I’ve watched some of the ‘Chateau’/‘New Life in the Sun’ progs and a lot of it is made for tv nonsense, if the people featured really did break as many laws as is suggested then they and Channel 4 would be in the shit. Many episodes of both programmes feature the local Maire, do people really think that he or she would be willing to appear on camera effectively endorsing the use of unregulated/illegal foreign workers and sit by swimming pools with no security?
I think you may have misunderstood. By “making a profit” I meant, sell at a higher price than you paid.
Eg you pay 25k for a house, spend 25k on employing workers who don’t have siret numbers or on buying building materials and DIYing, sell at 50k. You pay CGT on 25k, ie the difference between buying price and selling price, because you can’t offset any of the cost of the work.
Pay 25k, get 25k of eligible work done by registered French artisans, sell at 50k, and you can offset the invoices so no CGT to pay.
I think what john means is as the French artisans will probably cost €40k rather than €25k you won’t make as much profit even when setting the cost against tax.
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We stayed in a house in the Languedoc last Sept. No pool security of any kind. The owners had another house with exactly the same set up not far away. We were surprised as we thought security was law.
It amazes me that anyone would rent a house with pool unless there was a fence.
We have a private pool and have an alarm, also our garden is completely fenced off. Even so I have a system of accountability when our grandson is staying, one person is nominated at all times to be responsible for him, that way there is no confusion as to who is watching him.
Fair enough. But we’ve probably all seen posts by very upset people who had expected to be able to offset all their improvement costs got a nasty shock when their notaire explained that the cost of DIY improvements and invoices with no siret number cannot be taken into account.
However the figures are more likely to be:
Buy at 25k€, spend 25k€ with labour/materials from the UK, sell at 50k€ and potentially pay 26% of that as CGT and social charges,
OR
Buy at 25k€, spend 50k€ with French materials and Artisans (for the same work), try to sell at 75k€ and hopefully pay no tax having offset their charges,
But in the meantime be 25k€ poorer.
Or find you can only sell at 50k€ and be permanently 25k€ poorer.
Don’t get me wrong - I think that it is preferable to use local workers where possible (and I have tried to do so for our place) but the French system of high social charges and tight control on small businesses means they are more expensive and you can see why people don’t always want to use them - there was a quote for 500€ for installing a satellite dish mentioned in another thread; the going rate in the UK is less than £200 for Finagle’s sake.
All true.
But then there’s the issue of, does it have all the correct guarantees on major work - because if it doesn’t you will have to have disclose it, have a clause inserted in the acte de vente to the effect that the buyer agrees to waive their rights, and come down on the selling price or even lose a potential sale; or alternatively, risk expensive comeback if you don’t disclose it/get the buyer’s agreement to waive your responsibility, and a fault become apparent after the sale within the 10 year guarantee period.
It’s six of one and half a dozen of the other I think, the gamble can pay off or it can bite you in the bum.
Absolutely.
It’s really not surprising that rural property in France which needs significant work doing tends to stay that way.
It is, and high penalties…
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A lot depends on who you find. We were quoted a similar price each for replacing 4 old Velux skylights when the units themselves were available from Bricosheds for about €300 each.
Velux appoint their own approved suppliers and fitters and will give you an online quote. Ours were done for €450 each, supplied, fitted and the old units removed, all with a ten years guarantee. The agent traveled from nearly 60kms away to do the work and all four were completed in the day. All I had to do after was a small amount of filling and painting.
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Will bear that in mind for future work.
Hi John
Do you offer a consultancy service for potential pool owners, thanks.
Regards
Graham Wilson
gw1234@btinternet.com
0044 7860879537
Cognac/London
Hi Graham, yes I do. Contact you via email, quite busy at the moment though.
Are you Basia or Graham… or … ???
The best work with best price, in my experience… and NOT as a big spender…has been local blokes, usually recommended to me by local people. No veneer of smart company ads or promotion anywhere.
That’s to say, people who are known and respected in the community.
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I agree, but usually.
There is one company locally that thinks they have the right to re-roof everyone’s house.
My friend got several devis and one day this company turned up ready to start work, even though she hadn’t accepted theirs
Needless to say, they didn’t get the work.
Their work is excellent, but their attitude needs attention.
Living within the community means that there is nowhere to hide and they have a reputation to uphold.
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I have a simple 3 bed house in 16. We needed to get the house rewired we got 2 quotes for a basic rewire and they came in at 7k & 6k, In the UK i got my 4 bed house rewired for 2.5k. We went with the 6k Quote and the electrician suggested splitting up the work over 3 years to spread the cost. We have just had our Toilet, shower room and boiler room completed, next year the kitchen, dining room and lounge and then the bedrooms the year after. Thankfully i can complete some work myself but i wish i had done more research into building costs.
Included in the wages of the workers is their lunch cost.
So whilst you are eating a sandwich lunch to help pay for the wiring, they are at the local restaurant enjoying the menu du jour.
The contractors also enjoy a huge mark up on materials, which are not available to private individuals, even though you might want to buy in bulk.
Just a thought as to why you are finding it so expensive.
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For work you are doing yourself… try the local wholesalers… where the professionals go…
When mains drainage came to our village, of course I was chatting with the workforce and the Boss… and asked about pipe/gutter suppliers.
They gave us the name of their wholesaler… just over border in Haute Vienne…
We decided to try our luck. We enquired there and, due to the quantity we were buying, we were allowed the “professional” discounts. Phew saved a lot of money.
Not all places are like that… some will only sell to a Business… but it is worth asking/shopping around… nothing to lose…
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