Thank you Corona, for your advice, I requested a ban earlier but the farm and his supplier the lorry driver, more important than myself. It is immoral
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Thank you Sandcastle, but the claim for wall damage fades into insignificance compared to the referral to Prosecutor for demolition.
Hi Rice Pudding, yes im chasing around over there to find someone…I am an absolute idiot for letting insurance lapse! I did it because I have 2 houses and 2 cars, not a huge income and was shopping around for a better price the French one has gone up so much.
Double checking - did you actively cancel your previous policy?
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As somebody else said though, Frebcg insurance does not normally lapse, it rolls over automatically year by year unless specifically cancelled. Did you go through the correct procedure to cancel it? If not you may find it is still in force and technically you are still covered but you are simply in arrears with the premiums. If that is the case and if your insurance includes protection juridique, then you are covered.
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Thank you Jane, I asked the municipal police to give me insurance details of lorry, received an email back from police to say can’t comment on wall referred to prosecutor. So an influential owner of a firm supplying farms does not want to pay so counterclaims my wall. The Mairie have not replied to any calls or emails or written to me to tell me where to write or call. Great service and a fiddle. I have both plans for house and hangar and it is on my land. However, I note the house plan in my pack from notaire, contains plan showing boundary and stamped by Marie. When I check the hangar plan …the house plan boundary seems to have changed, although I have never been alerted or informed of this,
Thanks Jane, yes its an issue, I insure with an English company, clearer and non of that non cancellation
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The actual boundary will not have changed - but plans can have inaccuracies, indeed boundaries are sometimes disputed.
The 100% (or as close as possible) way to determine the boundary is to pay a géomètre to survey the boundaries.
This is an important point, not just legal matters either but you have to remember that when you move into a different country basically all your instincts are wrong.
If you move to a similar culture - and that of France and the UK are not completely dissimilar most of the time you will be close enough but France has a completely different legal system (it’s not even close, though superficially some things work in a similar fashion), even a different idea about basic contract law.
Move to a significantly different culture and the “culture shock” can be extreme - it’s quite common for foreign immigrants to Japan to really struggle, for instance.
You absolutely have to work out the “French” way of doing things. or you will come unstuck. You might still be frustrated, of course, as even the French can run itnto frustrations with bureaucracy.
One difference, is that unlike the UK it is mandatory to have buildings insurance, if you don’t you could not only be personally liable if any counterclaim succeeds but in separate bother because of the lack of cover.
I think there may still be a problem there for the OP for two reasons
- not informing the insurance company within sufficient time about the incident; and
- attempting to deal with the claim yourself in the first instance.
Both of these would generally cause a problem for the insurer which would apply whether a UK insurer or French.
In the meantime perhaps, as this is a French house, maybe @fabien has a view?
Maybe closing the stable door etc but there are lessons to be learnt.
I think Suzan has clarified the position which is that her property was insured by an English company - a quick Google suggests that there is at least one company offering such cover.
However, if it has truly lapsed that opens up another potential problem because it isn’t optional in France.
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This is what I was asking about.
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Like you probably do at the moment, I used to think that the difficulty changing insurer in France was overly restrictive.
But these days I see it as protection as much as anything else - it mainly applies to house/buildings and motor insurance. Both situations where insurance is mandatory and both where a 3rd party could have difficulty getting recompense if you are not covered.
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It was actually designed for this as “the French” tend to be a bit disorganised and if given the opportunity of not being insured then a good third of the population would have insurance gaps (even if illegal) so the gov made the cancellation processes part of the law (code des assurances) to make sure that it is very difficult to have an insurance gap. Although, like all restrictions, this can create some frustrations from time to time but let’s just call it a small cultural difference 
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I do but I may be missing a couple elements though. It is important to understand that it is mandatory to have the house insured at least for public liability. The fact that it was a non EU insurance company insuring the property is by itself a massive issue as we must not confuse being insured (being able to file a claim in case something happens to our property) and being insured toward others (public liability) - as @billybutcher pointed out, if her liability were to be engaged there are no certainties as to whatever a non EU insurance company would comply to EU regulations in terms of mandatory cover. Because of that, if I were to be selling a UK policy, underwritten by a UK insurance company and if anything happens I would risk being prosecuted for my “poor judgment” and the client would be entitled to sue for “défaut de conseil” (lack of advice) which is the worst thing that can happen to an insurance intermediary in France. All that to say that France is very harsh (on paper) on insurance gaps and non EU cover because it’s almost never compliant in case of a big claim and may leave people in a really messy situation. Sure French policies may be more expensive and with harsher management rules but at the end of the day, if we’re not compensated in case of a claim even the cheapest policy is super expensive if we’re only buying an insurance certificate, wouldn’t it be?
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Always interesting when pan eu insurers offer the services from one country to another, as usual with insurance, one never knows until the claim is filed if they keep their promise of indemnfying the policy holder.
Your wall is in the wrong place? Next thing this sleazy lorry driver and his company will be saying the wall moved, jumped up and hit his truck.
Do what Robert says, exactly as he says, and asap, as there may be time limits.
After you’ve done that, personally I’d have a friendly word with the notaire as to whether any silly accusations about the wall on your own land could have any merit at all.
I don’t suppose you got any pictures on your phone, when the incident happened?
You could ask Que Choisir.org if their advice service (telephone) could help, to access it it costs about 50-80 euros a year for a subscription, pick the one that gives you access to ask for help with domestic-type problems 4x per year, I am not sure if they exclude motor impacts with domestic property.
Would be interesting to know what case against who the Prosecutor is considering this is not clear to me.
You may end up having to get a French lawyer depending how far this goes. But what Robert says is absolutely the next step.
Apologies for making assumptions earlier. I did not even realise it is possible to use a UK insurer to insure a property in France. It seems an anomaly that foreign insurers operating in France are not obliged to follow standard French practices and can leave their customers exposed in ways that French law has been specifically designed to prevent happening.
But I agree that Robert’s advice is sound.
No matter how influential the other part is, he cannot retrospectively change the plan cadastral and prove that your wall is in the wrong place if it is not. That would not be possible. Facts are facts and those are what any judge or prosecutor has to look at. I would not be too concerned at the lack of response to your questions at this stage, if the matter is going through the system you will have to wait for the processes to take their course, the lack of response is not necessarily bad news, it is just that people have to be careful not prejudice the outcome by interfering.
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I can tell you re professional liability insurance, the underwriter (Lloyds) for my professional liability insurance, had to move all of their obligations to an EU based entity (they chose Brussels).
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Hi Sandcastle,
No, the insurance taken out for holiday homes in UK is totally good and partners with French insurance companies, it just takes 10 minutes and I have option of not renewing. I don’t speak good French and have problems in past communicating with French insurers, my car is with French but not house. I have managed to get help from a concilleutur who sounds caring and good. Also as rice pudding points out likely will be a counter claim from guilty lorry driver! A joke! Honestly, washing my dishes ups in kitchen and truck hits wall…my life is turned upside down! I didn’t drive my wall at him your honour 
But was your English wall on the correct side of the road, did it have a UK sticker on it? Ok I’ll stop now 