Clé France

Hi Sharon,

Well we got there one way or another!

I know it’s your work, but many thanks for your help and involvement, as we go forward I am sure we will be needing further help from you please.

A very exciting time and I am looking forward to spending some time down there in Brittany.

Again many thanks

Kind regards

Anne & Eddie.

Happy Cle France Clients, Anne and Eddie are buying a lovely Holiday Home Property in Brittany set in the popular department of Cotes d'Armor and we will continue to guide them through the process and beyond as they take advantage of all the benefits of buying with Cle France - The French property Network.

Buying a house is always a traumatic experience and in Britain it seems to get worse as the years go by. You can put an offer in, have everything accepted and agreed only for the buyer to pull out on the day of completion without any redress or compensation. By this time the vendor may have spent a lot of money and probably got the furniture removers standing by, or even fully loaded. This is really a very unsatisfactory situation if not pure madness.

In France once a price has been agreed a legal contract is signed and a 10% deposit paid. Should the buyer withdraw, then the deposit is lost. Nor can the vendor pull out because the law would compel him to sell on the basis of the binding contract. Hence there is no gazumping, or withdrawing before completion.

The ‘solicitor’ in charge, in France called the notaire, has a fixed fee no matter how much work goes into the conveyance. Their fees are fixed by government and at the end of the sale a full breakdown of where these fees have gone is given on a receipt. Not only that, but there is often a small refund as the fixed fee is the maximum that can be charged.

Normally the same notaire acts for both parties [as they are semi-government officials] and have to give impartial advice. However, should one party wish to appoint his own notaire he can and the overall fees remain the same – the notaires have to split the fee.

The surveys completed for a house are intended to ascertain whether there is any asbestos, lead or termite pollution, and there is also a calorific survey to see how well the house is insulated. These then remain in force in the case of lead, for life, in the case of asbestos for two years and the remaining two for twelve months each, so that paying a survey fee is not required every time an offer is made.

Consequently, buying a house in France, particularly for a foreigner, is rendered a lot easier and far less stressful by the rules that govern the process, and these are, for the most part, strictly adhered to.

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.

I spotted this article on a site called 'French Language blog' and thought it was interesting so I am sharing it here, I remember our neighbours children pointing to the ducks on our pond years ago and shouting 'quand quand' as opposed to what it says here 'coin coin', either way surely 'quack quack' is more accurate? I can't believe I am saying this?..............

The word onomatopée (onomatopoeia) has been floating around the Internet as of late and I thought it would be fun to devote a post to French onomatopoeias vs. their English counterparts.

What is an onomatopoeia? An onomatopoeia is a word meant to mimic a certain sound made by un humain (a human), un animal (an animal) or un objet (an object). The spelling of an onomatopoeia should sound as close as possible to the actual sound it is trying to imitate.

The word itself comes from two Ancient Greek words: onoma meaning name, and poieo meaning to produce.

So let’s run through a few onomatopoeias in both French and English to give us an idea of how people hear things differently. You’ll find a number of these in both French and English bandes dessinées (comic books), dessins animés (cartoons) and livres pour enfants (children’s books). Keep in mind that there can be several onomatopoeias for the same sound but these are just some of the more popular ones.

The first onomatopoeia will be in French and the second in English.

Human Sounds:

1. Sleep: ron-ron vs. zzzzzzz

2. Sneeze: atchoum vs. achoo

3. Expression of pain: aïe! vs. ouch!

4. Crying baby: ouin-ouin vs. wah-wah

5. Drinking: glou-glou vs. slurp/glug

6. Beating heart: poum-poum vs. thump-thump

7. Hushing: chut vs. shh

Animal Sounds:

1. Rooster: cocorico vs. cock-a-doodle-doo

2. Pig: groin-groin vs. oink-oink

3. Bird: cui-cui vs. tweet-tweet

4. Duck: coin-coin vs. quack-quack

5. Frog: croac-croac vs. ribit/croak

6. Snake: siff vs. hiss/sss

7. Owl: ouh-ouh vs. hoo-hoo

Sounds made by objects:

1. Clock: tic-tac vs. tick-tock

2. Ambulance siren: pin-pon vs. wee-woo

3. Gun firing: pan-pan! vs. bang-bang!

4. Car door slamming: vlan! vs. wham!

5. Water dripping: plic-plic vs. drip-drip

6. Doorbell ringing: dingue-dongue vs. ding-dong

7. Telephone ringing: dring-dring vs. ring-ring

Here endeth the strangest blog I have ever posted!

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

Here in conclusion and having made many criticisms of Britain today it may be appropriate to compare us with another country which seems to go out of its way to help people, rather than to hinder them. France is the nearest foreign country to Britain and in many ways is quite similar.

Both are European, both members of the EU, both democracies, both were allied during the last two world wars, the economies are largely similar, and since the Norman invasion in 1066, and the Huguenot refugee crises of the 1500 and 1600s when thousands of French Protestants arrived in England, there has been a fair bit of French blood flowing through British veins.

Yet the differences between the two countries are palpable. In general people in France are friendlier, the countryside is better kept, towns and villages are cleaner, service, be it in a shop or restaurant, is more attentive. The general attitude and feeling of well-being compares with that experienced in Britain during the 1950s.

The first thing that comes to mind is the intrusiveness of authority in Britain where there are more cameras per person than in communist China. In France there are hardly any and certainly none in what might be termed reasonably-sized towns and villages. They are not needed in France, the people do not like them and in all probability would not stand for them.

It would also be very difficult for local authorities to introduce CCTVs in the stealthy and underhand way that they have done in Britain. At the first sign of anything like that there would be a queue outside the mayor’s office demanding to know what was going on.

They do not even like speed cameras for which a good argument can always be made. But even here a difference exists between the two countries. In the case of static speed cameras in France there is always a large warning sign about 200 or 300 metres before each camera. Furthermore, on sale [and even in little advertising freebies] you can obtain a map that indicates every camera in France.

When police use radar traps, they have to publish in the local press on which roads they are going to be and often the local radio station will announce where they will be that day. If this is not more people-friendly than Britain, what is?

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.

The owners of Cle France, Sharon & David Evans, met Fraser Blake in late 1998 after 6 months of property searching. They cannot quite get to the bottom of whether it was the house or the man who sold it to them, but they ended up buying the house and spent 12 years in France buying, selling and renovating property all over the North-West regions.

Fraser had spent most of the previous 20 years involved in the property market in the Mayenne department of the Pays de la Loire region and so when Cle France started, he was the obvious choice to be their first agent on the ground in France. Together they  have been involved with countless sellers, buyers, notaires, problems and of course solutions.  But more importantly Sharon and David have enjoyed many happy 'soirées' together with Fraser and his wife Annie, who are both great fun and an endless source of great stories and advice for ex-pats looking for a taste of 'la vie française''.

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 retirement he writes, blogs, cooks, drinks wine, and hosts to dinner unlimited numbers of ex-pats, and is an all round 'good sort'!

Over the coming weeks Fraser is going to share his views on France, the French and the British; we think his blog will provide some light relief from trawling through the internet looking at property details, as well as tell you a thing or to about life in France from an insiders point of view.

If you want more? then follow the links where you can buy Fraser's published books 'A Rant Too Far?' and 'Dear Chips'.