Nifty Staffy - French stuff

Do you mind if I pick your brain on some bits and pieces? There's one main one at the moment but might be more to come!

I know it sounds early to be worrying about getting someone to mow the lawn for us, but there is a reason why we're thinking about it now. One of the sellers, Mme L, has said her 'ami' would be interested in doing it for us, which would in principle be good. It's something she brought up and may well ask again so we wanted to be informed. Our starting point was to find out what the going rate might be, so I ended up looking on Leboncoin.

Very helpful - 12 Euros seems to be about right - but worrying. Most people indicate 'paiement par CESU'. We'd never heard of this before (and wish we now hadn't!). I don't know if it's just Brits getting ripped off, but we're now hearing stories of baby sitters expecting paid holiday and cleaners demanding reduncancy, friends of the family ended up having to pay their cleaner 4,000 Euros redundancy!

How is this actually viewed by the French? Is it like a Parisian parking ticket, something to be shrugged off while being consigned to the already overflowing glove box, or is it taken seriously and there's no way Mme's ami will consider getting a bit of cash for an hour a week pushing a lawnmower around?

The alternative is that I've found an odd job man on leboncoin who is auto entrepreneur but he's not answered my message from a few days ago, which isn't promising!

Pick away, hope I can be of some use somewhere

Seen your message but farrier due soon so gotta bring the boys in.
Will have a nosey and get back to you asap

Your farrier comes out on a Sunday? Blimey, mine never used to! Do French farriers also demand tea and Hobnobs?

My farrier is belgian, yep he comes all the way to my place for 3 trims for a coffee/soft drink and cash payment in return
He’s been doing my horses since he finished farriery school and is now one of the teachers at the Brussels school. He’s a good guy, I’m very lucky to have him come. But in return, the horses are always brought into their stables with clean feet and legs (hot water in horsey shower).
Whoops, Off topic !

Had a nosey at the CESU payment. Trying to understand how it works as person doing service gets payment and work is declared. But you need to pay URSSAF extra to CESU.
I suppose person gets social scurity cover as work is declared but trying to understand advantage to “employer” (especially for occasional odd jobs like yours?)

Regarding paid holiday and redundancy, I would imagine this needs for person to be under contract too. Seems alot of hassle for mowing the lawn ...

Will ask around tomorrow to see if colleagues have used this system.

That's one heck of a farrier you've got there, they're not generally my favourite type of person (I had the 'pleasure' to work with some fairly not good or nice ones) but you get some gems.

On the CESU, the only advantages we can see as an occasional 'employer' is that you know you're doing everything by the book and I think there's also some insurance in case of an accident. Otherwise it looks great from the worker's point of view but pants from ours! Hence trying to avoid it if we can.

So been chatting with a few people who have used these famous CESU.

As you say, they are great from the employee point of view as they offer a similar job coverage in terms of (accident) insurance, health cover and pension for the odd jobs they do.
The big advantage for employer is that you can subtract 50% of the value of the services from your taxes, with a limit of 12000 euros per year so that still represents 6000 euros advantage. This because you’re effectively creating work. But in return, you become an Employer so have responsibilites like paying social security cover and yes, redundancy fees. However these were around 50 euros for a babysitter so thousands of euros does sound like a foreigner rip off. Some people work through an agency for organising formalities but technically, you remain employer.

But of course, big tax advantage is of no use to you whatsoever.

So I would venture to suggest that you consider finding a gardening company who could maintain your garden (and trees/shrubs/hedges if necessary). It might cost a bit more than 12 euros but you’re much less likely to get ripped off.
IMO these CESU appear to be much more hassle than they’re worth.

Thanks, that's confirmed what we thought. We'll see if Mme L's ami wants to do it on the side but otherwise we'll follow up with the auto-entrepreneur chap who charges a fair bit more but it's hassel free.

I can see how it's brilliant for those being employed but it must really put some people off actually paying for help at all, which is then less helpful. I understand the argument of wanting genuine employees to be above board and not ripped off, but baby sitters and someone who just mows an acquaintence's lawn a few times a year?

Thank you again, it's so useful to have another view (albeit the same one!)

Well this system is great for those who pay their taxes in France as added incentive is to pay less tax for entrusting someone else to do “odd job”, be it house cleaning, gardening, baby sitting.

But in your position, I fear that some could twist the system and demand ridiculous conditions like the thousands of euros redundancy.

The compromis is signed by all, looks like we'll complete at the end of Jan, probably 26th.

Yay ! Most excellent news !


PS. Does this thread need to be continued in french ?

Si tu veux Sauf que je dois changer de clavier pour insérer les accents!

(I should mention that I'm actually Luxembourgish and lived in Belgium for 13 years, so do have a bit of practice. It's not 100%, I do have an accent, and not having lived and breathed French for a while it's still rusty, but going back more often will hopefully get me back to where I was)

Wow, that’s a very international CV you have there !

Pour l’histoire, je suis eurasienne et j’ai fait toutes mes études en angleterre. De nationalité et de résidence française, je suis aussi transfrontalière car je travaille en belgique.

T'es encore plus internationale que moi! Il faut ajouter que j'ai aussi passe 2 ans au Pays Pas, et mes parents etait 4 ans en Finlande... Bien que je sois maintenant 21 ans en Angleterre et que j'ai passe ma jeunesse ici, je me sens plutot europeene. Voila pourquoi je deteste le Brexit!

(desolee, mais pas d'accents, c'est trop penible de tapper sur un clavier QWERTY en essayant de me souvenir ou tout se trouve sur le clavier AZERTY!)

Regarding dog tags and complementary to microchipping

En complément de l’identification, les chiens doivent être porteurs d’une médaille indiquant le nom et les coordonnés de leurs propriétaires : « Tout chien circulant sur la voie publique, en liberté ou même tenu en laisse, doit être muni d'un collier portant, gravés sur une plaque de métal, les nom et adresse de son propriétaire. Sont exceptés de cette prescription les chiens courants portant la marque de leur maître. »
(Art. R.211-3 du code rural)

Thanks! They all have tags on their harnesses and collars (they don't usually wear both together though), but they're not metal. If anyone has a problem with that... well I'd be stunned.

3 weeks today I'll be there, in our little house. I booked the crossing today, for 26th which is the date we sign, and it's now terribly exciting! Because I don't know the French 2nd hand furniture market and we are having to do this on the cheap as much as possible, I'll be trecking over with a laden car. I'm amazed at what I've been able to pick up for almost nothing (including thanks to the Danaher charity shop!).

Counting the days, literally!

How utterly exciting !

If your tags aren’t metal, are they plastic then ?
Nifty received a plastic ID tag from petlink but I never dared to use it as it looks too fragile.

As to the second hand furniture market, I admit I have no idea. I suppose it runs through internet Le Bon Coin and shops like Cash Converters and charities like Emmaüs. Otherwise there’s Ikea

Liz, are you going to do holiday lets?

If so, will it be dog friendly

Yes, the tags are plastic and over the years I've only ever had one break. Better than plinking metal that drives me nuts, and must irritate the dog too.

No holiday lets I'm afraid Ian, although friends who suck up sufficiently may be allowed when we have enough furniture.

Evie car can fit an amazing amount in, even while making sure I can see her side mirrors. The first trip should include a double mattress, two moon chairs, a microwave, a small chest (packed with kitchen stuff), and the 200 x 300 rug I got off ebay for £25 yesterday. Plus a small collection of lamps, crockery, pots & pans, etc. I'll then do a 2nd trip in March to get some fencing fixed before the dogs' first visit, and will take over dining table and chairs (£36 off Gumtree), and a rather large collection of dog beds.

I looked at Emmaus but the nearest is Rouen, which is a treck and not one of the nicest places to drive round. The problem with le bon coin is that it's not that cheap and as we're only there for the odd week you'd be very limited in what's there at the time. Failing all else there's Conforama in Dieppe that will have to do, and they have a free van you can borrow for an hour to shift stuff.

I hate shopping but this is fun!

But is also a shop rather like Conforama where you can find cheaper furniture. There’s also Les Docks du Meuble which I do not know but which appears to be like Ikea.

Thanks! There's one in Neufchatel-en-Bray, which isn't far. It's an odd website - I can't seem to find half of the prices!

By the way, a random question. Do you have a music radio station you could recommend? I listen to most stuff other than very hard rock, boy bands and rap. I don't know current French music that well - I love Zaz and Boulevard des Airs - and happily listen to older artists like Sardou, Souchon, Barbara... (but not Johnny, I never got into Johnny). Any thoughts? I used to listen to RTL when I lived in Belgium, many moons ago, but wouldn't mind an alternative.

I must admit to not listening to much radio at all, bar when I muck out the stables as background noise, I suppose.
Maybe try Classic 21 if you can tune to it at your house but it’s a belgian radio station.
I’ll have a scan and let you know if I find anything worthwhile

Belgian's good too. I'll give it a go. Thanks (again)

Belgian might be too far to tune but I think it’s available by internet too

No internet for a while, sadly. We can't justify the cost of a landline package for a few weeks of the year. I know there are short term things you can buy but again they work out pricey and I can live without the internet for a week or two, honest!

Don't kill yourself about the radio question, it was a 'just in case you know of one' question. I'll have a trawl when I'm there, or rely on my trusty phone stacked with my CD collection.

16 days (not that I'm counting...)

Ooh, countdown is ticking away !

Just one thing though, you might be able to live without internet for a week or two but can we survive without you during that time ??

A week today!!!! I tell you, Christmas has nothing on this.

We will look at some sort of internet access at some point, there are a couple of options depending on the phone signal strength, because we do of course understand the needs of others . Oddly, getting the EDF and water accounts set up has taken priority.

Pfffftttt ... EDF and water over the board ?
You really do have an odd set of priorities !

I know... sorry...

But if it redeems me a little, my other priority has been making sure we have enough dog beds. So far only 4, plus a pair of moon chairs that are theoretically for humans ( )

ooh La La

I do hope your dog beds are human friendly !

Warning for all of you who will be popping over the Channel.

French police are outsourcing mobile onboard radars in unmarked vehicles to private companies. This will increase their daily use from an average of 1h13 to 8h.
As from today, they are operational in Normandy in the Evreux (Eure) region but outsourcing will be nationwide by mid 2019.

Please also note that as from the 1st July 2018, the speed limit drops from 90km/h to 80km/h on all secondary roads.

Happy driving on the other side of the road

I knew about the speed limit change but thanks for the tip off on the speed controls. I don't generally speed but friends of ours are staying in the house in a couple of weeks and I think he may be a slightly faster driver. I'll let him know!

As these radars are mobile, the radar warning systems like Coyote and Waze do not work. Neither do the “2 dodgy looking blokes in blue shirts, passenger busy on computer tablet”.