I'm writing this thinking that France is doing its best to make sure we leave with no regrets. France is great at so many things, but there's some aspects to life here that are impossibly frustrating.
The day began very well with a trip across the border to La Jonquera for our haircuts. We arrived with a bit of time to spare for a coffee at the amazing Artigas cafe. It is very eclectic, and the coffee is served with panache.
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| Sweet coffee cups, with a tiny bottle containing hot milk for Karen's cortado |
Our haircuts with Carmen were as good as ever. Karen finds it very difficult to get good haircuts despite trying many hairdressers, but Carmen at La Jonquera has been consistently good and only half the cost of those back on the French side of the border. And just as important, just up the road is Restaurant de Angeli. We've been there after each haircut for the last few years, and have never been disappointed. We are not sure if we will get back down to the Costa Brava, perhaps for ever, and took the opportunity to have some Catalan seafood. Jolly good! My chipirones were as good as they get - crunchy, juicy, salty and fishy. It was a lovely last Spanish meal, if indeed that's what it is.
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| Entree (chaperones for J, anchovies for K) |
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| Main course (seiche for J) |
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| Main course (rouget for K) |
The meal was simply delicious. The cost for three courses, including wine and bread, was 19 Euros (NZ$33), i.e. ridiculously cheap by NZ standards.
We had decided to go back to the car yard that had offered to buy our car, just to check all was well and to sort out payment methods and so on. What a mess! The place was closed despite it being working hours, yet there were people inside. There was also a for sale sign outside. We started feeling that things were looking dodgy. They had been very quick, perhaps too quick, to offer what we thought was a decent price. Three different phone numbers were not being answered either. We gave up. On heading back past the site again I saw somebody else trying to raise them without success, then spotted a man coming out of the office. I raced across the road to catch him. The place was closed for stocktaking apparently. He suggested we come back next week.
We will indeed do that on Thursday when we come back from Toulouse Airport on our way home from meeting Alastair and Sophie in Amsterdam. We think if we can, we will just sell the car there and then to make sure we have time to receive the money, or find alternative sale arrangements if it doesn't work out.
Back to find a bunch of emails from the notaire's office asking for various documents. One big win among the emails - we don't need to appoint a formal independent tax assessor (at NZD1500) to work out our capital gains tax (CGT). It's something we could do ourselves with an official online calculator in 5 minutes. The limit at which the formal assessor is required applies to each of the owners, so the overall sale value can be split between Karen and me and thankfully when split it comes under the limit. I'm not sure why this only came to be discovered so late in the piece. The difference it makes could have cost thousands of euros for us.
We managed to assemble the required documents and went down to the notaire's office to give them to the assistant. She was really nice, but insisted that our sales price (on which we pay CGT) must be the full price in the sales agreement that we signed yesterday. We were always concerned that this might happen, and that our agent had misled us. We wanted the agreed amount for chattels cut out of the sale price altogether, so we wouldn't pay CGT on it. Our buyers had already agreed this with us, as it means they will pay less overall tax too. After a bit of arguing back and forth (in French) with the assistant, the notaire happened to come downstairs and she called him in. He initially sided with her in that the full agreed sale price must be put in the agreement, but after another 5 minutes of polite arguing he agreed that yes, it was possible to put the non-chattels price in the agreement, and that we could reach a private and separate agreement with the buyers to pay for the chattels. This was what he had told us last week when we had a meeting with him to determine how the sales process could proceed. Finally. What a nightmare it's been. We figure the notaire will receive a lesser sum for his work if the sale price is reduced, hence he has a vested interest to keep the furnishings included in the sale of the apartment.
I had printed out a spreadsheet of how the CGT should work, as I simply want to make sure we get all our legal deductions. At one point the assistant said we can't take out our agent's fee, then put it back in the deductions list.
The difference between what might have happened, and where we should get to now, is tens of thousands of dollars. If we were not persistent, argumentative and well-prepared we could easily have had to pay extra. It is so frustrating. Just as well the sale is happening while we are in France. I dread to think what would have happened if we tried to question things remotely by email. We have no doubt we would have lost out enormously.
One thing has to be said. Everybody we have dealt with has been very pleasant and helpful, even when what they are saying things that don't help us. We have found this throughout the decade we've been here.
There's been one huge benefit of all the extra stress and hassles of the last week or so. We will be so glad to be rid of all the difficulties caused by French bureaucracy. France does many things well, but doing things quickly, simply and without stress isn't one of them. It will be a relief to be shot of it and to spend time in Nelson and Hanmer Springs, where everything is way more clear, simple and efficient!
