Buying property in France

Navigating the legal and property system in France can be complex and daunting, especially if your knowledge of the French language is limited. The team at Maison Victoire will guide you through the buying process with a comprehensive service that starts the moment you contact us, and continues right through to the completion of your sale or purchase.

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Introduction

As a French estate agent, we hold a carte professionnelle and are therefore fully registered and regulated. Unlike some other estate agents, we do not levy any extra charges for our services: we are simply paid commission upon the completion of a sale.

Before you start looking for property in France, it is important to consider some important points.

What kind of property are you looking for?

We believe that in order to provide you with the highest levels of service, we must thoroughly understand your needs. The following information always proves useful in identifying your unique property needs.

Is this a holiday home or main residence?
If this is to be a main residence, will you be working – and if so, where?
Have you decided on a specific location, or are you flexible?
Are you prepared to undertake any renovation work or would you prefer a property in 'move in' condition?
If this is to be a holiday home, what are your intended activities while you’re here? Do you prefer active pursuits such as golf, horseriding, cycling and swimming, or shopping, relaxing, lunching and visiting markets?
How often do you plan to visit your property, and is fast access important?
How many people does your property need to sleep?
What type of property are you looking for – a house for family and friends or perhaps a low-maintenance apartment?
What style of property do you prefer – is traditional Provençal design essential or do you prefer a more contemporary style?
What is your total budget – bearing in mind that you will need to pay taxes and notaire’s fees as well as the sale price of any property purchase?
Are your finances in place?
Do you need your French property to generate a rental income – is this purely an investment purchase or for entertaining business associates?

Once we have assessed your needs, we propose a series of suitable properties. As well as searching our own portfolio of properties, we contact our local French estate agency partners to identify whether any properties in their portfolios fit your criteria.

Viewing properties

Arranging property viewings with Maison Victoire is easy, and we work hard to fit around your schedule. We can arrange to have you collected from the airport or station, or from your accommodation; alternatively, we can meet you in our office in Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, or perhaps in one of the many fabulous cafés in the area.

We always accompany you to viewings, and – where possible – travel with you to talk you through the wonderful Vaucluse region, and to help direct you to the next property. Travelling together also gives you an opportunity to ask any questions which might arise during your visit.

Depending on the number of properties you wish to view, and the driving distances involved, your appointment with us can take the greater part of a day. Once we have planned the viewing schedule, we let you know the agenda for the appointment, and if you need regular breaks or have prior appointments we can factor these in to our time.

Making an offer on a property

If you decide that you are interested in one of Maison Victoire’s properties, an offer must be made in writing, either at the full asking price or at a negotiated price. We shall advise you if we believe the vendor will consider an offer, and aim to provide guidance to both buyer and seller to reach a fair market price.

Once accepted, your offer will be countersigned by the vendor, and a notaire will be instructed to handle the sale. However, if the price has been negotiated to below the asking price, the vendor is not bound to sell you the property until he has signed the compromis de vente, If another buyer makes a better offer before the vendor has signed, he can accept that offer.

The notaire

The notaire is a public official acting equally and impartially for the French government, and for the buyer and the seller. He or she draws up legal contracts, checks documents and ensures that the sale proceeds legally and without error. The notaire is also the tax collector for the French government: these taxes are included in the notaire’s fee. Fees are calculated on an official published scale used by all the notaires in France; as a general rule, the notaire retains 1% of the fees and the remainder is passed to the French government.

The vendor often requests that the notaire they bought the property from handles the new sale; this can help the process to run smoothly as the notaire will have prior knowledge of the property. As a buyer you can request your own notaire at no extra cost, although involving two notaires in the same sale can complicate the process. Maison Victoire has a network of professional and trustworthy English-speaking notaires, and we would always suggest that one of these contacts, with whom we have worked on previous sales, handles the sale.

The compromis de vente

The notaire’s first task is to draw up the first sales contract, or compromis de vente, at which point the purchaser must pay the deposit. The vendor is bound to sell the property at the agreed price as soon as he has signed this document, but as the buyer you have a 7-day cooling off period to withdraw, without penalty, from the purchase.

Your deposit is likely to be 5-10% of the sale price of the property, and you should ensure that this money is readily available. The deposit will be held by the notaire until the sale is complete, and should never be paid directly to the vendor. If you choose to withdraw from the sale without a pre-agreed or valid reason beyond your 7-day cooling off period the deposit will not be returned to you.
The compromis de vente will set out the terms of your agreement with the vendor and will cover the following type of information:

The personal details of the buyer and the vendor
The exact address and a detailed description of the property, including land, outbuildings and parking spaces
Whether the sale is to be funded by a loan, and if so, the proposed loan terms and timings for the loan application
The agreed sale price of the property
The notaire’s fees and taxes to be paid
If a loan or mortgage is to be used to fund the purchase, the estimated loan and registration costs
Any additional costs to be paid, such as outstanding building or monthly charges in the case of an apartment
The value of the deposit required
The presence of any servitudes or rights of way that may affect your decision to buy the property
Any get-out clauses, clauses suspensives, which enable you or the vendor to withdraw from the sale without penalty. For example, the sale may be dependent on planning permission being granted, or a loan application being approved
A provisional completion date and the latest date for the completion of the sale

Additionally, a number of reports or diagnostics will be attached to the contract. The vendor is responsible for organising an independent expert to check the property and provide signed reports to cover the following:

Lead: the presence or otherwise of lead (plomb) in the pipes if the property was constructed prior to 1949
Asbestos: whether asbestos (amiante) has been used in the property construction
Termites: the presence of termites (only necessary in certain areas)
Loi Carrez: The exact surface area of the property in square metres (in apartments only)
Natural and Technological Risks: a local “risk report”, which shows the risk to the property of natural hazards such as avalanche, flooding, earthquake, etc. (Etat des risques Naturels et Technologiques)
Drainage: is the property connected to mains drainage, and if not, does it comply with current regulations concerning septic tanks? (Etat du réseau d’assainissement)
Internal Gas Installations: these are subject to safety checks whether they are mains or bottled gas. (Etat des installations intérieurs Gaz)
Swimming Pools: must comply with safety regulations having a security fence, immersible alarm system or hard cover.

Acte Authentique de Vente

After the compromis has been signed by both parties, the notaire will draw up the Acte Authentique de Vente, or final deed of sale.

This process takes 2-3 months to complete, usually the full 3 months if borrowing from a French lender, during which time the notaire will carry out the following tasks:

Confirm that the vendor is the legal owner of the property and entitled to sell
Confirm that all the existing property owners have given permission to sell the property (in the case of husband and wife, siblings or family members etc.)
Confirm the land boundaries and check any rights of way or servitudes
Where extensive works have been carried out on the property, ensure that full and correct planning permission was obtained from the local authorities and that the works completed conform with local building regulations
Confirm that the local authorities have waived any priority rights on the sale
Confirm that any existing tenant has waived priority rights on the sale

In the case of a purchase using a loan, the notaire will liaise with the bank to confirm their approval for loan and timings for the release of funds. Your inheritance requirements should be discussed with the notaire during this time.

Having completed the above, the notaire will issue the final deed of sale and propose a firm date for the signing at his or her office. Both parties are entitled to a copy of the agreement before the meeting, and you will be informed of the final balance due, so that it can be transferred ahead of the meeting – if the funds have not been transferred, the sale will not complete. Funds can be transferred to the notaire’s bank account by international transfer and we are able to recommend currency transfer specialists if the balance is being sent from a non-euro account.

Signing the final agreement

We recommend a final visit to your property before this meeting to ensure that it is in the same condition as when you agreed the purchase and to check off any items that are being left behind. Your Maison Victoire agent will accompany you on this visit.

Most of our clients like to come to France for the final signing, but this is not always possible, in which case you can grant the notaire, a parent, or a friend power of attorney to sign the final deed of sale on your behalf. You should let us know well in advance if you would like to complete by power of attorney, as additional paperwork will need to be drawn up.

Once the agreement has been signed by both parties, you will be issued a certificate of sale as proof that you are the legal owner of the property. At this point the keys to your French property are handed over!

Some final paperwork

You will not receive your final deed of sale until the notaire has registered the sale with the authorities (this can take 6 months); however, the Certificate of Sale is sufficient to act as proof of purchase and proof of address until then.

Maison Victoire will help you to organise insurance, a local bank account, utility changeover, telephone, TV and internet, if required. Buyers are liable for local taxes and usually there is a pro-rata refund to the vendor on or after the day of the final signing.

Buying new build property

Although many people aspire to a typical Provençal mas or a village house in the Luberon, there are advantages to buying a new off-plan or leaseback property:

10 year builder’s guarantee: so if there are any problems within this period, they must be rectified by the builder.
Reduced notaries’ fees: (2-3% as opposed to 6-7% for a house over 5 years old). Please note that if you sell your new build property within 5 years you may be required to refund the initial tax break you received.
More time to organise finance, as the sales process takes longer due to construction time.
No renovation work required

It is important to remember that when buying off-plan, you will not see the actual finished property before committing to its purchase, and for this reason many people are uncomfortable with this kind of property. If you do decide to purchase an off-plan or leaseback property, we shall regularly speak directly to the developer running the project and we will be able to liaise with them on your behalf regarding internal finishes, completion dates and other aspects of the project.

The new build sale process

The process of purchasing a new build is very different from that involving an existing property.

Place the property ‘On Option’: the developer will often reserve it for you for a few days, while you make up your mind and arrange for deposit funds.

Sign the Reservation Contract: this lays out the terms of the agreement, including the means of funding the purchase and payment schedule. A deposit of 5% is due, but no further payments are made until construction has started.

Sign the plans and technical description: this includes a schedule of the fixtures, fittings and finishes to be used. It may be possible to amend plans before signing. When both you and the developer have signed the paperwork you will be sent a copy by the notaire with the notification of your 7-day cooling off period.

Final contract: once your 7-day cooling off period has passed you will be bound to the sale and the notaire will commence work on the next stage. As with the purchase of a resale property, you should discuss inheritance options at this stage. When this paperwork has been carried out (which takes approximately 2-3 months) the purchase will complete, even though you will probably not take possession. Staged payments detailed in the Reservation Contract will commence.

Building completion: we shall contact you when your property is finished and ready to view, and the keys will finally be handed over!

Useful resources

To make the process of buying property in Provence more straightforward, Maison Victoire can put you in touch with a range of associated services:

Mortgages: we can recommend French mortgage brokers, as well as specialists in British mortgages for French properties. A French lender usually only lend up to 80% of the property value, but interest rates are lower.
Currency exchange
Legal assistance and financial advice
Insurance
Letting agents
Property management

Please contact us for more details.