be to have reliable caretakers, but then, you will be paying for those services. Would it be economically viable or justified?  

I tend to agree with Al. We have come to the realisation that renting a property - even a self-contained apartment, let alone a house with a pool and a garden - can be more trouble than a real advantage. We have had salt-water pools, fully automated and with a cleaning robot; however, every pool requires a certain amount of care and maintenance. If you live on the property and you take care of most of that maintenance yourselves, it is fine. If you rent the place, problems will occur. I would further say that a nice pool will be expected in a luxury property which is rented out. For an average property, I do not think that the trouble and expense are justified.  In any case, I do not think that renting out is worth the trouble, with or without a pool.

The grace period means that they are not going to fine anyone until the 1st of November, however, anyone involved in an accident before that date would be in a much better position by carrying a breathaliser in the car... and being able to demonstrate that he/she had not consumed alcohol before driving. The wording in French is important. In any case, the most important test will be the one conducted by the police.

Having difficulties with this post. Anyway, what I wanted to add was that there is plenty of information available on google.fr... in French.

The new French regulation is not an arbitrary one. Actually, the law requesting to carry a breathaliser in the cars goes back to 1970 but it was never implemented. In 2011, and due to the statistics that showed that a third of all deaths on French roads were linked to alcohol consumption prompted the Sarkozy government to finally do the necessary so that breathalisers would become compulsory. The death rate was particularly worrying as the UK's rate was 17% and Germany's 10% and it was not limited to people with a regular high alcohol consumption. In the majority of the cases, people involved in accidents simply had that extra drink that made the big difference. Also, the regulations give the choice between disposable kits and electronic gadgets, which are certainly more accurate. Because we frequently travel on French roads, we have an electronic one, although we do not drink alcohol whenever we are driving. If anyone is interested in the real reasons for this decision by the French government, you will find plenty of information visiti

You are really brave, Anne! In any case, the Club Alpino Italiano seems to have a wealth of information. See www.cai.it Please keep us informed.

Did you ever see a copy of the original planning approval? Do you know if such a document exists? Do you have a copy of the rescision of your permit stating on which grounds this has been done? It looks as if there is lots of talkand gossip but very little formal evidence. Has your geometra given you a copy of all relevant documents? 

Disgusting little monsters! It looks as if they also like ornamental plants and vegetables... quite voracious! Are there very many in your garden? What do you intend to do? Birds seem to love them.A few nests with hungry birdies may be the solution...