The Notaire
The Notaire is a public official, responsible for overseeing property
transactions in France. There are about 7,500 notaires in France. The notaire
is responsible to the French Ministry of Justice. They can act for the buyer or
the seller - although in rural areas a notaire often sells houses and land,
too. Notaires are impartial, unlike British solicitors. They are required to
remain neutral.
Two Notaires
The purchaser is responsible for paying the notaire's fees but the Notaire is
usually chosen by the vendor. Purchasers are, however, entitled to bring
another Notaire of their choice into the process. In these instances, the two
lawyers usually share the work and the fees. A second notaire may be advisable
when the first is also the estate agent for the vendor, or acted for the vendor
in the past. Notaires are addressed by the courtesy title 'Maître'.
Contracts and Searches
The Notaire will ask you to sign the preliminary contract called
'Compromis de Vente', once the verbal agreement has been reached with the
seller. There is a seven days period for reflection, after which the contract
becomes binding both legally and financially. After this 7 days, the deposit of
10% must be paid. If the purchaser later withdraws from the sale, the vendor
keeps the deposit as compensation. The Notaires fees, up to 10% of the sale
price, is payable on completion of the sale.
The Notaire will then carry out searches which take up to 12 weeks to complete.
These searches ensure that the sale of the property is free of any legal
restrictions (in the case of rural property this often involves checking its
agricultural status). These include looking for any planned developments that
will directly affect the property. He is not responsible for checking anything
that indirectly affects a property - the building of a motorway within earshot,
for example. For this kind of information, we can make enquiries at the local
mairie for you.
Surveys
A buyer purchases a property 'as seen'. The vendor is not legally obliged to
disclose any problems with the property. The purchaser should be aware of the
principle of 'buyer beware', and that any structural defects that come to light
after the contract is signed are the responsibility of the buyer. It is
therefore sensible to check the condition of plumbing, heating, electrical and
sewerage systems as well as getting a professional to evaluate the structure of
a building before signing the contract. We can arrange this for you.
Structural surveys
Potential Mortgage lenders do not always insist on a full structural survey of
a property as they do in Britain, and a surveyor and valuer (expert immobilier
en bâtiment) can be hard to find in France. There are, however, a growing
number of good British surveyors, specialising in inspecting French property,
starting to establish themselves in France. We can find a French expert
immobiliers, who usually specialise in one type of property - commercial,
housing, industrial or agricultural - so we can check we have the right kind of
expert.
Surveys by builders
A local builder or an architect familiar with the building methods and
materials used in the region can be used. If they are quoting for any work
needed, we will get a binding written quote (un dévis). We are able to
recommend someone to provide the expertise - a general summary of the state of
the building based on a visual inspection - or un bilan de santé, a more
expensive full structural survey. A surveyor's fees will depend on the scope of
the work, the value of the property and the distance he has to travel.
The géomètre
The géomètre is a land surveyor, whose speciality is in mapping property
boundaries which help settle disputes. You will need to employ a géomètre if
you are buying a property that does not seem to conform to the boundaries
recorded on the land registry map. We will do this for you.