How to get the ball rolling on a private sale.

[bonxiebong]

Hi Everyone.

We are going to have a look at a property in France in October. It is a property in need of complete renovation and is being sold privately. We have asked the seller if he would be willing to take a deposit for the property and then hold it for us until next easter when we will have our funds in place and we can pay cash. He seems to be ok with this arrangement at the moment. If we do descide to buy what would be the first step to take? Would the seller and ourselves find a notaire and arrange for the deposit to be paid, would we need to go back to France to pay the deposit or would it be possible to get it done while we are there in October? If we use our own notaire does it need to be in the same district or could we find one in Calais for example to save time and money travelling south where our property is? Hope someone can help with all these question and would be most appreciated!

[Val_2]

You have got to use a notaire whatever you do in France, you cannot buy or sell property without one. It is quite normal for both parties to use the same notaire and most people do especially if in the same area. This maybe tricky for you to want to hold out for so long and it would need a special document to cover an agreement and the notaire would hold any deposit paid, not the seller. However it is normal only to have 7 days cooling off period ifyou wish to pull out, should you pull out after that time then the seller gets the deposit usually. I would urge you to be very very careful especially with someone selling privately as it may not be above board for which a notaire would be needed to find all this out.

[Edward Trunk]

You can use a notaire anywhere, and both you and the vendor can use the same notaire - he(or she) doesn't act for you, he's a state functionary. You can have a "clause suspensive" inserted in the contract, obliging the vendor to reserve the house for you until x date, and obliging you to keep your offer in place until the same date. (Both of you have to agree to this.)It is not obligatory to pay a deposit, but I expect the vendor will ask for one.

[NormanH]

It does help to have a Notaire in the area or town where the property is, in that they are more aware of local issues and may even have dealt with the same property before.

You would only need to physically visit the Notaire's office twice at most. Once to draw up the contract (and even that could be done at a distance) when you might like to chat about the area planning permissions the history of the property etc, and the second time when you all sit round and sign the final 'Acte' .

You can even sign by 'procuration' (proxy) but I urge you to cultivate your Notaire.

[Quillan]

[quote user="Pierre-Yves CHAUVIRE"] If you do need additional info or need to be referred to trust worthy notaire (bi-lingual), currency tranfer etc.. feel free to contact me.[/quote]

Er, I don't want to be pedantic but so far I have spotted 19 spelling mistakes and my spelling is pretty atrocious at the best of times.

[Gardian]

Er, you are being pedantic.

Given your admission that your spelling is less than perfect, it's a bit rich to be having a pop at somebody who isn't using his native language in the written form, even if he claims to be bi-lingual.

[Chancer]

Agreed, being bi-lingual is a fantastic achievement in its own right, AFAIK spelling ability does not form part of being bi-lingual, many people make mistakes in their mother tongue.

[Quillan]

You need to read his website. He grew up on both sides of the Channel and was educated both in the UK and France and given his profession I would have thought a spell check might have been a good idea, although his website shows no errors, especially as basically he is 'punting' for work.