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Hi Graone

 

Are you sure you need one?  We found our french estate agent and the notaire really adequate for everything.  We did employ an english solicitor but we, and I know many other people, have felt it to be money wasted.  The agents seem to tdo all the work required - possibly justifying their high fees.  Just a thought.

 

Fran

www.gasconyretreat.com

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Hi Fran

thanks for advise, I had asked the notaire some questions about the property taxes and received mid-air answers, this is

why I felt a solictor acting on my behalf would cover all aspects.

I do see your point though.

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Hi. When we bought our house here in France we used Kathie Murray Lacey at Prettys Solicitors in Ipswich - http://www.prettys.co.uk/people/kathie_murray_lacey.shtml Prettys were fantastic - quick, efficient and clear. We had little french at the time and it was important to us to fully understand all the documentation. I still think it was money very well spent. Good luck.
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I am using a Notaire called Helen (an English lady) working for ‘Serge Proust’ (name of the associe she is part of) who is in Mansle (area 16). 0033 (0) 5 45 20 35 16.

She seems very efficient to me, having spotted something wrong with the certificate of urbanisation (CU) the agent had been using to encourage me to buy some land. I immediately stopped that purchase and went on to buy  land I’m due to complete in a few weeks. I had been aware of putting a clause in the contract to make the CU part of the deal, but had I relied only on that clause I would have been three months behind the market when we would have eventually found out (with prices moving upward, three months could have been expensive).

 

Regards

 

Eugene
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I always read these threads with interest and today more than normal. One of the UK firms mentioned gave us dire service and if I had not had a mobile phone with me at the final signing to phone them and get the missing documentation faxed over which they were supposed to have sent to the notaire it would not have gone forward.

The contract was supposed to have been translated to English and was sent to us days before we left - in French, ie as received. In fact we did a private sale ourselves, and paid a price to the UK firm for causing us stress and panic.

You do not need UK solicitors, and you save money as well.

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I too read these posts regarding the use of a solicitor for purchasing a property in France with interest - and not a little concern at the extraordinarily cavalier advice offered by some of those posting replies.

"You do not need UK solicitors, and you save money as well".

This would appear to be based on one bad experience - I certainly do sympathise with you Di over this one. Sadly it is probabably not an isolated case, but it does go to show how careful you must be when choosing someone to act for you, whatever service you require. It is still not enough to support such a radical pronouncement, I would maintain.

I have to say that our experience was entirely different - we could not have been more dighted with our solicitor - I chose a bilingual French person qualified in France and resident inthe UK.

Had I not used a solicitor, I would have found myself out of pocket to the tune of 2000€. That was the amount our solicitor obtained for me from the notaire, having discovered soak-away/septic tank problems that I would never have discovered with my then very limited French - not to mention my lack of French house purchasing legalise.

Sure, if you are a fluent French speaker and feel sure you can handle the ins & outs of a house purchase in a foreign language, then go right ahead. If you have any doubts, I think the way forward is blindingly obvious.

Nick

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  • 9 months later...

I hope everyone is aware that the Notaire has an obligation to ensure that you do indeed understand what is going on.

Many Immobilier agents speak reasonable english, and ours did all the translation st the signing of both the Compromis and Acte. All part of the service.

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[quote user="Lizziebg"]Hi. When we bought our house here in France we used Kathie Murray Lacey at Prettys Solicitors in Ipswich - http://www.prettys.co.uk/people/kathie_murray_lacey.shtml Prettys were fantastic - quick, efficient and clear. We had little french at the time and it was important to us to fully understand all the documentation. I still think it was money very well spent. Good luck.[/quote]

We used the same firm but forum rules do not allow our comments on their "service". But agree with Lizzie bg's comment on yr need for good luck !!

John

and

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WE used a UK based, french nationality, qualified in both UK and France, solicitor. What we found useful apart from the obvious potential language difficulties being averted was the thoroughness with which she investigated all the not so obvious issues which confront a house buyer in France.  One of the most important things about buying anything is knowing what questions to ask and who to ask. Some are obvious but many are not. With her experience she made enquiries on our behalf about many things which would not otherwise have occured to us. A couple of examples being whether a proposed new TGV line would come near our property and insisting that the Fosse Septique was emptied before we completed our purchase. In addition to this she gave us detailed advice on inheritance law, drafted suitable Holographic wills for us with translations. Checking the wording of the 'Acte' before we signed and providing us with a translation of it. When we actually signed the acte the notaire asked if she could keep a copy of the translation to assist her with future english clients.

This was all for a fixed fee and we regard it as money well spent.

Cheminot

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