Posts under ‘Things you may need to know’

Surfaces Plancher (S.H.O.B. /S.H.O.N. Going, going, gone!) As of 1st March 2012. The gross area (S.H.O.B.) and the net floor area (S.H.O.N.), used for over forty years, have become, due to successive developments, complex and not really representative of the surface habitable of buildings or homes. The French Government has decided, after wide consultation, to [...]

Plans. Why bother? Here’s a couple of reasons why they could prove useful, and in some cases obligatory! Renovation or conversion projects need to be given a lot of thought and consideration. Sound guidance and advice is essential. As is an understanding that this once in a lifetime exercise needs to be as enjoyable as [...]

Things you may need to know. Getting the builders in. OK. So you’ve successfully negotiated the house hunt and purchase stage. The plans you’ve had drawn up have been approved, what happens next? For some people this is even more fraught than all the previous activities put together. Let’s not make too much of this [...]

Surveys, Inspections & Reports The role that the house surveys play in the purchase of a house in France is very different from what you may be used to in England. The buying process involves a series of events that are common. From finding the property to purchase most of the checks along the way [...]

Things y.m.n.t know. Where do you start? Buying in France. As the song says “at the beginning. It’s a very good place to start!” Assuming you have, for whatever reason; “maison secondaire“ (holiday property), retirement home or permanent residence, you have decided to buy a property in France. The ways and means of setting out [...]

Simon Verity of Blacktower Financial Management (International) Ltd. Explains the procedures and ways French Mortgages work. As an International Financial adviser, he offers guidance and professional financial services and products. Mortgages in France. In many ways, the processes of arranging a mortgage in France is similar to that in the UK and much depends on [...]

Conversion Conversion of buildings, or spaces within buildings, that were not designed for living in, as their original designated use, is a concept that not to long ago was a uniquely British thing. Over the past years this has changed. Originally seen as a result of the mechanisation of the agriculture industries; which meant that [...]

Renovation At its simplest the term renovation means renewal. It is distinct from restoration as it involves the changing of an object and making it new using different materials and techniques from how it was made originally. In the context of property and especially French property it involves the taking of an existing structure of [...]

As part of our series on planning issues and rules we move onto a topic that causes much head-scratching. This is my interpretation of how to work out: Surfaces Hors Oeuvre Brute (S.H.O.B.) Surfaces Hors Oeuvre Nette (S.H.O.N.)   Of all the planning requirements for planning permission requests the mystery of the SHOB and SHON [...]

Gordon Ellis, at Crosschannel TV explains in two parts the various set-ups for television and computing in France. Part 2. COMPUTERS Equipment Your PC brought from the UK will work fine in France. Clearly the plug sockets may need changing or running a UK 3-pin extension for your equipment. With the propensity of power cuts [...]