As I replied to Fay… there is no way of escaping …local taxation…
I then pointed out that the Notaire goes no further than that…
The Mairie has no up-to-date info on any property except what they learn from the Seller/Owner himself/herself. This can prove awkward as the Mairie is the one place folk go to when they want to deliver… mail/goods/utilities or whatever it may be… if they cannot locate the property…
The name of a New Owner may well mean absolutely nothing at the Mairie… this does (and has) cause problems, not always but often enough to be a dratted nuisance. Which is why I exhort new Owners to make themselves known (well and truly) at their Mairie… (and if an Owner is often absent… it is useful for the Mairie to have an emergency contact… maybe a trusted neighbour or another trusted Brit)
Almost the first thing we did once the final signing had taken place was to go an introduce ourselves at the Mairie. I also offered my services if there was any translating needed doing between the Mairie and any English speakers who couldn’t make themselves understood.
The Mayor has also visited my home on a couple of occasions when I wanted his advice about what work I might need approval on.
He was also a help when I was without a 'phone for several days.
In short it pays to get yourself known, it is appreciated. Obviously in huge towns this isn’t always possible but in small rural communities it’s highly recommended.
Fair enough… but in our small village… the post “person” often knocks on my door asking if I know where so and so live…anyone with a foreign name that the PP cannot find… somewhere in the commune if not the actual village…
and, bearing in mind the storms etc that we often encounter… I do have the keys to several 2nd properties (French and Brits)… and so do other villagers… we are rather like one big family… and no, that is not just Stella and her rose-coloured glasses…
Seriously, Paul… I would hope that there is someone locally who knows how to contact you in an emergency…
I agree with Paul on this issue. I visited the Mairie a few weeks after moving in to our new home, and asked the secretariat if it might be possible to meet the Maire so as to introduce ourselves.
Her answer was that the Maire did not meet people on this basis. I’ve come to the conclusion over the past three years that the Maire might not want to create an erroneous impression of availability to newcomers for merely social purposes. It might leave them thinking that they had his ear on other matters.
And he is very unlikely to have any problems getting multi-perspectival opinions and facts about us from local sources, if he had cause to.
I left our names and address with the secretariat and that was that. The Maire seems to be a very private and unassuming man with huge entrepreneurial talent and energy, and the ‘common touch’ whilst being completely and transparently even-handed. I may be naive and gullible, but my intuition, and the healthy and vigorous state of our commune, suggests I am right.
Communes vary considerably… and your Mairie and M le Maire… sound very different from ours… but such is life.
Well done for going in and leaving your details.
Here, I am prevailed upon to ensure that all newcomers DO go along… the Secretary and M le Maire (if he is available) are delighted to see and speak with them (if the new folk speak French)…and, if not, I often get an emergency call to dash over and do some translating…
We are a rural community and such friendly contact is an essential part of our daily lives…
I’ve met the Maire of a large town north of Paris several times but I’ve never met the Maire of my own small (in population terms) but large (in square km) commune.
Ha ha… I’ve met many a Maire across France too… usually to do with old cars…
Within my region… nearly every Commune has a Welcome/Happy New Year get together… all the locals, visiting dignitaries et al… newcomers (if known) are called to the front (blushing) while everyone claps (especially if they bring children for the schools)… of course it all ends with drinks and nibbles… mmmm … yummy.
Ours is a very rural community too, Stella. Most of the town’s 2,200 inhabitants have spent their whole lives here, and the commune is very far-flung and agrarian throughout. But it happens to lie at the intersection of several old roads that linked the northern coast, the Cotentin penisula, Brittany, and also the interior’ and points south.
The Norman tradition of adventurous looking North to Western Europe, the Atlantic and Celtic Britain is also strong. They’re canny, on the ball, and sharp as proverbial razors…
Our Maire is not aloof: he greets us cordially if we occasiinally meet him at town events or in the entrance lobby of the Mairie, but he seems to expect a respectful relationship as befits his role, and not a “pally” one. I like that, but I am old-fashioned (at times )
Martin, If you like you can sign up for taxe d’hab and fonciere to be deducted monthly from your bank account. That saves having to go online to make the annual payment. I did it years ago and haven’t given them a thought since.
When we moved here in 2003, the previous owners very proudly showed us their fully functioning Minitel system. It probably worked far better and quicker than the dial-up modem from FT that we had then.
Well, John, I have to rephrase that to ‘the services I used were very slow to get up and running’. When I arrived in 1992 I had to have Wanado and it was downloaded with a disc. I was with France Telecom. I could not do internet banking or several other online services until I moved down from Brittany to Charante. Services like my wood supplier only got online within the last 5 years. The phone company is now Orange and slightly improved. I cannot use a mobile phone in this area with them. I use my U.K. one with ‘roaming’ and Bouygues. Whenever it rains we are cut off. Very rural.
It’s often the way that countries that don’t adopt a technology then leap-frog over those that do. Look at Africa and mobile phones, totally transformed so much as there was no way to get fixed line technology. Yes, France was an early adopter with Minitel, but it’s not great now.
You are obviously a glass half full type of person. My internet is fine despite my rural location, rain or no rain and the 4G service in France is excellent. The online banking facilities of my French bank are only now being matched in part by my British bank. I’m not sure that my wood seller even has a telephone but his chain saw, tractor and trailer do the job brilliantly.
(and if an Owner is often absent… it is useful for the Mairie to have an emergency contact… maybe a trusted neighbour or another trusted Brit)
(at times 
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