You may be looking for either a town house, farmhouse, land, barn or Lake in France then once you have decided on the property you will start on the process of purchasing that property. In this article, we explain the order of events as you go down the road to completing your purchase for that dream home in France.

In 99 % of cases it is the buyer who pays all the fees. The estate agents fees and the notaire’s or solicitors fees. The notaire’s fee including the property deed register is about 10% of the purchase price. If you found your property through a French estate agent then you would have certainly have had to sign up with that agent and as a consequence you will have to pay there fees which should have been outlined in the agreement that you originally signed with them.

Beware when you view a property via an French estate agent because they will insist that you sign with them an agreement that if you buy a property that is listed with them they are entitled to the fees. Remember there is nothing to stop you finding the property and dealing direct with the seller which can save you quite a tidy sum of euros.

Many websites are now offering classified ads for property in France one worth a visit is http://www.lagiraudiere.com/property/ Here you will find both private classifieds and adverts from estate agents in France. Ok lets continue on the basis that the agent found you your French home. In france you will be asked to sign apromise de vente which is a bidding contract between you and the seller. Within this contract you can state reasons for pulling out i.e subject to seeing the plans of the property, you can also insert conditions like subject to you receiving a French mortage. You may also have further developement plans for the property and again this contract can be used to say subject to you receiving planning permisssion for your proposed project. Another good request is to say subject to the property being cleared of all it’s rubbish ( I know of people who have had to pay thousands of euros to have barns cleared out or even lofts cleared. This is where you will start to learn that the French love paper work and demand copies for all sorts of documents. You will need a copy of your passpost, a copy of your birth certificate (The full one not the small one) You will also need copies of your mariage certificate and divorce papers if applicable. If you are financing your purchase with a mortgage then you will need copies of the paper work. The compris de vente normally takes up to four weeks to arrive and it will be in French allthougth some notaire’s and agents will supply an additional copy in English. If you are not sure about any of the contract then seek profesional advice before signing.

You may be asked to deposit a 10% holding deposit upon signing the compromis and if after signing you decide to with draw then you will lose your deposit unless the reason is for one of the conditions that you laid down i,e you cannot get a mortgage or the plan of the property is not what you saw and so on. Likewise if the seller decides to sell to some one else for a reason other than was stated in the contract he will have to pay you 10% – not bad. The solicitor (Notaire) is responsible for insuring that certain inspections are carried on the property you are buying prior to completion. These inspections will be for termites and other wood eating bugs, Lead and asbestos checks. If you are buying a relatively new house then it may be well worth asking for a copy of the builders invoice as this carries a ten year guarantee in France.