Holiday home purchase - an impulse buy.
Discussion
You know how they put sweets in supermarkets by the checkouts so kids pester their parents for them? Well, I stumbled upon this house at the tail end of a motorbike trip around France and the rest is history. Offer accepted in April, and completion was in July.
It's a 300-ish year old 3 bedroom farmhouse, with a barn, sitting on half an acre and it cost considerably less than a one bedroom flat in my hometown. It's an hour and a half from the Normandy beaches, and about the same to LeMans.
The plan is to use it as a holiday home, and somewhere our kids can use to escape their parents now one is old enough.
The oil fired heating boiler died a death after a week and can't be replaced due to regulations, and it needs a few bits doing to it, but it is habitable.
It was sold with all furniture and contents off a lovely English couple who have owned it for 28 years. It even has english power sockets throughout.
Alarm and security cameras fitted, so we can watch any scallywags break in and do nothing about it, robot mower cutting the grass daily to make it look lived in, and hue lights set on a random-ish pattern in the evening. Any other security considerations worth thinking about?
I'll keep this thread as a dairy of the work that gets done - mostly because I can read back and cry about the money we're throwing at an inevitable money-pit.
It's a 300-ish year old 3 bedroom farmhouse, with a barn, sitting on half an acre and it cost considerably less than a one bedroom flat in my hometown. It's an hour and a half from the Normandy beaches, and about the same to LeMans.
The plan is to use it as a holiday home, and somewhere our kids can use to escape their parents now one is old enough.
The oil fired heating boiler died a death after a week and can't be replaced due to regulations, and it needs a few bits doing to it, but it is habitable.
It was sold with all furniture and contents off a lovely English couple who have owned it for 28 years. It even has english power sockets throughout.
Alarm and security cameras fitted, so we can watch any scallywags break in and do nothing about it, robot mower cutting the grass daily to make it look lived in, and hue lights set on a random-ish pattern in the evening. Any other security considerations worth thinking about?
I'll keep this thread as a dairy of the work that gets done - mostly because I can read back and cry about the money we're throwing at an inevitable money-pit.
English power sockets will play havoc with insurance. It also means the electrics aren't legally compliant. Loads of Brits do work on each other's houses "on the black", and it's usually non-compliant.
If you need any more electrics done, any self-respecting French sparky will refuse to work on it.
I also assume you have a septic tank, and I'd not be surprised if that isn't compliant either.
I'll bet the gas bottles for the cooker are indoors, too.
I don't want to piss on your chips (I've had a house in France for 19 years, that was previously owned by an English skinflint), so I wish you all the best with it, but I think you've been very brave...
If you need any more electrics done, any self-respecting French sparky will refuse to work on it.
I also assume you have a septic tank, and I'd not be surprised if that isn't compliant either.
I'll bet the gas bottles for the cooker are indoors, too.
I don't want to piss on your chips (I've had a house in France for 19 years, that was previously owned by an English skinflint), so I wish you all the best with it, but I think you've been very brave...
Doofus said:
English power sockets will play havoc with insurance. It also means the electrics aren't legally compliant. Loads of Brits do work on each other's houses "on the black", and it's usually non-compliant.
If you need any more electrics done, any self-respecting French sparky will refuse to work on it.
I also assume you have a septic tank, and I'd not be surprised if that isn't compliant either.
I'll bet the gas bottles for the cooker are indoors, too.
I don't want to piss on your chips (I've had a house in France for 19 years, that was previously owned by an English skinflint), so I wish you all the best with it, but I think you've been very brave...
Oh yes, wait till you find it's wired with twin and earth as well!If you need any more electrics done, any self-respecting French sparky will refuse to work on it.
I also assume you have a septic tank, and I'd not be surprised if that isn't compliant either.
I'll bet the gas bottles for the cooker are indoors, too.
I don't want to piss on your chips (I've had a house in France for 19 years, that was previously owned by an English skinflint), so I wish you all the best with it, but I think you've been very brave...
Gas wise, propane indoors is a no no, but butane is ok to keep and use indoors.
Doofus said:
English power sockets will play havoc with insurance. It also means the electrics aren't legally compliant. Loads of Brits do work on each other's houses "on the black", and it's usually non-compliant.
If you need any more electrics done, any self-respecting French sparky will refuse to work on it.
I also assume you have a septic tank, and I'd not be surprised if that isn't compliant either.
I'll bet the gas bottles for the cooker are indoors, too.
I don't want to piss on your chips (I've had a house in France for 19 years, that was previously owned by an English skinflint), so I wish you all the best with it, but I think you've been very brave...
Noted and appreciated. It's not my first overseas property so I haven't gone into it blind.If you need any more electrics done, any self-respecting French sparky will refuse to work on it.
I also assume you have a septic tank, and I'd not be surprised if that isn't compliant either.
I'll bet the gas bottles for the cooker are indoors, too.
I don't want to piss on your chips (I've had a house in France for 19 years, that was previously owned by an English skinflint), so I wish you all the best with it, but I think you've been very brave...
Rewiring has been budgeted for, as has the septic tank as these were both highlighted in the pre-purchase diagnostics. The propane for the cooker is in the barn - not short of ventilation in there but I will look into the regulations.
The boiler is the biggest pain - it will probably be replaced with an electric central heating boiler as it will only really be used for frost protection in the winter so although expensive to run, it's not worth spending 10-12k on a wood pellet boiler.
OP congrats on this, it's very brave and I'm very jealous. Would you be willing to say how much you paid in the region of for this one?
1.5 from Normandy Coast would be ideal for a bolt hole with ferry options.
I wouldn't be too bothered about the crime, more the UK plug sockets lol.
1.5 from Normandy Coast would be ideal for a bolt hole with ferry options.
I wouldn't be too bothered about the crime, more the UK plug sockets lol.
The plug sockets is a bit bizarre to be honest.
Even if you turned up with all your U.K. electrical goods it would take less time and expense just to buy a dozen French plugs and snip the plugs off to swap those rather than change the sockets.
Not to mention when they ultimately need replacement and you’ve got to source the replacement with a U.K. plug.
Even if you turned up with all your U.K. electrical goods it would take less time and expense just to buy a dozen French plugs and snip the plugs off to swap those rather than change the sockets.
Not to mention when they ultimately need replacement and you’ve got to source the replacement with a U.K. plug.
ChocolateFrog said:
Having both UK and french plugs sounds like the way to go to me.
Wonder if anyone's ever made ones on the same faceplate.
Or just use an Euro-uk adapter plugged into one 6 uk plug multi plug so you can power up to 6 uk sockets from 1 of the French sockets. Wonder if anyone's ever made ones on the same faceplate.
Across my house abroad I’ve got 1 uk socket which is a fused uk plug for a docking station I had surplus to requirements in the uk.
Everything else I’ve either swapped the plug for an EU one at a cost of about €2 euro and 2 minutes of time or they were bought from a local supplier.
I really can’t see the point in changing the sockets themselves.
Is the gas pipe from the barn to the cooker copper? Got pulled on that one as ours was a plastic flexi and we had to change it to copper where it went through the wall. Have you thought of a wood pellet boiler rather than costly electric, they can be very efficient nowadays but you'll need to construct a largish hopper to hold the pellets (not that difficult dependent on the system installed). Agree on the electrics how the hell did that get through the diagnostics.
fourstardan said:
OP congrats on this, it's very brave and I'm very jealous. Would you be willing to say how much you paid in the region of for this one?
1.5 from Normandy Coast would be ideal for a bolt hole with ferry options.
I wouldn't be too bothered about the crime, more the UK plug sockets lol.
It was the distance that sold it for me really, 2 hours from home to Portsmouth, overnight ferry and then under 2 hours drive to the house. It's close enough that the kids don't whine about the journey and actually look forward to going there.1.5 from Normandy Coast would be ideal for a bolt hole with ferry options.
I wouldn't be too bothered about the crime, more the UK plug sockets lol.
Cost including Notaire fees etc. was around the £80k mark.
Alorotom said:
Did the previous owners let it out??
It looks amazingly like a place I rented a few years back (pre-covid) for a couple of weeks ... even the garden terrace looks identical!
Not that I know of - and if they did, they didn't declare it for tax according to the tax records.It looks amazingly like a place I rented a few years back (pre-covid) for a couple of weeks ... even the garden terrace looks identical!
SlimRick said:
Alarm and security cameras fitted, so we can watch any scallywags break in and do nothing about it, robot mower cutting the grass daily to make it look lived in, and hue lights set on a random-ish pattern in the evening. Any other security considerations worth thinking about?
These give off a light which simulates a TV being on (hence someone in).https://tinyurl.com/2s3evus8
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