Living in France: Dealing with red tape
I’m sure I’m not the only person to smile when they hear that folk are moving to France to get away from stuffy old Britain, infested with paperwork and red tape, to start up a new simple life in the French countryside. Just who do they think they are kidding? At every turn, property owners are confronted with bureaucrats brandishing a set of forms.
Take the new simplified planning procedure, in force since October 2007 (see FPN Jan 2008). I recently helped clients with an application for an exceedingly smart garden building, or ‘abri de jardin’ in French. As it was under 20m2 in size and not sited in a sensitive area, permission couldn’t be refused, in principle.
It’s a form of what, in the UK, is called ‘permitted development’. Nevertheless, the standard seven-page form has to be completed. This must be submitted in duplicate, accompanied by various plans, diagrams and photos. The guidance notes have to be read carefully, as five extra copies (i.e. seven in total) are required of some, but not all, of the plans.
I feared we might fall at the first hurdle. It was impossible, due to the lie of the land, to take a photo showing the site from a distance, as required by Article R431-10, Code de l'Urbanisme. It took a good deal of persuasion and help from Google satellite images to convince them of the impossibility of ‘ticking’ that particular box.
The photos are required because the bureaucrats concerned are too busy shuffling paper to get out on site and look at most development proposals. Back in Blighty, woe betide any planning officer who hasn’t visited a site in his application casebook: if his decision is challenged, his arguments would be torn to shreds on appeal or by the ombudsman. But this is France, and paperwork seems to take preference over reasoned decision-making.
Apply yourself
Then there's the ‘attestation’ forms for the reduced rate of TVA on renovation works – who dreamt up such a crazy scheme? Each accountant seems to advise his artisan clients to use a different format, so the poor client paying for the work can end up filling in several different forms with assorted extra ‘caveat clauses’ added in, none of which he truly understands.
Some time after an application for permission is approved, be it for a new building or a home improvement such as a pool or extra windows, you will receive a letter from the local Centre des Impôts politely requesting you to complete déclaration modèle H1 within 90 days of the works’ completion.
You will have the pleasure of struggling with formal French, wondering what on earth is a usufruit, a nu-propriétaire (no, it doesn’t mean nudist) or an élément de pur agrément. The aim of the form is to reevaluate your property for taxe foncière/ d’habitation purposes, so measure carefully. Your mairie may be able to help with the forms, or you could take all the plans and paperwork to the tax office and smile sweetly. If you don’t send in the forms, there will be reminders, and the threat of a fine if you refuse to comply.
Making payments When you employ a regular builder or tradesman, all you have to do is pay his bill (and give him his attestation, if applicable). If you pay a chap to do small jobs under the cheque emploi universel service, you enter the strange world of cotisations as an employer. It’s supposed to be simple, but the cotisation letters stating how much will be taken from your bank account as social charges, in addition to what you have paid the person, are nigh on impossible to fathom out.
You should check them, as they do make mistakes, which can cost you money. If you’re new to it, get on to the online service and ask a French friend or the mairie to go through the statements with you – they will probably be more used to the mystifying assiettes and FNAL, CFP, CCP elements than you are. Then, at least you will know what might need challenging before you start to complain.
Company concerns
If you own property through a UK limited company or a French SCI, you will almost certainly need to take professional financial advice on tax matters, and on what forms need completing when. It’s a minefield for the unwary. You might have been coasting along for years when suddenly some demand or another for information slithers through your letterbox – probably two months late as the postcode was wrong. Failure to complete it could result in a fine – so take advice before it gets lost in the pile of junk mail behind the toaster.
Building regulations
One area which is free from paperwork and, indeed, from any effective controls is the building process itself. Getting permission can be a nightmare, but no-one actually comes along to check what the builder does on site. There is no system of building control inspection. Builders can get away with murder, and once it’s hidden behind render or plasterboard, often nobody is any the wiser until faults develop.
It’s amazing really; if they instigated a system, they could create a whole new tier of bureaucracy. I suppose the reason the powers that be haven’t done it is that to be effective they would need to employ practical bods rather than pen-pushers. I’m now off to the Post Office to prove that my address is my address. La Poste wishes to alter a long-standing account held by a club of which I am the treasurer. I had supplied, as requested, an EDF bill as proof of address. They then wrote to me, here, requesting a handwritten attestation from my husband confirming the situation as our EDF bills are in his name alone.
Chartered surveyor Mary Hall lives in southwest France. Tel: 0033 (0)5 65 24 66 46 hall.bureau@neuf.fr