French Property Purchase Process Explained
As in most other countries, the process of purchasing a property in France can be quite complex and can take some time.
Flo French Property will assist you to ensure a smooth and hassle free purchase, taking care of all the complications normally associated with the purchase of a property.
Furthermore, our promoters’ partners in France offer an excellent customer and after-sale support service in English.
Purchasing a property in France includes a number of steps:
Purchasing A French Property - Step By Step Guide
Blocking A Property
Once you have selected a property, the first step is to ‘block it’, i.e.: to ask the property promoter to put the property aside for you.
Once blocked, a property will stay in your name for a short period of time only. During this time, you should be able to appoint an English-speaking notaire and ask him/her to review the contract briefly and to advise you on whether you should sign a reservation contract (this is only a brief review of the contract and your notaire should review it in detail later on).
As an alternative to a notaire, you can also call on the services of a French lawyer, who will assist you in other aspects of your purchase, for example: making a will.
Reservation Contract
You will then be asked to sign a reservation contract, possibly along with a lease agreement in the case of a leaseback. We will be responsible for sending this to the property promoter.
Along with the reservation contract, a deposit payment, usually of 5%, is sent. All payments are made to the vendor’s notaire. You will not be asked to pay anything to the builder, promoter or ourselves at any stage of the transaction.
At this stage, you will need to start arranging finance for the purchase.
Cooling Off Period
Within two to three weeks of sending out the reservation contract, you will receive confirmation from the vendor’s notaire by registered post. This denotes the beginning of your seven days’cooling off period.
During your cooling off period, you may cancel your reservation by registered post. In this case, your entire deposit will be returned and the reservation will be cancelled.
Depending on contracts, cooling off periods may be longer and/or start at different stages of the purchase process.
Financing Your Purchase
You normally have a period of six weeks within which you should have received a mortgage offer. If you are using a French financial institution, then you will receive a mortgage offer from them that you will be asked to sign.
You will then need to open a French bank account and have mortgage cover put in place. Most financial institutions will assist you with both steps.
If you are unable to secure a mortgage, then your booking will be void and your deposit will be refunded. You may be asked to show proof of mortgage refusal from the bank.
Signing The Contract
Once your mortgage is in place, your notaire will be in a position to set up a date when you will sign the deed to the property. This can be done either at your notaire’s office in France, or by using a proxy (procuration) allowing you to proceed with the transaction without having to travel to France. In the latter case, you will have to arrange to sign the proxy in front of a public notary, i.e. in the case of Ireland and the UK.
The property will then legally belong to you.
Further Information On The Role Of A Notaire
To purchase a property and sign the deed in your name(s), you will have to use the services of a notaire. A notaire essentially does what your solicitor would do at home, and will purchase the property on your behalf and register the deed of the property in your name.
When a property is sold, it is the vendor who appoints the notaire. The buyer can go directly to the same notaire to proceed with the purchase without the need to appoint their own notaire.
However, the law also states that in the event that the buyer wishes to use his/her own notaire, they can simply request it on the contract and appoint a notaire of their choice. The fees payable for the legal costs of purchasing a property are known as “frais de notaire” and they will be shared between the two notaires. Therefore, using your own notaire will NOT cost you anything extra.
It should be noted that hiring a second notaire can add a considerable amount of time to the whole transaction.
The “frais de notaires”, which are payable to the vendor’s notaire (even if you use your own notaire) are fixed in advance and include various fees and levies which will then be repaid to the government along with the actual notaire(s)’ fees.
The “frais de notaires” for a new property are between 3% and 3.5% of the property price, including VAT. They are higher for second-hand properties.
Depending on the property being purchased, an English translation of the contract may also be provided, but it is the French version that you will be signing.