Contract of Acte de Vente - what do I look for?

[cafe10]

Hello all,

I'm in the process of buying an apartment in France, and the notaire (seller's notaire) has just sent me a preliminary draft of the contract Acte de Vente which I will sign with the owner/seller in two days (this thursday). I must admit reading the contract is a bit daunting. While I speak/reach French, I'm not fluent and reading this legal text in French is intimidating and there is a lot I don't understand. I was wondering 3 things and would appreciate your thoughts on it:

1) Is there anything in particular which you think I should look out for when reading the contract and which I must absolutely check, be sure is in there (or is not in there) or negotiate with the owner or notaire as the person purchasing the property?

2) The draft contract of the acte de vente which has been sent to me is in two parts (partie normalisee et partie developpee, see below). Is it normal for this contract to be in this two parts? :(1) La premiere partie dite "partie normalisee" constitute le document hypothecaire normalise et contient toutes les enoniations necessaires tant a la publication au fichier immobilier qu'a a la determination de l'assiette et au controle du calcul de tous impots, droits et taxes; and (2) La second partie dite "partie developpee" comporte des informations, dispositions et conventions sans incidence sur le fichier immobilier.

3) Who should pay the tax fonciere (the seller or me, the buyer)? Should I be paying any of this (I am being charged some part on pro rata basis)? I am scheduled to become the owner from 14 December this year onwards. If there should be a pro rata, how is this calculated?

4) Who should pay the charges de copropriete? Should I be paying any of this (I am being charged some part on a pro rata basis)? I believe the charges are by trimestre. I will be purchasing the property during the 3rd trimestre. If there should be a pro rata, how is this calculated?

5) Who should pay for the fonds de travaux for the year? This is an obligatory fond in co-proprietes in France. The owner has already paid for the year. I am being asked to refund the owner for this charge.

Look forward to hearing from you and best regards,

Cafe10

[nomoss]

You previously posted (twice) that you have just bought an apartment in Franc.

Is this the same one, or are you already buying another?

[nomoss]

You can find information on property taxes here [url]https://www.french-property.com/guides/france/finance-taxation/taxation/local-property-taxes[/url]

TdH is payable by whoever ocupioes the property on Jan 1 of any year.

The owner of the property on Jan 1 is liable for TF, but this is customarily shared, in some areas, pro-rata, between seller and buyer, usually on the basis of the previous year's figure.

Any sharing agreement must be recorded in the final Acte.

Further reliable advice on buying property can also be found on this site, links are on the LHS of the page I linked to above.

[cafe10]

[quote user="nomoss"]

You previously posted (twice) that you have just bought an apartment in Franc.

Is this the same one, or are you already buying another?

[/quote]

Actually it's the same one. The final meeting with notaire is very soon.

[cafe10]

[quote user="nomoss"]

You can find information on property taxes here [url]https://www.french-property.com/guides/france/finance-taxation/taxation/local-property-taxes[/url]

TdH is payable by whoever ocupioes the property on Jan 1 of any year.

The owner of the property on Jan 1 is liable for TF, but this is customarily shared, in some areas, pro-rata, between seller and buyer, usually on the basis of the previous year's figure.

Any sharing agreement must be recorded in the final Acte.

Further reliable advice on buying property can also be found on this site, links are on the LHS of the page I linked to above.

[/quote]

Thanks for letting me know Nomoss. When you say the TdH is payable by whoever occupies the property of Jan 1 of any year, is that the current year? Or January 1 of the following year? For example, since I'm buying the property end of this week, which Jan 1 is the reference point (Jan 1, 2018 or Jan 1, 2019)? Who is legally supposed to pay the current bill for TdH if I sign to become owner this Friday? The current owner or me?

Any thoughts re who pays the charges de copropriete du trimestre en cours?