herbi

Thanks for your comments so far, quite enlightening I think!  The person concerned can be a bit pushy and defensive so wary of asking for his registration number at this point - should have done it at the beginning -, is there another way of checking?  If we are not liable for anything then perhaps there's no point doing anything, but we do not want to commit any kind of offence.  It is further complicated as the vendor works part time for the agent so we don't want to cause more difficulties than necessary.  It might all be OK and above board, I do not like gossip in any country and never wish to talk ill of others but feel that we would be foolish to completely ignore any warnings, being new to the area & the system. Any definitve answers on who's 'employing' the agent? Thanks Herbi

We have some concerns regarding an estate agent (English based in France) who has a property that we would like to buy.  We have had a couple of negative comments from English owners of gites we have stayed in whilst on one of our many visits who were passing on comments from their French friends.  There is no Siret Number on the business card, & we have heard that in the area we want to move to they are really cracking down on anyone working unregistered & that those employing unregistered workers can be in trouble too.  Can anyone offer any advice on whether we would be liable for anything if he isn't registered &/or should we check this before going ahead & how? Many thanks for any help! Herbi

Thanks Benjamin for your thoughts! To be honest the closing hours are one of the things we like about France, here in the UK we are forced to be open all hours & days just because everyone else is & we can't lose customers.  We really appreciate the way that people still prefer to have time to be with their families & enjoy food, life etc. which is exactly the kind of life we try to have here, but is very unconventional here, although there are a few other 'rebels' around like us who think that enjoying life to the full, and appreciating what we have is more important than having expensive cars, fashionable interiors & living on credit! When we talk of 'development' we mean more increasing the varieties etc.available as well as organic growing as we do now, orders, deliveries, contracts & maybe some aspects of landscaping & planting design services, but we will see what the 'real' demand is when we get going!  What we do not want to do is bring the UK to France, we like most of it the way it is!   Herbi

Many thanks Nick   In principle it seems pretty similar to how we have to operate in UK, our accountant here is invaluable, but it is finding the right one that is difficult!  The business has been established for approx 15 years and we have lots of useful info from current owners re. running costs etc, we wouldn't even have dreamt of buying it if figures didn't stack up etc. In terms of the business we feel as confident as we can be at this stage, as it is an established French business with lots of loyal French customers and as far as we can tell a good reputation - what they produce certainly is good quality. What I am mainly concerned about is the technicalities of the purchase & the structure of  both purchase & business & making sure we don't miss anything vital.  Are you saying you don't think it's worth using one of the UK based lawyers or accountants that say they specialise in French purchases?  I am very sceptical but obviously this has to be done absolutely correctly we need to cover everything we possibly can, so we will use all the expert advice we can get, but have too much experience of being ripped off & over-charged so don't want to do anything unnecessary.  Is it not sensible to use the same notaire as the vendor? The estate agent keeps saying not to worry, it's all very simple, but I want to make sure for myself but without over-complicating everything! If anyone in the north Haute Vienne can recommend a good accountant I'd be very grateful, doesn't have to be English-speaking, as I really want to use French, except when absolutely necessary, although trying to deal with the technical issues is rather scary, it's hard enough learning horticultural names & terms again!   Many thanks   Jo  

We are buying (planning to) a small horticultural nursery in the north of Haute Vienne.  We've visited it a few times at different times of year and got to know the owners quite well, it is the same as we have run in the UK but lots of scope for development, so to us it seems just right for us, but now we're not sure how much more we need to check/do & whether we need someone i.e.lawyer to check everything out for us too. Thanks for any help![:D]

Hello to everyone   Having been an avid reader of the forum for a long time & now at long last hopefully being able to actually follow through our long standing plans, I'm hoping for some good advice! Basically we are hoping to buy an existing French business and a house (separately) and would be very interested in anybody elses experiences and/or recommendations re. using UK or French lawyers & accountants to deal with either or both transactions.  Finding information on buying residential property is fairly easy but I'm having trouble finding anythign relating to buying a separate business.  My general experience of lawyers is not good & if we have to use one would appreciate a good recommendation if possible.[:)]   Many thanks Herbi