FRENCH SERVICES

Property

See-at-a-Glance Guide to Buying in France

1. Reflect on your reasons for buying in France

2. The Region

• Choose the area carefully - spend time there in winter and summer - look at the prices of houses on the internet and in estate agents' windows.

3. Approaching an Agent

• Estate agency is a regulated profession in France and many are members of the organisation FNAIM and display a yellow diamond bearing these letters.

• The agent always accompanies a prospective purchaser to a property and will ask you sign 'un bon de visite, which is proof that you visited the house with that particular agent.

• The price of a property normally includes the agent's fees FAI (Frais Agence Inclus) but rarely the notaire's fees which are normally about 7% of the "Net Vendeur", the amount paid to the vendor.

• Make sure you know exactly what you are agreeing to buy; a property may include plots of land which are at a distance from the house. Ask to see "les plans cadastres".

• Ask about the running costs - and check whether the property falls within a co-propriété, i.e has a management committee and the charges. · Once you have agreed a price; (you can make an offer - be guided by the agent on this - ) you will sign the Compromis de Vente. This can be sent to you for signing at home. When buying property in France it is wise to seek legal advice
  See Links

4. Compromis de Vente

• This is a contract committing the vendor and purchaser, subject to certain conditions, referred to as les Conditions Suspensives. Basically, it details the property, the amount the vendor will receive and the fees to be paid out on the purchase. The buyer pays the agents fees
  

• There are standard Conditions Suspensives; e.g a negative termite report or refusal, in principal, to obtain planning permission for conversion of outbuildings, failure to obtain finance due to change in buyer's circumstances after being granted a mortgage.

• It is not acceptable practice to sign a Compromise de Vente before having organised finance.

• Agents generally will not allow "subject to the sale of my UK home" as a Condition Suspensive.

• You should not sign a Compromis de Vente until you are sure of the date you will have access to funds, which should be imminent and not subject to delays. A vendor is not obliged to wait indefinitely or become part of an English chain.

• For the signature of the Compromis de Vente you will require copies of your passport, marriage/divorce certificate and loan application details.

• Sometimes a married woman is asked to initial and sign in her maiden name. Cooling-off period

• There is a 7-day cooling-off period where the buyer can change his or her mind without penalty. The vendor, however, is committed.

• After the cooling-off period, you will be asked to pay a deposit, normally 10%, sometimes less. This can be paid to the estate agent or directly to the notaire who will draw up and organise the signature of the final contract known as the Acte de Vente or the Acte authentique.

5. After the Compromis

• There is normally one notaire who ensures, amongst other things, that the sale is sound legally and administratively.

• It is usually the vendor who chooses the notaire. Although, you can choose to have your own in which case the 7% fees are shared between the two.

• The notaire stipulates the dates for the signature of the final contract, by which time all funds should be lodged in his/her bank account.

• When you open a bank account in France you will be given details of your bank account: this is called a RIB. You may be given the notaire's RIB enabling you to make a bank transfer directly to his account. You also use your RIB to enable other payments to be made from your account e.g to utility companies.

6. Inheritance

• Inheritance law in France is different from in England. Your French property will fall within the French Inheritance Law where priority is given to children and the living parents of the deceased - protected heirs. The protected heirs are granted greater rights of inheritance than those of surviving partners. You cannot disinherit your children under this 'protected heirs' rule.

• You should speak to the notaire or a French legal expert in England about this matter. Certain procedures have to be enacted prior to or at the time of the signature of the final contract and cannot be done retrospectively. See Links.

Proxies - Procuration See English Notaries Site

• Sometimes one of the parties cannot be present at the signature of the Acte de Vente and a proxy will be necessary. This takes about 3 weeks to organise once the French text has been received, so allow for this.