Held to ransom by Notaire

[Oboulez]

Having wished to make some amendments to the title deeds of our house, in January this year we went to a Notaire in South Brittany who was advertised on an expat website as 'English spoken'. Turned out that his English was as good as my Welsh!! Anyway we explained what we wanted & have made the mistake of leaving the title deeds with him whilst he gave us photocopies. He has since - despite our expressing in writing in both French & English our instructions, drafted us documents which we neither asked for or need. The upshot is that he is refusing to give us our deeds unless we pay several hundred Euro's for work that wasn't asked for in the first place. In any case this is a word of warning - never leave your original documents. Let them have the photocopy.

[andyh4]

I am very surprised you had the title deeds.  They are normally held by the Notaire.

[Clarkkent]

My understanding is that title deeds - documents, possession of which proves ownership - do not exist in France. As is the case in England and Wales now, proof of ownership is determined by the records at the French equivalent of the Land registry. And any "deeds" that you may have are copies of other documents.

[Will]

The thing which most people refer to as 'title deeds' is the official signed copy of the Acte de Vente. This may or may not contain historical information about previous ownerships etc. The important thing is that it proves who owns it, and the manner in which it was bought (the latter can be important for succession, taxation etc). The notaire who dealt with the sale should hold a copy on file, and you should receive a copy after the sale has been fully registered and taxes paid, usually several weeks, or even months, after the signature. The 'master' copy will most likely be deposited with the equivalent of the land registry.

If you have an issue with a notaire, then the correct procedure is to contact the Chambre de Notaires for the particular département. But don't expect too much from them.

 

[Jay]

I contacted the Chambre de Notaires when we had big problems with our Notaire. They did help and the Notaire in question was eventually forced to give up his practice, it took several years though! It's worth a try.

[P-D de Rouffignac]

As Will points out, the 'title deeds' to a French property are in essence an authorised version of the 'acte de vente' (deed of sale) of the property and this is not something to which you can simply  'make some amendments' after the event. It may well be that the Notaire in question is proposing a solution to a complex problem and unless you are yourself a trained lawyer (in French law) I cannot see how it is possible to decide that the Notaire has produced documents that you feel you do not need.

Without knowing the full facts of the case, could I suggest you approach the Notaire, if necessary with the aid of an experienced bi-ligual interpreter, for an explanation of the documents produced and why. The regional Chambre de Notaires may be able to help in this respect, with a view to resolving any misunderstanding and reaching a speedy resolution.

P-D de R.