UP, DOWN, OUT, OVER

LAWYERING UP AND DOWN

A week ago I made the trek up the 70 steps to my rue de Saintonge apartment to see how the reconstruction work was going to repair the ceiling beams. The shock of the state of the apartment was overwhelming rendering me speechless and in tears. According to the big powwow we had before moving out, the architects and powers that be announced that they would have to remove anything that touched the ceiling and the ceiling would be lowered by a bit. That meant all of the custom built-in closets and the top cabinets that are part of the bookcase had to go. They were instructed to remove the kitchen cabinets as the plan was to redo the kitchen (at my expense).

Instead, everything had been removed with the exception of the kitchen—the exact opposite of what had been discussed. And the worst shock of all was the complete removal and destruction of the wall-to-wall custom-made solid oak desk of which I was very proud and loved…lock, stock and barrel. Seeing the apartment in this stripped-down state was enough to send me reeling, but then to imagine the time and expense to rebuild it all put me into a panic. I had just gotten the quote to do the custom built-ins at the new Nice apartment, so this would be similar—about 15 times the price of what had been agreed-upon during mediation with the Syndic!

Before and after the reconstruction in the living room

My lawyer had not attended the meeting, although I expected him to be there. To date, his handling of my case has been contrary to what one might expect of a U.S. attorney. The lack of attendance at such an important meeting just added fuel to the fire of my disapproval. When we mediated with the Syndic for a settlement, the details of the reconstruction were not known—that meeting hadn’t yet taken place—so our decisions were a bit of guess work, and he allowed me to waive my rights to make any further claims against the Syndic…not a good move considering the lack of information we had at the time.

Before and after the destruction in the bedroom

I’m stuck now with a costly disaster. And it will take much longer to reconstruct the apartment. Within a few days, I set out to right some of the wrongs. I consulted with another attorney to give me an opinion. It wasn’t good news—my recourse is limited. And I contacted my landlord to see if the lease can be extended if needed. (Yes, but with a rent increase!) I certainly don’t want to have to move again, except to a permanent residence!

Sometimes I feel as if I’m the Poster Child for property problems. At least I’m the Guinea pig for all of our clients so we know first hand what can be expected from property ownership in France. If it happened to me…then we know how to avoid it for our clients!

What I’ve learned is that while an old building has beauty and intrinsic value, insurance companies won’t insure them for structural problems, hence the reason our homeowners are paying for the work in my apartment and why they are being so tight-fisted—it’s coming out of their pockets directly…but not as much as is coming out of mine!

Good French lawyers are hard to find. We Americans expect our lawyers to protect and advise us. The best of the bunch we equate with “bulldogs.” There’s no such thing in France, and that’s because of Napoleonic Code. The lawyers are so busy just trying to decipher the law in order to interpret how you’re supposed to follow it, that they’ve forgotten you’re the client and not the State. Several times I had to ask my attorney, “Who are you working for? Me or those against me?”

Napoleonic Code is contrary to English law, which is based on what’s forbidden. Because the law tells us what we can’t/shouldn’t do, the rest is all possible. That means seeking loopholes and getting creative about ways around the law—a very out-of-the-box way of thinking. Not so when dealing with Napoleonic Code that only offers up the way to follow the rules—a very inside-the-box way of thinking.

I fired my attorney this past weekend and hired the new guy. He’s twice as expensive, but he has an ethnicity that leads me to believe he’s ahead of the rest. That might sound racist, but the stereotypes can often ring so true. So far, he’s been pro-active and professional, very unlike my current (or should I say past?) attorney who has been passive too many times for my taste. At the homeowner association meeting over a year ago when many of the owners were yelling at me for 2.5 hours, blaming me for having blown the whistle on the structural issue, he mumbled under his breath a few words in my defense, leaving me with the burden of standing up for myself. It was not fun, and I knew then he might not be the right lawyer for me, but it was still too early in the game to make a change.

Looking back over the years, scanning the list of French lawyers with whom I have trusted to protect and defend me, very few of them have been worth their weight in fees. Let’s just hope this new guy is THE GUY who can make it right, at least more right than how I was left holding a very big and expensive bag by the old guy!

Stay tuned!

TUNING IN AND OUT

At lunch Saturday at Café Charlot with Lisa Radden, she was thrilled to announce that the House Hunters International episode we filmed last March is finally airing. I hadn’t seen the email yet from the producers that it’s scheduled for airing Tuesday night in the States, meaning that we’ll be up early on Wednesday trying to watch it live. They didn’t give us much notice (!), but c’est la vie…get ready fast!

Adrian with Lisa “on set” for House Hunters International

The story goes: A Bostonian designer quits her job to follow her dream of living in Paris. She’s searching for French charm and space to work remotely, but finding a place in her budget that’s in her favorite neighborhood, the Latin Quarter, may be a challenge.

You can view airtimes on HGTV’S site (You will need a VPN to access this link outside of the US), or mark your calendar now:

• Tuesday September 17th, 10:01 p.m. Eastern, 9:01 p.m. Central
• Wednesday September 18th, 1:01 a.m. Eastern, 12:01 a.m. Central

HANGING UP AND OVER

After lunch, Lisa was kind enough to offer to help hang the art collection at my new apartment. We had a picture-hanging system installed so that none of the walls would be damaged, and it works brilliantly. Sure, it cost me something to order the materials and have it installed, but home is not home without them—the photos I’ve collected over the years which have become my “friends.”

When we moved to France in 1994, we had a few suitcases of clothing and personal affects, but shipped over our entire collection of photos and art. That turned out to be a good thing because when you ship your belongings within the first year, you pay no customs taxes. Shipping them was best by air freight, because the cost of insurance is lower, even if weight by air is more expensive—they weren’t heavy; just valuable—and it took less time by air to arrive. And best of all, in spite of the shabby furnishings in our new rental apartment in Paris, they could be overlooked or ignored thanks to having our “friends” surrounding us.

Choosing their places this time around was the first challenge, which I had done in advance of unboxing them all. Then there was fine tuning to do. The largest one was too heavy to hang without making some alterations to the back of the frame, so it will find its place over the couch within the next few weeks when we can work that out. Meanwhile, the new space feels more comfortable and as if we really belong there.

To those of you planning a move to France, I highly recommend taking your “friends” with you, too. You’ll thank me later for this advice!

A la prochaine…