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Buying extra garden land in France


Sophie666
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We own a house in Burgundy that backs on to open fields at the rear of the property.

The proprietor of the land has indicated that he may be prepared to sell a small portion of land to us so that we can extend our garden accordingly and a local immobiliere has indicated that he wants 1000Euros for it. We consider this to be a bit high so negotiations are underway in order to reach an acceptable price but I have been informed that the notaires fees may be in excess of the purchase price, being subject to a fixed free structure applicable across France, of around 1300Euros .

Is the notaires fee shared by the purchaser and vendor and are there any other hidden costs to be met as a result of land (not property) purchase?

There is no intention to build on the land although it is possible that I might eventually want to install a bigger swimming pool.

My French neighbour may also be interested in buying additional land to extend her own garden from the same landowner.

Would there be any advantage/savings in us doing this together?

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Is the notaires fee shared by the purchaser and vendor and are there

any other hidden costs to be met as a result of land (not property)

purchase?

I believe the costs are normally shared. You will need to pay and instruct a Geometre (sp?) to measure and re-register the land that is being purchase.

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If its agricultural land, the price per hectare is fixed by the farmer's association SAFER, but it can be varied by agreement.

The purchaser pays all the fees and taxes including the charges of the Geometre for getting the land measured, re-assigned and registered. You are looking at a minimum of 1200€ in charges alone.

EDIT If done legally there is no advantage in buying with a neighbour as the sales will be treated as separate and still incur the same fees and taxes, you might save a little on the Geometre's  charges if its done together.

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Sometimes it will be more. This is a dairy farming area, and a local chap with land he inherited (he's not himself a farmer) is trying to sell a particular 3 hectare field to one or the other of the two farmers whose land adjoins it. In other words there is a bit of a reason for asking a slightly higher price.

His initial suggestion was €11,000 a hectare. They turned him down flat, but they said they would be prepared to consider it at €5,000 a hectare.

It's not a particularly good piece of land - on a hillside, with no water supply for cattle, but it borders a road.

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If the SAFER is involved, you have to take into consideration that the land may be bought by a local farmer.

The SAFER

buys farms or rural properties and then sells to farmers,

communities, private (conservatories,

associations, federations, businesses , etc ...), national or local institutions, (Conservatoire du

littoral, natural parks, agencies, etc ...), whose projects meet

the objective of its missions.
It's called "la loi de préemption" (Art. L143-1 ; Art. L143-2 du code rural):

[quote]To enable SAFER to have a consistent part of their missions, the law

provides an opportunity for SAFER to have a right of first refusal.

They are systematically informed of the planned sale by notaries and

can buy in place the original buyer. The purpose is to sell to another buyer

whose project best meets the challenges of local development.[/quote]

I am in the process of buying my neighbour's old garden, fortunately a small plot bordered by my own property on two sides and two tracks on the other sides: no SAFER, as it is listed at the cadastre as "jardin potager" rather than "terrain agricole", and no géomètre as I am unlikely to argue with myself about boundaries.
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Thou shalt not covet thy neighbours ass.........

Err what about they neighbours field is that ok?

I have an arrangement with the peasant lady accross the road. She uses our small stone shed and our garden for running her sheep (Why do they bring them in at night are they soft?) and in return we receive from time to time a sack of home grown spuds...makes us laugh every time the potato fairy leaves her produce! (Doesn't tell us just leaves them on the doorstep or in the shed...we always thank her in best Franglais) "Merci beaucoup Madame pour les pommes de terre" or some suchlike (Hope we aren't calling her a spud...actually....err no don't go there)

Point is sheephave the run of our garden and the small adjacent field (Maybe a Hectare)  which is on a North east facing slope. We would love to get the field just so we could tidy it up sort out the overgrown wood piles and brambles/nettles. We don't think potato fairy owns the field but would be more than happy to allow her to continue with the current arrangement just a little bit better organised!

How do I ask at the Mairie without seeming like an imperialist land grabbing so and so and more like a bloke who loves the place and would like it just to be a tad better organised? Maybe one day even have a couple of sheep of my own.............cue James Herriot music.......

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"I have an arrangement with the peasant lady accross the road. She uses

our small stone shed and our garden for running her sheep (Why do they

bring them in at night are they soft?)"

French friends of ours used to keep a few sheep in their field each summer and their sheep stayed out at night. Last summer the sheep were killed off one or two at a time, our friends think the sheep were attacked by local dogs that are allowed to roam at night. So they have now decided enough is enough and will no longer keep sheep.[:(]

Perhaps this is why your lady brings them in.

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Just a thought... In the UK you can't just extend your garden into agricultural land; I've seen cases where the new garden has had to be dug up and returned to its previous wild state. Obviously I've no idea whether this applies here in France, but I'd want to check before making any approaches to buy.

Sid 

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