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Purchase of land over 5000 sq metres


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We are buying a small house which is within the village boundary but the land is in the agricultural zone.  The notaire tells me there is a 2 month delay because purchase of land over 5000 sq metres (5900 in this case) must be considered by some agricultural organisation.  They didn't mention that when we met to pay the deposit!

Does anyone know whether there could be any restrictions put on us by this organisation?  Our land is a bite out of a huge field owned by 3 members of a family who don't live nearby.  This is cut by a farmer once a year.  We plan to plant fruit trees and shrubs.

 

 

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Somebody will be along shortly with a better answer as this situation is of little interest to me. I do seem to remember something about the land having to be offered farmers with adjoining land if the land you may be buying is classed as agricultural. The real person you need to speak to is the Notaire who is dealing with the sale and ask him/her to tell you in basic terms what is going on and which organisation are they referring to and what powers does that organisation have. If you have nothing in writing about this you may have a loophole to get your money back if they 'strip' the land from your purchase.

As I said some members have been through this before and can shed more light on it. I wouldn't however go in to panic mode just yet.

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Where agricultural land is concerned SAFER are given first right of refusal to find a local farmer who wants to buy the land.

 

For half a hectare I would doubt there would be any takers.  So just an unconfortable delay in the purchase process.

 

The notaire is not obliged to formally disclose any information unless directly asked.  He is nothing more than a tax collector and registrar.

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Your notaire has referred the sale to SAFER which is a non-profit making organisation charged with ensuring the ongoing viablility of local agriculture.

If there is a local farmer who would benefit from owning the land you are looking to buy, then SAFER have the right of pre-emption giving them first dibs on the land which they will then offer to the farmer. 

Not all referrals result in a pre-emption and your notaire can have the SAFER decision expressed by payment of a small fee.

http://www.safer.fr/

Edit:  Snap.....[:)]

 

 

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In my experience in the area where I am (I work for an estate agent), very few SAFER referrals result in a pre-emption.

I think the size of the land which has to be referred can vary, I'm pretty sure that around here it's anything over 2.500m2.

Not to scare the OP, but there can be of course other pre-emption rights depending on the property and the area, eg the Mairie/commune may have pre-emption rights. There's a new one too this year (I think, can't recall all the details right now) with the aim of preserving large tracts of woodland rather than dividing them - if a property has woodland which adjoins a neighbouring property's woodland, then the neighbouring owner has a pre-emption right. There must be a definition of what exactly constitutes "woodland" but again I can't recall the detail at the mo.

Lou

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Thanks for the replies.  I'm not too worried as the rest of the land is not farmed as such, the grass is cut annually, so I can't see anyone wanting our bit.  I know about the Mairie pre-emption from buying our current house.  I vaguely remember seeing something on UK TV about a couple who made a lovely garden and were told to destroy it because the land was zoned for agriculture. Hope that won't happen!  We don't plan a huge garden anyway.

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Someone will hopefully correct me if I am wrong but I seem to remember that if you give permission to a farmer to do anything on your land then they get certain rights, therefore be careful letting the farmer cut the grass.

Paul

 

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Who is cutting this 'once a year' and what rights do they already have?????? You really need to do lots of research before you find cattle in the field etc and a farmer saying that it is their 'right' to do so.

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