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sophie.b

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Everything posted by sophie.b

  1. Firstly, if you never received a copy of the compromis that was signed by both of you then I would imagine you never received an SRU letter for your seven day cooling-off period.  Therefore, this technicality may allow you to get out of the sale without losing your deposit - check with the notaire. Secondly, French bridging loans (pret relais) are much better than those offered in the UK.  If you can prove you have your house on the market, you can get up to 70% of the price that your house is for sale at (and more if you can prove you have a buyer!).  I have one and the interest rate is only about 4%.  You can either pay the interest only each month (for the 20.000 euros I borrowed the payments are only 90 euros a month) and then the capital back when you sell your house - in this case you have two years to sell your house.  The other option, which only gives you a year to sell your house means that you pay nothing monthly, the interest compounds and you pay the principal and the interest (still only about 4-5%) back in one hit when you sell your house.  Even if you don't manage to sell you house before the bridging loan expires (fingers crossed you do though!!) most French banks will turn a bridging loan into a straight mortgage without too much of a fuss. I wouldn't walk away and give up your deposit without at least looking into these options.
  2. Although it may be preferable to get the buyer to sign the compromis first, this is not the norm and many vendors will refuse to do this.  They have no "7-day cooling off" so when they sign, they are locked into the sale and many prefer to have the buyers ink on the compromis first.
  3. Not sure where you are in France but here in the Limousin, if the land's a bit rubbish, it's normally about 1000euros a hectare, good agricultural land is about 3-4000 euros a hectare. Constructible land is generally priced by the sq. metre (smaller plots usually!) and price really varies on location.
  4. Most supermarkets will have it as well in their "home" section (with the light bulbs, batteries, etc.)
  5. Talk to your mairie as they will be able to tell you what their preference is. However, from experience here (the Limousin), if you're doing work that changes the rentable value of your house (and creating extra bedrooms probably would!), even if your work doesn't change the exterior of your property you need to do the full declaration de travaux.
  6. I moved here a couple of years ago and after living and working in London, I decided that moving to the heart of the countryside was probably going to be too much of a culture shock and so bought in a small town in the Limousin. It's been really nice living in a pretty part of the countryside with rolling hills two minutes away but still having shops for the essentials (boulangerie, bar, pharmacy) around the corner and a supermarket as well.  The only slight hassle with "popping to the shops" is that unlike the UK, even in a town they close early - like 7/7:30pm. That said, although my town is more lively than living in the heart of the countryside, social life is still pretty quiet with many of the locals being aged about 157!  So, I'm now looking to move to Poitiers and have been looking for a house.  Despite having a TGV link to Paris, properties there don't seem to be a lot more expensive than where I'm living now which has been an eye-opener for me and much cheaper than buying in a city in the UK.  And, being a university town, there are loads of young people and lots going on.  
  7. The equivalent of Oxfam and the like are called Emmaus.  Try looking in the phonebook/yellow pages to see if there's one near you
  8. Always worth stocking up before you leave.  Doctors here only seem to issue you with three months supply as opposed to the six you usually get in the UK so you have to visit the GP twice as often!  Just a thought....
  9. Always worth stocking up before you leave.  Doctors here only seem to issue you with three months supply as opposed to the six you usually get in the UK so you have to visit the GP twice as often!  Just a thought....::
  10. A word of warning about bringing the washing machine though.  French washing machines heat their own water and in most houses, the plumbing for the washing machine will only include a cold and not a hot inlet.  So, you could find yourself doing cold washes only if you bring your English one!
  11. Asbestos reports are required on all properties built before 1 July 1997. Some departments ask that you do a lead report on properties built before 1948, some departments don't require it.  For instance, here in the Limousin, you need to do lead reports for houses sold in the Haute Vienne but not for those in the Creuse. Termite reports are done in areas where there have been termites reported or in the surrounding areas.  The companies that do the lead/asbestos reports will also be able to tell you whether you need this. Cost will depend on how many reports you need and how big the house is!!
  12. Even if you buy property from a French Estate Agent you will have to use a Notaire as they are the ones who do all the legal paperwork (like your lawyer would in NZ) so you will have someone to look after all the legal work regardless of who or where you buy from. Notaires charge a separate fee to the agent, hence the reason that you have to pay Notaires fees AND Agency fees when buying in France.  Have a look at www.notaires.fr or www.immonot.com for more info on what they do. You can buy properties direct from the Notaire and therefore not pay the agent fee as well.  However, you can only do this if you are buying one of the properties the Notaire has for sale or if you go direct to the vendor by calling as a response to a private "For Sale" on a house and they are happy to use the notaire direct.  Don't think you can save money by going direct to a vendor after you've viewed a house through an agent - if the agent finds out, they can come after you for their fee anyway. The only problem with buying straight from a Notaire is that the properties they have can be quite limited - they're really only the ones that people have inherited and don't want so they ask the notaire that dealt with the will to just put it on the market.  Also, as being a notaire is one of those professions that they seem to enter for life, many of them are not spring chickens and they aren't exactly surfing the information superhighway.  The amount of notaire's properties floating around the internet is only a small proportion of what they actually have so you really need to visit them in person....
  13. Greetings from a fellow Kiwi living in France! As far as areas are concerned, you really have to visit to get a feel for the areas.  I live in the Limousin (Central France) and moved here after ten hectic years in London.  I came out here on a cycling holiday four years ago and just fell in love with the area; I suppose it kind of reminded me of New Zealand - wide open space, green rolling hills and lots of sheep and cows!! With regards to who won't rip you off, estate agents are the same the world over!  However, if you make sure you're using a registered agent, you will have to pay fees but it should be all above board and clearly outlined in any documents.  Unless they're actually registered to work with the individual estate agents, "search agents" are illegal in France and may charge you an extra (illegal!) fee on top of the existing agency fee to put you in touch with the agents that you could probably find anyway in a couple of hours on the internet!  Asking to see their "carte gris" (registration documents) will weed out these people if you come across them.  With more and more buyers from the UK, most agents worth their salt (and especially those in the south of France) will have someone in their office that speaks English if you need them.
  14. Sorry Tom, but like the others here, I have no sympathy for your friends. The free car-parking was obviously supplied by the airport on the tacit understanding that it was used sensibly.  The flagrant abuse of this privilege by arrogant English holiday home owners like your friends has now meant that we will now all have to pay to park our cars at the airport. However, I must say that if it means that I can get a decent space in the carpark, and not have to park at a death defying angle on the grassy bank or at the end of a row where there isn't really a park and I'm likely to get smacked into, I, for one, am happy to pay a few euros car-parking fees when I pop back to the UK for a few days here and then! Although it is sad that the selfish actions of some have ruined it for the rest of us......
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