# Purchasing in France advice



## Fazlar

Hi,
We are currently going through the process of purchasing and were intrigued to understand if others have had success by only using the Notaire and no UK based legal advice, or if this is actually a big no no and too risky ?


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## eairicbloodaxe

You won't really get any useful UK legal advice on buying in France... at least not that's worth the price. (some of the ex-pat agencies or property finders offer it, I imagine).

We bought our home using only the Notaire. I did a lot of reading up on the processes etc. Most of it is enshrined in Law, so there's no real deviation and no pitfalls. Same with costs - pretty much every Notaire charges the same because it's set by the authorities.

Buying property is always risky, but the main risk in France is in what you buy - not that the people in the process will rip you off somehow. The French system means you have to have be given a diagnostics report which is reasonably comprehensive. Read it and understand it! Then read between the lines...

Good luck!

Kind regards


ian


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## Fazlar

Hi Ian,

thank you for this, very reassuring…

Andy


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## suein56

OH and I did exactly the same as ericbloodaxe .. we did research, asked questions of the Estate Agent selling the house and of our Notaire and his Clerc who were handling the sale.
My one question of you is .. how is your French ?
Mine was good enough to deal with the purchase .. tho the Estate Agent and the Notaire's Etude were helpful with their answers to my questions.
There is a lot on the Internet about buying a house in France. Better to do the research in French if at all possible.


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## Crabtree

And remember that a notaire is not like an English solicitor in that they do not act for a side.A notaire is there to ensure that the paperwork is correct that the owner is the owner and that all taxes are paid.They may not necessarily check boundaries etc and you will be buying the house as is.They may point out rights of way and access rights to water etc.
So you need to check that what is on the plan is what you are buying and that you have understood the diagnostics


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## Fazlar

Crabtree said:


> And remember that a notaire is not like an English solicitor in that they do not act for a side.A notaire is there to ensure that the paperwork is correct that the owner is the owner and that all taxes are paid.They may not necessarily check boundaries etc and you will be buying the house as is.They may point out rights of way and access rights to water etc.
> So you need to check that what is on the plan is what you are buying and that you have understood the diagnostics





Crabtree said:


> And remember that a notaire is not like an English solicitor in that they do not act for a side.A notaire is there to ensure that the paperwork is correct that the owner is the owner and that all taxes are paid.They may not necessarily check boundaries etc and you will be buying the house as is.They may point out rights of way and access rights to water etc.
> So you need to check that what is on the plan is what you are buying and that you have understood the diagnostics


Thank you for this, our French is not the best unfortunately but Google translate and Deepl are very helpful…

with regards to the boundaries, we have parcels of land on a plan so hopefully that’s good enough ?

I do have an additional question, did/do you use Britline ?

Thanks
Andy


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## Yours truly confused

When we bought this house we had someone come with us to help us “understand“ what we were signing. He had gone through the Compromise document, marking with English translation so that we did understand before we signed to say we did. He accompanied us to the final signing and did the same, translated what the notaire was saying so that again, we could sign the documents knowing what had been said. It is important to realise that you will sign each page of the documents, and in doing so, you are saying you understand the content.

This is important as you will have no comeback, if your French is not yet good enough to understand get someone to help you.


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## Nomoss

There is useful, up-to date and reliable information HERE


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## Antibes

When I bought my place 10 years ago, as the day arrived when we ALL sat in the Notaries office for the contract signing and handover I was informed i needed to have an 'official' recognised translator with me due to my french not being up to scratch. This, at the time. was an additional 400 euros on top and paid on the day to the translator. This was ten years back but I assume the same would stand today.


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## Crabtree

You will get a plan with parcels of land marked on it You should go and see if what is on the plan is what you are getting ie does the fence/hedge go off at an angle like it shows on the plan etc.You will need an approved translator at the signing if your French is not good. The estate agent or the notaire can arrange this.
In respect of banking we were taken to a local branch of credit mutuel by the agent There was a person who spoke English but as I have a languages degree I was quite happy using a local bank(Yes I know a smartarse
If you are happier using Brit line then do so but I cannot comment on their service or charges(French banking is paid for by the customer the trick is to ameliorate the amount)


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## Nomoss

If the plan of what you intend to buy contains more than one parcel of land, I suggest you check that they are all mentioned in the Acte, and verify the ownership and status of each parcel individually with the local Mairie.

I acted as a representative a couple of years ago for a purchase of what appeared to be simple house with a garden.

However, the property, including the building, was divided into several parcels, one of which was not mentioned on the Acte de Vente.

After some discussion and argument it was discovered/disclosed that the strip had been left off the previous Acte, and that it belonged jointly to the current vendor and the neighbours on each side, and this information was added to the description in the Acte.


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## ccm47

Your plots of land really should be subjected to the services of a géomètre (surveyor) who will come out and mark the boundaries out, for a fee of course. Normally the vendor pays, but not always.
We have some agricultural land which was totally unfenced when we bought it. Looking at the site today and the fences currently in place one would think that we owned the ditch to the west but not to the east. The reverse is true! It suited our easterly neighbours to fence off their ditch to stop their dogs wandering in and out, and we have created a tractor lane all round our fenced in land. The géomètre stakes make it clear though.


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## Befuddled

The actual need for a geometre is down to your level of paranoia. Their fee can be many hundreds of euros and can take some time to arrange. The purchaser of a house with land adjoining mine insisted on markers being placed. I had pointed out the spot I had been told the boundary line was. He still went ahead and paid over €700 for a survey that confirmed my exact place. A small stream about 30 metres long that hadn't moved for years.


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## ccm47

Befuddled, you were indeed lucky. Most of us have read tales of neighbours getting involved in lengthy and costly legal disputes because géomètres weren't called in at sale time. 
Our local géomètres work on an hourly rate, so a simple verification is much cheaper than a plot going through trees etc. Also they come out pretty quickly unless a number of neighbours have to be notified of their visit. They aren't too keen on loose animals wandering up to help them.


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## JapanAmerica

May I ask at what point in the purchase process would you bring in the géomètres ? We are just at the beginning of the process, having signed the offer document today. It seems we would want to do this before the compromis is signed?


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## Crabtree

Unless you have real issues with the boundary do not waste your money frankly.You have seen the property you will have been provided with a copy of the cadastral plan.You look at the plan and you look at the boundary eg fence wall etc.If it appears to follow the same line then OK.If it does not then you need to go back to the seller and the agent and tell THEM to sort it out at THEIR expense,and indeed any agent worth their salt would have looked at the boundaries anyway.
And if after the sale goes through a neighbour tries to claim a bit of land as theirs you politely invite him to employ a geometre at THEIR expense and to come back and see you with the report.You generally hear nothing further.
Now of course if there is a happy smiling farmer driving up and down the field next door that is shown as belonging to the property then that IS something to be worried about


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## Bevdeforges

I have to say I strongly second Crabtree's comments regarding the geometre. And actually, if the property you're looking at is a single parcel or maybe even two adjoining parcels, you should be able to find the bornes at the corners of the property. Cast a straight line between the corner marking bornes and there you have the property boundaries. We couldn't find all the bornes when we decided to put up a barn for our donkeys so at that point we hired a geometre to survey the boundaries and put in new bornes where the old ones had gone missing (or disintegrated, or something). In our case it was worthwhile because the parcel the house is on is actually part of a larger parcel classified as residential, while the parcel next to it (which I had purchased a few years earlier) is agricultural. We had to have the property boundaries determined in order to be certain where to place the barn - as an "out building" to the house - because no "permanent" structures are permitted on agricultural properties.

But if the bornes are in place, it should be fairly easy to determine the boundaries and all a geometre would be doing would be to confirm what's already marked out in (not exactly "plain") sight anyhow.


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