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Help with a french house no-one seems to care about!

Hi

When my current partner and his Ex were together they bought a house in France (Near Potier) however since they split 5-6 years ago, the bills had stopped being paid etc and when we moved from the address that the french bills were being sent too, needless to say the first thing to spring to mind is the saying 'out of sight out of mind'.
So now the house has just been sat there doing nothing and not being paid for, (I know the house has definatly not had bills paid for atleast 4 years)

But seen as my partner and his Ex aren't sure what they want to do about it, other than try and pass the responsability/blame to each other, I thought it might be a good idea to see if anyone has been in a situation similar and has any idea what they should do.

I believe they would rather keep the house as it's original purpose was for them and their kids to have as a holiday home for generations. However things have obviously changed but Im pretty sure they still want it so we can all take turns in having holidays there.

The thing is how would they go about finding out bills they owe, like what water company, council etc do they need to contact.

I know this is all rather vague but this is all I have to work worth.

And even though it isn't my house, I would rather get the ball rolling for them otherwise the house will just sit there for more years to come doing nothing.

Can anyone help or give any sort of advice?

Kindest regards

Baby_Bernie

Comments

  • martindow
    martindow Posts: 10,628 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    I imagine that if you went there you could collect the pile of bills that have been posted to the house to see who needs paying.

    If they have split up, keeping this house as a joint asset seems a very poor idea and their track record of leaving it to the other to sort it has not worked too well so far.
  • zzzLazyDaisy
    zzzLazyDaisy Posts: 12,497 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    I doubt if the house will even be habitable after all this time, bearing in mind the utilities have almost certainly been disconnected for non-payment.

    When did they last visit the place? Do they know for certain that it hasn't burned down/acquired squatters/been the subject of a forced sale to cover property taxes and/or other debts owed?
    I'm a retired employment solicitor. Hopefully some of my comments might be useful, but they are only my opinion and not intended as legal advice.
  • G_M
    G_M Posts: 51,977 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    I believe they would rather keep the house as it's original purpose was .....
    Yeah - they've really demonstrated a) an enthusiasm to keep it, b) a professional approach to maintaining it and c) a mature attitude to sharing it!!!!

    Maybe someone should go out and inspect the place......?
This discussion has been closed.
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