house collapsed after compromie

[Elensw]

well, perhaps collapsed is a bit too strong a word but just 12 days before the acte de vente a huge rain storm has bought down half of a 20 metre barn roof. The roof was not perfect before and needed quite a lot of patching but we were ok with this...the additional damage means a totally new roof is required plus the falling timbers etc have caused additional damage inside.

The barn is attached to the house so unfortunately the repair cannot be left undone until we can afford it as we plan to rent the house out at some stage in the next couple of years.
There is no provison in the compromie for anything like this but after speaking to a notaire (who was unfortunately no involved in the sale, just a contact) i am pretty sure the owner has to make good any damage . The point in law being that the house has to be in more or less the same condition when the sale takes place as when we signed for it. If the owner had full insurance i think the event could actually have been to our advantage and we might have got a new roof BUT i have a sneaky feeling she might possibly have left the house uninsured. Does anyone have any idea what would happen if this were the case? Also, the house was a total renovation job...the roof was damaged before but repairable...not now...i cannot see how the owner could replace like with like as it would mean building a roof in need of repair if that makes sense. The cost of a new roof would be about a third of what we paid for the property.
We live in France full time but we sold our first house and this is our second one...we are in rented accommodation at the moment. i really dont want to back out of the purchase. Does any one have any ideas about a sellers obligations to provide the house in the same condition as when the compromie was signed?

Thanks!

[Will]

LAST EDITED ON 22-Jul-04 AT 09:42 AM (BST)

I was under the impression that it was compulsory to have house insurance in France. Although the compulsory part is probably only for public liability. So I would imagine the seller would be forced to make good the damage, either direct or by an insurance claim. Do seek advice from the agent or notaire handling the sale about this.

As the roof needed renovation anyway you might be expected to contribute to the cost, or you could strike lucky and get a new roof as part of the purchase.

Will (50)
Forum moderator

[Iceni]

Having spoken to "a" notaire suggest that you speak to "the" notaire pdq, time is surely of the essence.

Common sense suggests that the property should generally be in the same condition at acte time as when you signed the compromis, neither materially better nor worse. But then I am not a legal beagle and this is France.

John
http://www.iceni.it.co.uk