Clé France

A further consideration when buying a house in France is planning permission. What you do inside your own house is your own business and does not need planning permission. If the living area is being increased, for instance, as in a loft conversion, the authorities want to know so they may increase the rates but they do not always do this.

Here you fill in a relatively simple form and submit it to the Mairie, but they do not stop you doing it. Altering the exterior in any way requires full planning permission. If this is a fairly simple change then the applicant can complete the whole process himself, and since the forms and other requirements are fairly simple, it is easy to do and no cost is involved.

Once submitted it may be returned  with some changes requested or suggested, but if you have been sensible and in advance asked the local mayor for advice, then it will go through smoothly. Even if it does come back, when the amendments are made it will be quickly passed.

When it returns finally with the stamp of approval, usually within a few weeks, there is no cost involved. In contrast, obtaining planning permission in Britain is seen often as a nightmare by the average person who usually has to call in experts who are expensive.

It seems as though the planning departments are there in order to harass and harry applicants in every way and, finally, when permission is granted also to lumber the applicant with a big bill that adds to the cost of the project.

Fraser Blake, 70, author of 'Dear Chips' and 'A Rant Too Far?' grew up in Africa, was at school in Scotland, and worked for the British South Africa Police in Southern Rhodesia. He has taught English in Saudi Arabia and sold and renovated hundreds of properties in Northern France.

In 1998 Fraser was selling houses in the Mayenne department of the Pays de la Loire region and so was the obvious choice, when Cle France was started, to be their first agent on the ground in France. In retirement he writes, blogs, cooks, drinks wine, and hosts to dinner unlimited numbers of ex-pats.

Always on hand with a viewpoint, Fraser is going to share his views on France, the French and the British, and other people who buy in France. Sometimes informative, sometimes funny, painfully true, outrageously opinionated but always entertaining so we hope it adds a slightly different dimension to the usual normality of searching through the fantastic properties for sale on the Cle France website.

If you want more? then follow the links above where you can buy Fraser's published books.

Wow, you don't often get good news like that ! Thank you Sharon...

Regards, Lawrence.

Lawrence and his family have been enjoying their holiday home in La Manche in the region of Lower Normandy for almost 18 months now, having bought with Cle France. We are still helping him, we do that!, after all this time to understand about when to pay his local 'Tax Fonciere', he seems to like the fact he has nothing to pay until September this year.

If you really want to learn French, you need to know a few French expressions...

Si tu veux vraiment apprendre le Français, il faut connaître quelques expressions Françaises!

You aren’t going to find these in formal language books but equipping yourself with some of these idioms, colloquialisms and tournures de phrases (turns of phrase) will endear you to the French even if your accent betrays you.

Below are a few of the more popular French expressions along with their literal translations (or close to it) and what they mean in English.

1. Ca gaz? (Is it gassing?) – How’s it going?

2. C’est pas terrible (It’s not terrible) – It isn’t that great.

3. Et patati et patata (And blah, blah, blah,) – When someone won’t stop talking.

4. Un froid de canard (A duck’s cold) – It’s extremely cold outside.

5. Faire la grasse matinée (Doing the fat morning) – Sleeping in.

6. Avoir une araignée au plafond (Having a spider on the ceiling) – The ceiling refers to a person’s head and means that he/she is a little odd but that it doesn’t bother anyone.

7. Rentrer bredouille (Returning bredouille) – There’s no real translation for the word bredouille but it means returning empty-handed.

8. Tomber à pic (Falling at the peak) – To arrive at just the right time.

9. Avoir les yeux plus gros que le ventre (Having eyes bigger than the stomach) – This refers to a person whose desire for food was larger than their stomach and they end up overeating or not being able to finish the food on their plate.

10. Mettre la charrue avant les bœufs (Placing the plow before the oxen) – This is similar to the phrase “Putting the cart before the horse” and has the same meaning.

11. Bête comme un chou (Dumb like a cabbage) – Refers to a person who is dumb, similar to the expression “Dumber than a sack of hammers/rocks.”

12. Avoir le feu au derrière (Having fire on your behind) – To be in a hurry.

13. Donner sa langue au chat (To give one’s tongue to the cat) – To give up or to stop guessing.

14. Avoir d’autres chat à fouetter (Having other cats to whip) – Similar to “Having bigger fish to fry” meaning having other things to do.

15. Boire un coup/Prendre un verre (Drink a blow/Take a glass) – To have a drink.

16. Avoir le cafard (Having the cockroach) – Feeling down or depressed.

17. Être dans de beaux draps (Being in nice sheets) – Being in a mess.

18. Dormir sur les deux oreilles (Sleeping on both ears) – Sleeping well, having restful sleep.

19. Vieux/Vieille comme Hérode (Old like Herod) – Referring to King Herod in the Bible, this simply refers to a very elderly person.

20. À fond la caisse (At full throttle) – To go real fast, especially in a vehicle.

Blog submitted by: David at The French Property Network - Cle France.

This blog was originally posted on The French Language Blog pages.

Hi Sharon, You have been great and thank you in advance for understanding plus being patient. 

I'll wait to hear from you with any guidance etc... If you could arrange a viewing for the Corlay property that would be great.

Thank you. Melissa.

Like many other Melissa is working with us to build up a little portfolio of properties to view in Cotes d'Armor and Morbihan in the region of Brittany, we can use a clients property criteria to narrow down the search saving them time and making sure that their viewing trip is the best use of their time and that no time is wasted viewing property in France that is not suitable.

Hi Sharon,

Sorry for the delay in replying but internet access was not easy to find all the time where we were.

Very impressed with your agent on the ground in Brittany, he showed us numerous houses and one which wasn’t on our list but which we finally decided to buy! everyone was very helpful, we went into the office to sign the compromis agreement, just waiting to finalise everything over here (in Scotland) now and look forward to getting the key!

I must add, buying a house in France is a much nicer prospect than at home. I’m afraid we are still in the dark ages here when it comes to property.

Thanks for all your help so far.

Regards, Alan.

Many people buy the house they see on our website and arrange to view BUT many more buy something else we show them whilst in France. The market is moving all the time so between booking a viewing and the actual day of the viewing we are working to make sure there are other properties to show our clients during their viewing trip in France.

Alan is buying a beautiful house in the department of Morbihan in southern Brittany.