A Taste of France

After almost 4 very enjoyable years in the Charente, we have decided to sell the house and move to the Alps to pursue our ambition of running a ski chalet. Steve finished the house renovation in May this year and was able to take a step back from all his hard work and has enjoyed improving his handicap at Cognac Golf Club. We didn’t have the house on the market, and hadn’t intended to move on for another year or so, but we received an offer from one of our gite guests and thought that maybe the time was right to start yet another project.

We plan to move to the Alps in May 2012 and are in the process of purchasing a plot of land in Montriond, which is close to the slopes of both Avoriaz and Morzine/Les Gets. Steve will then project manage a new build ski chalet with 5 en-suite letting bedrooms, which we plan to launch for the beginning of the ski season in 2013. As well as offering a fully catered ski chalet we’re also be offering accommodation during the Summer Season. This isn’t the first time we’ve looked at starting a ski chalet business and hopefully this time, we can make it happen. We’re really looking forward to this next project and as our hearts have always been in the Alps, the next couple of years promises both challenges and excitement.

As we said previously, we have had a wonderful time in the Charente and have made some great friends who we will miss. We have enjoyed our time running the gite and again met some lovely people who came as guests and left as friends. Thank you to all our clients and friends for supporting us over the last few years and we hope to see you in the Alps. We’ll keep you posted on our progress.

Lindsay & Steve Butcher

Hi to anyone who may be reading this blog and especially anyone who knows me and my lack of writing skills. It has been the most testing week yet, but with an excellent outcome. Friday the 27th April was deadline for submitting the planning application and the “Attestation” (official document) from the bank for our mortgage offer. This is what is written into the “Compromis De Vente” (land purchase legal agreement) and if we missed these timescales, the seller had the right to withdraw the land and keep our deposit………….not good.  We we told on Wednesday by Jo our Architect that the planning would go in Friday and we were also told by the bank that they could not issue our offer that quick……..doh!

So after a fair bit of stress and sleepless nights, we decided on Thursday afternoon to instruct the selling agent to drop the mortgage clause in the compromis and we would go ahead with planning and purchase the land anyway (the clause was in there to protect us should we not obtain a mortgage).  It might sound risky, but to get planning is costing 20k and we figure the plot with planning and build drawings can only be a good asset. So imagine to our delighted surprise at 3pm on Friday afternoon an attestation came through from the bank and luckily for us the agent had not managed to get the compromis changed. So we all breathed a deep sigh of relief and to cap it off at 5pm the official planning request receipt came through………….phew.

So a major mile stone in this stage of the project has passed successfully and it would have been rude not to open a bottle of bubbly on Friday night to mark the occasion.

We are in the final throws of packing up in the Charente ready for the move on Friday the 4th May. Today (Sunday) we went to the Cognac brocante (boot fair really) to sell some of our last remaining items. We were told by some french locals, that out stand was excellent and wondered if we had a homewares shop??? That shows the level of tut that is generally sold at these affairs and for good measure we had very unseasonal weather and it bucketed down for most of the day. We got a bit wet and have indigestion from the mandatory Merguez Sausage baguette that all goers must eat with cold chips for fear of the old school guillotine…………”.burp encore” still trying to get it all the way down.

I shall sign off now and I have included an impression of the chalet sitting on the land that Jo has produced. We are very happy and can’t wait for it to be a reality.  Roll on Friday, Morzine here we come!!!!

Well it’s been a frustrating month and after our visit to BNP and an expensive trip………………….yup you guessed it they said NO. Why I hear you cry, they did not want to invest in holiday business that relied on snow, doh. They also said our French speaking was not good enough, which was a little sad as we have had lessons and come on leaps and bounds, mange tout mange tout and all that!!

So we were back at square 1 with the deadline clock ticking, so 4 other banks were approached and I am delighted to say, today we received an official mortgage offer in writing. YIPPPPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.

Maybe I can sleep at night now, but maybe not as I am very excited that we have a live project.

Next week the planning application should be submitted and then it’s another waiting game, but we are confident it should pass ok.

Just a short one as I need to run around and burn off some excess energy.

Thing’s have started to progress well with Jo the Architect and we are on revision No3 for the plans, and they are looking very good. There are of course compromises and exceptions, but overall it looks like we can just about get all the essentials in the size the planning dept will allow. The pic shows a sketch of what the Chalet may look like (work in progress) I will post the plans once we have finalised them, hopefully by the next update.

We also made a trip up to Morzine last Sat 17th of March, this was at the request of the bank, yes at last we have an appointment with the bank for the mortgage. They have had all our plans, financials, house sale, land purchase, colour of my underpants blah blah blah. So we found out on Thursday the 15th that they wanted to see us on Tuesday 20th at 10am. So we decided to go up on Sat and return after the meeting, the time in between we would use and meet the Architect, Accountants and visit the Chalet we are renting from the 4th of May.

So after a long night on Thursday evening trying to find accommodation in the Morzine area, during the ski season. Ok lot’s available but all really expensive and we weren’t on holiday so we chose something fairly basic but looked ok. It was 125euros/night for DBB, so it seemed good value as we are watching every penny like it was the last. Well we checked in at 8.30pm after a 8hr from the Charente andarrived just in time for dinner. This was not going to be a gastronomic experience and yup it was as basic as school dinners, but bearable. We then hit the sack and tried to sleep through the apre-ski crowd in the bar below us. The next morning was fun and only then did the french term for small “bijou” come into force. Well I am only 6ft and not a giant by any stretch of the imagination, but I am going to stretch your imagination now!

I started off in the shower and was struggling to wash my feet and I ended up dropping the soap. Well to retrieve the soap, I had to turn off the shower and get out………..yes very small and I have bruised elbows to prove it. But it got worse, after breakfast nature called (I am sure you know exactly what I mean) so I went back to room and tried, I repeat tried to sit on the loo. The loo was sandwiched between the shower and the wall and the sink was over hanging the bowl with the toilet roll holder protruding out  also over the bowl. Well I could get on after a wiggle here and there, but I am afraid the angle was just all wrong!!!!!!!! I did consider pics, but thought this was a step too far. Needless to say we requested and did more rooms, problem solved.

Anyway back to the real reason for the visit, we met the letting agent on Sunday and discussed everything over a very nice lunch. We then went off to look around our rented Chalet, which was still inhabited by 6 people who leave at the end of April. However when we got there we found out they were all ill with the lurgy, so we went in and tried not to breath for 10mins without success obviously. We even went into a bedroom to find a very sick couple waving form beneath a duvet, this felt very uncomfortable and we couldn’t get out of there quick enough. So we did not get a great view of the space, but confident enough that it will be ok.

So on Monday we met another agent who we are purchasing the land though, to find the Mazot I mentioned previously, is on the land illegally and can not form part of our purchase after all. So the mazot has to be removed. Not really an big issue, it would have been a welcome storage shed, but we can manage without it. We then went to the accountants and discussed the bank meeting, where they assured us we were meeting the bank manager who speaks fluent English…… that was  relief, even thou our French is improving, we didn’t want to rely on it for such an important meeting. After this we met the Architect who had the 2nd revision of plans to review, the meeting went well but we only had an hour as Jo had another appointment that day. So the day closed out and the snow was falling hard and probably the biggest snow I have ever seen. It was mesmerizing and I couldn’t stop looking out of the window at it as it was so beautiful.

So the big day arrives and we checked out of the hotel at 9am and headed for the bank in Cluses, which is 25mins away and on route to home. We arrived slightly early and took a quick caffine injection before going to the bank. We stood in the foyer of the bank nevously trying to look French and fit in, then a young good looking man (according to Lindsay) came down the stairs to collect us. He took us to his office and explained in French that the bank manger was off sick………………………………..double doh. So we went through all our files with him and Lindsay did very well with her French as where I just confused him with my Franglaise, but between us he seemed to grasp what we were saying. We were only there for 1.25hrs and didn’t do any official paper work and was told he would have to speak with the bank manager as he was the only one who could decide if they were going to offer us the mortgage. So we left felling slightly deflated that after an long drive and expensive trip, we’re none the wiser regarding if we have obtained a mortgage.

Well fingers crossed that we hear positive news soon and if not we will have to start all over again with another bank. In the meantime we will push on with the plans and hope to submit for planning consent in around 3-4 weeks.

Pics of the white out in Morzine and the day after with the sun out.

white out

after the white out

Well it’s been a frustrating few weeks and we have gone round in circles with the drawings, planning and mortgage. Unfortunately we are delayed by a couple of months for submitting planning, as the 1st architect that was appointed could not produce drawings until April. A 2nd was quickly  appointed and the same problem manifested, no availability until April. So after a lot of research, I found an architect who can start next week, her name is Jo Lavery and it turns out she lives in Montriond and is on the planning committee, so that’s a real bonus.  Jo has already got us to the stage where we can submit our mortgage application as she has provided a thorough break down of build costs and fee’s etc.

On that last point, our budget is somewhat less now as there were some fee’s we did not know about despite all our research. So any budding self builder out there can learn from this. There are a few things outside the Architects fee’s that we did not allow for, such as the new development tax’s (taking over from the old system of charges for building new).  The new system is more expensive and we are estimating around 9k for this, it could be less but it could be worse. Each area/commune is different and we won’t know the exact cost until the new system starts in March (not great for budgeting).  The one cost that I am struggling with is “Assurances Dommage & Ouvrage” (ADO).  Because we are building the Chalet as a business and hence claiming back the TVA (19.6%), it is obligatory to take this insurance out and we have to have it to secure the mortgage. “WHAT IS IT?” I here you ask. Well, it goes like this; all the builders will have their own 10 year insurance against any build defects or issues, however if a problem arises, lets say a leak that flooded the ground floor,  the repairs cannot be done until it’s established what and who is responsible, so in essence it could sit like that for months while everyone argues the toss. So ADO is essentially a policy that should the aforementioned occur, then they pay out and get the problem/repairs done and then fight it out afterwards with the relevant builders. The cost to cover the builders 10 year insurance……………10-15,000 euros…………….ouch!

To make this worse I will still need a very expensive house insurance policy as per standard in France, so I will have insurance on insurance on yes another insurance………….C’est la vie as they say in France.

We are still searching everyday for suitable rental property in the area of Montiond, ready for our move up there in May. At the rate we are going we may have to live in the Mazot on the land!!!!

So we are now moving in a positive direction and progress of any kind is a good thing.

Bye for now, Steve & Lindsay

We have finally signed the land purchase documents this week, but not without a great deal of problems. It turns out the access road is private and not owned by the Montriond commune, this presented several problems with connecting to the public services such as water and waste etc. However with much negotiation, the Marie of  Montriond have agreed to take the road into the commune and therefore will provide the services up to the building plot…………..hooray.

We are currently in the process of finalising the drawings and costings for the build in order to approach the banks for the business mortgage we require. In the current global economic climate, this is now our biggest challenge. However we are hopeful that a positive outcome will be achieved and in 4-6 weeks we will get the approval and  can move on the the planning permission stage.

As I sit here writing this in south west France, the snow has and is falling. Snow is quire rare here and looking out of the window it could be the Alps, talking of the Alps and Mozine, the snow has been outstanding this year and the ski season is going very well.

Enough for now, next update in  a few weeks when I will post some drawings for the chalet.