Winter freeze on evictions ends

 

The five month trêve hivernale or winter truce is over, meaning landlords can now evict tenants who haven't been paying their rent.

 

As is the case every year in France judicial eviction orders are suspended over the winter, but the freeze lifts on midnight of March 31st. So from April 1st the bailiffs can move in.

 

Thousands of hard-up households may be affected.

 

Affected landlords and tenants can call the free number for the National Agency for Housing Information (Anil) on 0805 160 075.

Read more about the winter truce here.

 

Photo: AFP

 

Gas prices to drop again

 

Gas prices are going to drop in April, with an average decline of 0.73 percent in April for customers of gas provider Engie.

 

Around 7 million homes will be affected by the change.

 

New 50 euro notes

 

From April 4th you'll be able to get your hands on the brand new fifty euro notes in France (and elsewhere in European countries using the euro). 

 

The new design will make it easier to detect counterfeits. 

Read more about the new look here (or see an image of the new one below, on the left). 

 

 

Colour-coded food labels in supermarkets

 

New nutritional logos will be added to selected products in French supermarkets in the hopes of making the French public eat healthier.

 

The colour-coded system – called the “Nutri-score” – will see selected foods and drinks ranked on a scale of A to E, with the colours ranging from dark green to red. 

 

Read a lot more about it here. 

 

Trade workers need to be upfront online

 

Gone will be the days of hidden prices by your local builders, plumbers, locksmiths etc etc etc. 

 

From April they'll all be obliged by law to put their full prices online. This includes hourly rates, how they make time estimates for jobs, travel expenses and more. 

 

And all trade workers have to offer a quote before the job begins. 

 

Hopefully this will be enough to bring an end to the rampant scamming in the industry. 

 

Photo: AFP

 

Is your restaurant clean? Now you can find out online 

 

From April 3rd restaurants will have to post the results of sanitary inspections online, meaning customers can check in on them before dining. 

 

In fact, there's even going to be an interactive app with all the hygiene scores listed from “In need of urgent correction” to “Very satisfactory” and a few in between. 

 

Here's how you can find out the scores and download the app. 

 

 

More transparent real estate ads

 

A new decree has been published that will force real estate agents to be clearer with any hidden prices that come with buying or renting a property. 

 

In short (and believe us, the decree is long), realtors will have to show the selling price of a property in all ads and explain who will be responsible for paying the intermediary fees. 

 

For rental announcements, real estate agents will have inform future tenants exactly what comes with an “all inclusive” rent, presumably so they can't bring up any extra prices once the contracts are signed.