Beginning the Renovation
At the end of May 2008 we spent the week in the north of Creuse negotiating with builders, carpenters and the Mairie. The Notaire advised us that he was ready for us to sign the acte de vente. We stayed in a Gite in the village with a British couple, Jeanette and Ken, who made us feel very welcome.We met with the Mairie and talked about what improvements we wanted to make to the building. We needed to apply for permission to make some of the changes, so we were furnished with the necessary blank forms and told to complete them. We were advised to provide more plans and photographs, and to send 5 copies of everything!
We received notification that we became the official owners of the property
on Tuesday 17th June 2008. We immediately made arrangements for the electricity
to be connected and an engineer called at the house to reconnect the supply. We
increased the supply to 12kW to cope with the needs of a more modern house
(which we hope ours will be once it's finished). The water supply was also
reconnected, so we were in a position to start work.
Our builder, Jacky, began working on the house. He repaired part of the roof and
put in concrete floors in the kitchen and new bathroom.
Back in the UK we availed ourselves of a B&Q 10% day, so we've purchased
some of the things we need to take with us, including a flat-pack kitchen and
some tiles, amongst other things. At times when B&Q didn't have a deal on,
we found a use for Simon's dad on a Wednesday to assist us with his 10%
Diamond Card at B&Q. Parents have their uses!
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