Right old muddle!

maybe of some use for you: the dual rate digital meters have a realtime consumption counter incorporated in them, i was playing with mine and found it, the meters are quite good and show some good info once you figure them out. one function is total energy that has gone through the meter, which can be zero'd. then i starts counting again, i used my stop clock function of the mobile phone to make a calc of my usage.. i zero'd the meter and started counting.. one watt in 10 seconds~6 watts/min~360/hr then had a count up of everything running, all the wall bricks for clocks, oven clocks, etc and accounted for most of the flow.

So, if you hit the main circuit breaker and do the count.. zero ought to be your result, in a minute or month. EDF are obviously charging for the power registered, and the power from the meter should only feed you, if an hookey cable has been grafted in to feed another premises, this consumption will show on your test.. There's nothing illegal to open the box and read your meter, the EDF site even willingly advocate it online to tell them your comsumption. Set up online access to your EDf account where you can manage the account, access your billing and many other things including your own meter readings for heures plein et cruses.. Keep hitting the buttons on the meter and figure out what the readings relate to, you CAN NOT damage or alter the meter doing this, just make sure all the EDF sealing points have their seals intact.. you should see 2 heavy cables as input to meter and 2 similar output to consumer circuit breakers, also a pair of smaller wires, these connect to the remote read button on the box.. if there's more than these 6 lines.. suspect a tapping! hope it helps measure the consumption at least!

Well done Nick ( and the rest of you for the moral support) - thank you all xx

Vicky - sorry I haven't replied sooner - this week has been a bit tough - but hang on in there love - the good people of SFN will help xxx

Beat me to it! That was the first thing that occurred to me. I would UNPLUG everything as well before looking at the meter. Deffo sounds like a bit of thievery to me!!!

Roger

I can't thank you all enough for all your advice, support and offers of help - I'm quite overwhelmed and your kindness is very much appreciated - what a great community! Nick, a big thank you for offering to take the time to have a chat with me - if it's still ok, I'd like to take advantage of that and will give you a bell on Monday.... Annie, bless you and will drop you a mail shortly. You have all offered me some very sound advice and some very welcome messages of support, I'm extremely grateful and will keep you updated as to any developments!

Did you have a formal “Reception des Travaux”, when you first took possession of the house?
Did you sign a formal building contract?
I don’t want to build your hopes up and I won’t promise anything, but I am a Chartered Surveyor with the RICS in France and there may be some avenues we can explore. (For free and for gratis given your between a rock and a hard place situation).
My professional email is nick.ord@gleeds.fr my tel is 06 80 63 99 79 or office 01 40 38 64 24 - give me a bell on Monday afternoon (I can call you straight back) and we can go through this in more detail.
Chin up and kind regards
Nick Ord

Vicky

you really need professional advise !

You seem to be in a position to apply for legal aid in France - see a lawyer and start the ball rolling - this may also delay any actions against you for ( I am given to understand ) for about 2 years.

I must agree with Andrew in general. I am the son of a builder and grew up at a time where if one's father had a trade, a son was expected to put a hand in very early on in life. So I have quite decent building skills. I have been shocked by what I have found here and think the French are one day going to need to overhaul the entire building world. Not only are there no surveyors as the UK knows them but building inspection, where it ever happens, is so superficial and haphazard that it can only lead to low standards being allowed and, perhaps, encouraged. EDF make life under UK regulations so strict, as my sister in London who is one of their customers would tell you, that it makes it almost unbelievable to see their indifference here. So look for what you can get from there but do not expect much.

I agree on the point about the Maire. First of all make very certain that the builder and Maire are not in cahoots because then it will simply be an enormous waste of time and turn against you. If you are in the clear then really rub the damsel in distress bit in. The TF1 idea is good, if you can get them interested but imagine they have hundreds of potential stories for their programme given the horrors I have seen in a few square kilometres around where I live. On the electricty issue, get in touch with a nearby university and find somebody in electrophysics to come out and map your cabling. Tell them your story and about the big bad developer and electrical contractor and you may get somebody just for the fun of proving a mere electrician to be little more than a worm. Appeals to the academic ego every time.

Did you insure it immediately. Check your policy. If it is good then hope the power flashes and burns you down so that you can go to newspapers, etc to go public about the builder and get a payout for a new place. If that sounds arbitrary, then I assure you I know a couple of families who all but pray for lightning strikes to the same effect. Your bank and whoever else do not care as long as they get their money back. The will not help you in any way or lend more money for 'repairs' so don't waste time with that.

If you get things going in the right direction, then is time to ask around for a cowboy builder whose work is good but is simply on the run from the tax man and so on to do whatever is necessary cash in hand. As ironic as that seems it works very well hereabouts and probably elsewhere.

So apart from being ruthless yourself that seems to be the only things I can think of but look for somebody far more Machiavellian than I and with a bit of luck you'll get it all sorted without being too badly out of pocket.

Oh dear ! this must be a terrible time for you - Annie's sugestion seems a sensible one to persue - also, have you consulted a Notaire/Advocat ? During the year there are times when they offer an initial session free - your Mairie should have details - or there is a website on Notaires/Advocats in France that may tell you when this is on offer in your area. It does seem that you have been left high and dry by all those you have contacted so far - but if you are armed with all copies of documents, etc this is helpful. Have you spoken with the Notaire who handled the purchase for you ? or the Bank you have a mortgage with ? Check if your house insurance covers legal fees and if so, contact your insurance company for some advice - and don't accept the Gallic shrug - it sounds as if you can handle yourself well, but trying to sort things in France is a bit like banging your head on the wall !

Meanwhile, what are the neighbours planning to do if anything ? - and how are the people who bought the middle house faring ? i e is their electricity bill considerably less than yours and the other neighbour ? I find it extraordinary that EDF are unable to check the wiring system ...I am sure they could if they wanted ! We moved into a new house some time back, and we had a large initial electricity bill - seems the builders don't pay for the electricity they use in the construction - it appears to be all down to the owner when they move in ! Bit unfair, that - I wonder if they do it to the French as well ?

Good luck - and do keep us in touch with how you get on - or just to let off steam !

Hello Vicky,

I have no practical advice to offer but for sheer guts and stickability you take the prize. My goodness what a heroine. I hope you get the advice you need and deserve from the wonderful people on Survive France and I will be rooting for you and your son.

OMG Vicky, this sounds an absolute nightmare...sorry I cant help with any advice, but hope that you get this sorted and manage to find somewhere to live so that your son can come back to france and you. Good Luck...

Sorry that I can't offer you any advice apart from my heartfelt sympathy. It's amazing that you've got so far!!

OH my! A huge hug coming your way!

I am quite new to SNF so not too sure how this works, can you e-mail me? I may be able to help you with accomodation, I could certainly help you with your son, I am a qualified special needs teacher, I ahve a kettle that makes coffee and tea and ears that like to listen..................... and my other half is french so knows his way around this stuff!

Keep your pecker up!

Annie astressolution@aol.com

You have my sympathy! Building a house in France is a total nightmare. Been through it myself and almost came a cropper. I managed to have an accident with a building legal 'expert' who felt so sorry for me when I explained why I went into the back of his car just before Christmas that he promised to help us out to get the keys. Had it not been for him, the builders would have tried to railroad us with their lawyer and the situation would have been even worse.

Have you tried cutting the electricity and see if the lights go off next door?

I hope you manage to sort things out, but you're in a real hornets' nest. Good luck, and do play the damsel in distress, it does work here in France still.

Well, I didn't exactly love this post because it is a horror story!! But it did make feel ashamed that I was getting my knickers in twist over a simple bill from France Telecom...again...x? lost count...for use of TV which I don't have. Grrr.

I too have some horror stories but yours, well. Will see if I can find anyone with the knowledge you need. Unti then, bon courage, my friend.

Helen

Quelle horreur! This sort of thing seems standard in Spain, but I am shocked to hear of it in France.

I once rented a flat in a converted house, one day the main fuse blew and I noticed that whilst we were blacked out, our fridge was still running. Seems the converters had somehow left it on the downstairs flat ring.

being students of course we immediately began running everything off that one socket!

Thanks to you too Andrew for that, and indeed there was no survey done on the house by the bank - I presumed that in the event of any defects they would be covered by the 10 year guarantee ( as per the insulation scenario). There were other bits & pieces when we moved in, such as the complete absence of guttering and the large support beam for the terrace roof was unsecured ( I hadn't realised this until my neighbours noticed and a guy arrived 12 months later to secure it!)

My gut feel was always tht the middle house was pulling power from the two either side and the absence of a further bill of that size seems to bear that out, however not wishing to appear either paranoid or unneighbourly I did investigate other possibilities, which all drew blanks.

As the developer evidently has a lot of 'unresolved business' with the maire already, your suggestion is very sensible and I may well go and have an informal chat with them. I'm normally a pretty tough old bird but will freely admit that dropping my hankie in front of TF1 and being 'rescued' also has considerable appeal right now!!

Many thanks again for struggling through my rather too lengthy post and still having the energy to input!

agree it sounds like the electrics have been routed next door from your meter and the overload is the reason for the smell. In France banks don't lend against a property using a surveyor to make sure it's worth what you're paying etc - it's like a car loan - they simply lend you the money and you buy whatever you want - it's up to you to make sure it's ok. (surveyors don't exist in france in the same way as in the uk - have bought 5 times now, once with a french mortgage and never had a survey on anything). As for chasing the builder I'm affraid I agree with John - I don't think it'll get you anywhere, but try also with your local building inspector or the élu at the mairie who deals with planning or the maire himself - go for the damsel in distress scene and try and get the mairie to help you out or write to TF1 and ask them to come and rescue you (the programme that rescues people in the middle of housing disaster stories) might be worth a go just to put the pressure on. I really feel for you and sorry I can't give you more helpful info

Courage et bonne chance !

Many thanks for your reply John and yes, it's probably wishful thinking on the part of myself and my neighbours to expect any demonstration of contrition from the developer! I do feel a little sheepish as I was a bit naive in thinking that buying a new build was the safest option.I should have paid more attention perhaps at the paperwork stage, but as the situation was pressing and there was so many other distractions at the time,I was just relieved to get through the process and have the keys. Slightly hampered too by my French language skills, which at intermediate level are ok for everyday situations but struggle with anything too technical, legal or complex!

Regarding the electricity problem, EDF's stance has been all along that whilst they agree that this was not normal consumption and there may well be a problem ( particularly as it affected 2 out of the three houses), their responsibility is just to supply electricity and if the meter appears to work properly, ends there. The mystery over who ordered the additional services on my account has also never been solved. I was told to go back to the developer and his contractor who laid the cabling and who naturally couldn't find a problem, even though even though I had a visitor at the time who confirmed that he too had smelt the burning and was extremely concerned .........Interestingly, shortly after the problem surfaced, the occupants of the middle house sold up and moved. My monthly debit (and that of my neighbours at the other end) was also also increased by EDF to 130e pcm to take into account the supposedly high consumption!

Thanks again for your input and I too think it points to next door!

Well I cant see chasing the developer will do any good, if they are like uk rouge builders they will have neither insurance or the money to re do the work, so that would probably result in more stress for no gain. Can you not have a word with the mortgage co as they are the ones that gave you the loan against a property that doesn't seem to be mortgageable.

The electricity if EDF think there is something amiss it would surely but up to them to investigate and solve the problem. The smell of burn would a) worry me and b) possibly point me in the direction of the cable supplying next door from your house and overheating because your neighbour is running heating of it or similar.

Good luck with it all