First time buying a house in France

[vivienz]

We have had an offer on what will be a holiday home in Brittany accepted and the immo is swinging into action, preparing the compromis. We will remain permanently resident in the UK.

I understand most of the process reasonably well, but I may have reached the stage where I've read too much and I'm mentally going around in circles.

The seller has already appointed a (reasonably) local notaire. Is there any reason why I shouldn't use the same one for the buying process? I understand that the notaire is obliged to act impartially.

Also, as I understand it, it isn't a legal requirement for us (husband & I) to sign the compromis in person - is this the case? The immo seems keen for us to do this but work commitments mean that we wouldn't be able to get back to France for a few weeks and I believe that email of documents for signature with return by post for wet signatures is acceptable - is this the case? We intend to sign the Acte in person when the time comes.

Many thanks,

Vivien

[mint]

Bonjour Vivienz (thought I'd greet you like a local might!)

In answer to your 2 questions:

no, no reason not to use the same notaire

no, no need to sign compromis in person

[vivienz]

Merci beaucoup, mint. C'est comme je pensais.

30 years after the event, I knew I'd find a use for my 'O' level in French!

The immo was keen for us to ask some French friends to act on our behalfs using the equivalent of a power of attorney (I think), but as they both work during the week and may not have their weekends free, I felt that dealing with the compromis by email and post will be more efficient. I suspect that the immo and seller are keen to get the sale concluded, as are we, but I'd rather not make unnecessary trips across the channel.

Merci encore!

Vivien

[NormanH]

Procuration is the word you need

http://www.journaldunet.com/management/pratique/divers/13623/lettre-de-procuration.html

Nothing to do with the English word 'procuring' [6]

[Pickles]

We have had "procurations" sent through by email to us to deal with both the compromis and the acte authentique. We then had to sign and get the signatures witnessed by a UK solicitor. Return was by scan attached to email followed up by original via snail mail.

[vivienz]

Aha! The very thing - thank you, NormanH. I've filed it away for future reference as it may well come in handy.

[Loiseau]

You have to appoint a specific person to sign for you, I think. I seem to remember doing a "procuration" allowing the notaire's clerk to sign for us, if your friends would not be able to do it.

Angela

PS. Welcome to the forum!

[Val_2]

Whereabouts here in Bretagne Vivien?  Yes we bought with an authorised procuration 25years ago now as we could not get over in winter with a 2 & 4 year old and there were no ferries until March back then up this end. We used a local registered translator who did work for the Notaire on behalf of absent purchasers and there were no problems.

[vivienz]

Val_2 - we're buying at Saint Jacut de la Mer.  After 15 years of going to the same chambres d'hote on the other side of the Rance and Saint Jacut for nearly the same, we felt we'd had enough time to make up our minds. 

We will come over to sign the Acte in person as we will view the property before signing to ensure that everything is in order, so there's no need for a proxy signature on that.  We will employ a translator, I think, when we sign the acte as although my French is passable, I know well enough how legal English differs from standard English and imagine that French will be similar.  I have plenty of help this side of the channel with translation so it would be foolish to stint at the last stage.

Thanks again for all the help, everyone, it's much appreciated.

[Val_2]

Its a good 1.5hrs east from me then almost at St.Malo. You will be very handy for Ryanair at Pleurtuit airport though if you need to get back to the UK and the ferry.

[vivienz]

I'm combing through the draft compromise this afternoon and have come across a term that I've seen a few times now, but I can't find a reasonable translation.

Can anyone tell me what a 'cadastre' is? I get the feeling that it's sort of the local area/village/town but can't quite put my finger on it. Any offers?

The compromis looks like a fairly standard exchange document, not withstanding all the additional diagnostics in the French version. Even better, the vendor has stated a mid-December completion date, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a pre-Christmas break at our new pied-a-terre on St Jacut.

[idun]

It is the land registry.

[NormanH]

As idun says it is the reference for the land register.

You can consult it and all the properties around yours here:

http://www.cadastre.gouv.fr/scpc/rechercherPlan.do

[Benjamin]

At some point in the purchse process we received a photocopied A4 sheet showing our land with the house on it as well as the adjacent land/properties all with their unique reference numbers.

[vivienz]

Thanks, all. That makes perfect sense.

The immo provided me with a copy of what, I presume, is some sort of entry in the land registry and as you say, Benjamin, it shows all the properties and their reference numbers for some distance around.

The immo is being very efficient - she sent through the draft compromise this morning and then, this afternoon, all the diagnostic reports when I queried something on the draft compromise. I guess immos are having a hard time of things, too, at the moment and they are highly motivated to get properties to completion. Not bad considering we only agreed on price late Saturday afternoon. Once we've signed the compromise, I guess it all rests with the notaire but as the seller is French I'm sure he will be able to apply any necessary pressure there to speed things along.

[vivienz]

Thanks again for all your replies.  The purchase is going along very well.  The immo has been very efficient with getting the compromis and all associated documents together; the vendors signed last weekend, the docs were sent to us on Monday and arrived yesterday.  Everything is in order, so we signed and sent them back by tracked post this morning.

We're not there yet, of course, but it's been a good start, so our fingers are crossed that the notaire is equally efficient and we can squeeze in a pre-Christmas break there. 

[richard51]

Sorry for deviating a little but I was intrigued by your comment that you had been going there for the last 15 years.

When we bought our second home in France our major concern was that we would be bored by holidaying in the same place year after year. Our fears were unfounded in that we became active in home exchange and have enjoyed holidays all over the place as we were able to swap non-simultaneously. Rather surprisingly we also found that people wanted to swap with our house in England. The last people to do that were american and we are booked to go to Hawaii this winter.

Last year for one holiday we swapped with people from both of the Carolinas, one for the English house and one for the french house. When we were there the son in law of the couple who swapped with the french house complimented me on how well I spoke English. I took great delight in informing him that he didn't speak English too badly either, given that he was from an ex-colony and not from England.

Do you have that concern?

[vivienz]

Hi Richard, I'm sorry but I don't understand the question.  Is it whether I'm concerned about the language barrier or boredom of visiting the same place?

[richard51]

The latter.

[vivienz]

No, we don't have that concern at all.  We do still plan to take other holidays elsewhere, but we're very much looking forward to being able to explore the area in greater detail and at a more leisurely pace than our, to date, maximum of one week per year in France has allowed, not all of which has been spent on St Jacut.  It's very much a pied a terre that we can easily get to for plenty of long weekends and, as work/time allows, longer periods of time in due course.