selling in England, buying in France

[AlanM]

Newbie question: If you are selling in England in order to buy in France, how does the process of selling in England (deposit paid and sale confirmed on exchange of contracts) tie up with the process of buying in France (deposit and commitment required at a much earlier stage)? Do you have to have exchanged contracts in England before you commit yourself to buying in France, or can you use a clause suspensive to get out of your French purchase if the English sale falls through?

Many thanks in advance.

[Anton Redman]

Standard advice is that you can write a clause suspensive to say your purchase is dependant on selling your UK home. However my reading of French law is that you need to be able to prove the equivalent of best endevours this is a fairly onerous requirement.

Unless the timing of my UK sale was such that I needed to move in July or August I would say sell in the UK and have the cash in the bank

 It is easy and cheap to rent and find storage in France.

[Sunday Driver]

As Anton says, it is certainly possible to write a clause suspensive to this effect, but a UK 'sale subject to contract' is nowhere near a done deal until contracts are exchanged and given that it is quite common for buyers to drop out before exchange takes place, it could be difficult to get the seller's agreement to such an open ended situation. 

I think you will also find that estate agents and notaires will be reluctant to start the process if you can't provide proof that the funds are in place or that finance has at least been applied for.

 

[AnOther]

If you're trying to compare France with UK where you have chains and the synchronisation of various stages, and the very real possibility that it all collapses at the 11th hour, then nothing like this exists here.

You pay a deposit then, roughly 3 months later, you pay the balance and thats it. It's nobody's business whether you're selling in UK or not.

When you make an offer and it is accepted you both sign the compromis, the agreement to buy, and you pay a 10% deposit. You also declare that you are in a position to buy, e.g. you have the money to complete, or will have come the completion day. This can be by way of mortgage and you can write a clause suspensive in the compromis to the effect that if you fail to secure a mortgage you can withdraw without penalty, otherwise you stand to lose your 10% deposit.. You will have to prove that you have tried and been declined though.

I'll hapilly bow to Antons knowledge of the actual law however I do think you'd be rather fortunate to find a vendor who would agree to such an open ended clause as waiting for you to sell your UK house before completing but there's nothing to prevent it. You can write pretty much what you like in the compromis so long as both parties agree to it. I would imagine a Brit might be willing to enter into such an agreement but not too many French sellers.

The sensible course of action is to wait until you have definately sold in UK before commiting in France, bridging loans are crippling.

Good luck

EDIT: Got called away whilst composing so missed SD's post [:$]

[AlanM]

Thanks, everyone. I'm getting the picture.

[dexter]

If your french vendor has any knowledge of the UK property market at the present I doubt he/she would agree to wait for the sale of your house to go through. I very nearly got myself into all sorts of trouble thinking mine would sell within a couple of months, that was 5 months ago and still no movement. I`ve been told today by my estate agent that realistically I have two choices, 1, drop the price to below £250,000 to avoid the 3% stamp duty, or 2, take it off the market and wait until things pick up,(there was a long silence when I asked her when that would be!!).

Unless you have the funds ready it`s a big gamble at the present time and the thought of bridging loans should set alarm bells ringing.

Good luck whatever you decide.    

[Ian]

Synchronisation can be done ... we did it ... but I would certainly advise against it in the current climate.  You'll need nerves of steel, understanding other parties, a substantial contingency fund and a good dose of luck.

Way better to sell up, bank the cash / rent and then go looking for your next property. If you can avoid the stress why put yourself through it.  Best of luck.