I envy you Sarah, I wish I was bi-lingual, am fairly fluent but there are certain situations when officialdom spots an accent and you immediately have to argue twice as hard.
We also have a huge TF on our house, we had never owned before so it never entered our head to query what it was at the time. Have also spent a deal of time at the Hotel des Impots - we reduced the size of our house by knocking out the 3 'rooms' in the grenier and split the rest of the house into 2 small apartments, which as you can imagine was fun explaining the house had shrunk. No reduction in Taxe Fonciere as it still covered the same amount of land and floor space, it is only the habitation that can be reduced as far as I am aware, believe me I also tried for two years.
Hi Sarah,sorry to read of your problem,I can't offer any help but you have my sympathy.The taxe fonciere and the taxe habitation are a killer for me too,2000 euros straight out at the end of the year.I don't know where they think we can find such money on a non existant income,well for me anyway. Courage!
We moved a couple of years ago and sparked off a reassessment of our taxe foncière - frightening as the last time it was done the house didn't even have mains water so we're having to prepare ourselves for a horrendous increase (just when we thought we'd finished paying exhorbitant taxe foncière too on our last place !!!)
I tried trados (the industry leaser) but it's so heavy and I never really needed most of the functions. Wordfast is free (you just need to set up a new memory base every X-thousand words) and does the same job in a far lighter package - unclean version is the same as trados one so no problems with agencies when they ask for it. As for the degree, I don't think that'd help once you're established with agencies - they seem to go more on the quality of your work - obviously! but it does help when you're looking for new contacts work. I haven't got a specific translation degree but a UK BA hons french and italian and a french maîtrise français langue étrangère, plus UK PGCE MFL - more of a teaching bag of qualifications but all languages and so no-one ever asked for anything more. I'd go for a French uni if you can (they have problems with anything non-standard - mature students/correspondance courses etc. but perhaps that has changed by now, I hope so!) as it avoids all those problems of recognition too - I've never had any of that thanks to my maîtrise. For the record, about 90% of my work used to be for agencies, the pay is less per word but the regularity of the work ment I earnt better money and had no hassle getting paid, which I once did from a private client.
The Hussier cannot 'just pass by and help himself". He can come and say what they would take, but then you and the Hussier have to go before a judge, for a court order.
ha ha, c'est ce que je dis trop souvent à ma femme - je serai déjà parti aussi mais pour être honnête je ne suis pas sûr que ce soit meilleur ailleurs ! :-O
Tracy I heard that too. That you have to pay the TF just for owning the property whatever the state of it. I was asking around for someone I know in a similar situation and that is what I was told.
Good one - no I am not but will check them out! Thank you!
Sarah, if you belong to the Familles Rurales they are great at helping negotiate and resolve disputes. Well worth the 25Euro annual fee.
J'ai tout à fait d'accord! Si je n'avais pas mon chéri et ma vie ici j'aurai déjà partie
If you are really getting nowhere with the tax and you believe that you are being treated unfairly, you can try the médiateur de la république which is a free service and has an office at the préfecture. HTH.
Thanks for the kind words
Yes I do a lot of admin for Brits but this is the first time I have had to battle for almost 5 !!! years
BTW re my translation job I 'may' finally be doing my MA - I am doing so much agency work that I need to get up to speed on CAT skills...am currently looking at my old uni (UCL) and other UK unis but am interested in doing it at a French uni simply because I speak and work in French more than in English. So despite the s**t there are still positive things going on :-)
BTW everyone
In 2010 les impots started sending out TF declaration forms as they are re-evaluating all properties in France
The last time this was done was in 1970ish
I pay the 'new rate' as I sent my first declaration in 2010 (although they conveniently ignored the 'mauvais état' section)
The rise in TF will be so huge that the huissier and consultant at the Castres Impots both said 'ça va pêter' and that they are expecting a catastrophic result.
For example I pay 1,200e for 184 sq m - roughly 7e per sq m
My neighbour, who has not yet filled out this form, pays 900e for 400 sq m
In other words when she receives the form she will find herself liable to pay in the region of 2800e
This is a shocking rise
I can confirm this as the day I was told about my 2010 onwards 'rates' I was also interpreting for a Brit client so spent a large part of my day running round the building checking this info out with the various departments
So if you receive a letter titled 'mise à jour des informations cadastrales' you are on the list of properties being currently revalued and if it is accompanied by form Cerfa no 6650 then make sure you are clear about any uninhabitable parts of your property. And kick up a fuss if these are not taken in to account.
The TF is partly calculated according to commune you live in - in my case a conservation area so it is higher and the mairie spends a lot of money on our local tourist hotspots...hence the reason why when I sell I am moving to the village next door where the TF rate is much much lower
Thanks again for all the advice and I will be on the case today :-)
je crois qu'on est déjà passé le point de non-retour - la france est foutue, et le pire c'est que c'est nous qui payons !!! :-O
French - I am bilingual and a professional translator so no probs there
I will try the asso route plus Shaun's recommendation
The irony is that I earn an okay living but pay a fortune in charges and just keeping my house from falling down is a drain
It has been on the market for two years...keep dropping the price but NOTHING in this rural area is selling
I do know that the TF is payable but only on habitable parts! In my case that is only half the building
Thank you so much Shaun!
I will get in touch but if I can't find him I will message you :-)
I am at the tax office at least once a month - and have been since I bought the building
They are nice, are horrified by the photos that they have seen, but as Terry rightly says they are insisting that I pay up until a decision is made
BTW (and ironically) I interpret for the tax office/private clients and I also run an asso so they know me well
Problem is I can no longer pay so need to find a way to get them off my back and make them move faster on my file
Thank you! I was planning to look up assos and I also spoke to one of our conseil municipales yesterday evening...he says I am far from the only one and believes it is time for France to 'descendre dans la rue'