JP

Width is about 3.2m

Hi, Am buying a house, currently lived in by a family that is / has been recently refurbished etc.  I want to enlarge the lounge by knocking through into the room next door (currently the kitchen) & move the kitchen across the hall into what is now the dining room.  All this is being looked at by a local architect for me.  My question is on the wall that we are knocking through - if this is load bearing, do we have to get structural engineers involved (as I believe is required in the UK) - I know that I will get to this with the architect, was just wondering in advance.  Also, I have been quoted (not official estimate yet) 6 weeks of work to:  - knock lounge through to existing kitchen to create big new lounge  - remove all kitchen component, tiles etc.  - run kitchen gas / water to existing dining room (for new kitchen)  - take nice wooden floor from existing dining room & put in existing kitchen (big new lounger area)  - make all walls etc. good & ready for decorating Does this sounds reasonable in terms of time, or ahould I allow longer ? Thanks all ... JP    

OK - offer accepted at a straight 10% discount on the list price of the house, fairly chuffed with that as it is a very popular area - estate agent had to give up 25% of their fees as the owner would not quite come down to my final price so am fairly confident that I have a good deal &, most importantly, me & Mrs P are both happy !   Will be signing the CdV towards the end of this week & paying the 5% deposit to the notaire.  Excited & nervous all at the same time !!

Well the first offer had gone in at 10% below asking price plus a bit more off to do some work internally (total 12% below asking price) & was rejected, but they obviously want / need to sell as they have come back with a counter offer.  After leaving them to wonder for a day or two, I have now gone back with a straight 10% discount on their list price which is less than their counter offer - they were keen to know if I had already secured a mortgage (have an agreement in principle with BNPP) & whether or not I had another property to sell (haven't) so the signals are all reasonable ..... watch this space !!

Thanks for all the advice - looks like we are close to making an offer on the place that we want now.  Had a local architect come round to assess the house & he said that it was in very good condition, confirmed that the electrics had been recently renewed but that everything was in good order - as you might expect from a house that a family currently lives in just to the west of Paris ;-) .  Just finding out about the fosse & when it was last inspected / emptied & then its negotiation time.  Am thinking of going in with 15% below their asking price as I want a little bit extra money to do some stuff inside (new kitchen) & a knock through of loung into dining room (as it is really small). Cheers all ... JP

Many thanks for the doc - interesting stuff.  In terms of surveys, I gather that they are not all that common in France ?  What about things like making sure that the boiler is not about to pack in or the roof needs replacing in 12 months ... etc etc etc ?  How does one cover that sort of stuff ?

Hi all - just a quick question on buying a house in France.  My situation is lsightly different to many on this board in that I work for a UK company in their Paris office.  We (Anna & 3 kids) have been in France for the past year now, renting, but now is the time to buy we feel & so will be doing that in the western suburbs (78).  No doubt I will have loads of Q's as I go along the process, but the first is in terms of undertsanding the french contracts etc.  We think we may have found the property that we want through a local agent (who speaks reasonably good English) - so we may be making an offer this week.  Mortgage has been provisionally approved through a UK broker with BNP Parisbas & house is within budget with all fees. My question is should I be engaging an English speaking lawyer to help with the process / compromis de vente ?  Anna ia reasonably good at French conversation, but would not be able to cope with legal docs (if that is necessary?). Advice from those that have been through the process would be very much appreciated. Cheers .... JP

Has anyone had any experience using mortgage brokers & would like to pass on recommendations ?  I am thinking of using CAFPI ?  Thanks in advance.