Compromis de Vente

[StephenM]

Hi

We signed the Compromis de Vente on our purchase some weeks ago, there have bewen problems with the purchase due to alot of work carried out without planning, this has now been applied for but as a result of this the fosse will need to be replaced,(the arcitect says they had to do this) the agent has told us this will be our cost, not the vendor, the arcitect has told us that because of the number of bedrooms the fosse will be expensive - at least 8000 € - something we had not budgeted for at this stage, the seven day period has long gone, but do we have any way now to get a reduction or insist that the fosse is replaced by the vendor? Could this be made a reason to not complete the purchase? Also on the Compromis de Vente, can someone please explain the significance of the section Propriete - Jouissance, the agent filled in Jour de l'acte authentique avant 3.03.2007, the agent is away on holiday and will not be back by this date so I can not clarify this with then

Thanks for your help

[Will]

Unless the document contains clauses that specific items should be to a certain standard, you are unlikely to get a reduction - you can try asking, but don't hold your breath. In the areas where a drainage survey is required, the vendor is only required to pay for the survey - any remedial works are the responsibility of the buyer.

An automatic translation of the 'jouissance' paragraph in the compromis:

"the purchaser will have the freehold of the building indicated above as from the signature of the notarial act of sale It will have of it the pleasure as from the same day by the perception of the rents. The aforementioned goods being rented with Mister................................ according to lease under signature deprived on............. with...................., with the help of a monthly of............. EUROS, payable rent in the long term fallen (to be fallen), having effect as from...................., renewable by renewal by tacit agreement. A deposit of............ EUROS, was poured by the aforementioned tenant with the financial backer it.............. (date) It is agreed between the parts that any calculation of proportion of rents, and any refunding of deposit will take place directly between the parts before the signature of the notarial act of sale. A copy of the lease, a copy of the act of acquisition of the salesman justifying in particular that he is well owner and a copy of the last official report of the general assembly of the joint owners of the residence........................ (adress + city) was given this day to the purchaser."

It basically says that you will take over the house, grounds and eveything inside on the date of signing the final act (though makes provision for rented property). A date of about 12 weeks hence is usually inserted here, this being the normal time taken for the various procedures etc, but this date is not set in stone and is likely to move, occasionally forward but usually further on.

 

[StephenM]

Will, hanks for your answer

 

Before we signed the Compromis at the estate agents office, we gave them a list of conditions, the fosse conforming was one of them.  The agent told us they would send our conditions to the Notaire.  We then signed.  I fear we were duped by the agent and that we have no conditions.  We have emails from the agent informing us that the conditions were passed to the notaire, but as these we not on the Compromis, I now assume are not included.

When the problems arouse with the planning, or lack of it, the agent told us not to pay the deposit, but to wait first to see if the vendor would apply for retrospective planning, which they did, we then paid, but this was about a week later than it should have been paid.  The agent initially told us there would need to be a new Compromis, but then changed their mind.  We are using a different notaire to the vendor, this was suggested by the agent,  we also sent him our conditions but have heard nothing from him but we have been told it is normal for notaires to not respond !

 

Where do you think we stand in this ?

 

[Sunday Driver]

The compromis de vente is the actual sale agreement which commits you to the purchase under the terms written therein.  Any conditions relating to the sale, eg retrospective planning consent being obtained, conformity of the fosse, should have been included as clauses suspensives in the compromis. If they were not, then you may well be committed to the purchase, even if planning consent is subsequently refused or the fosse is condemned.

You could try to salvage the situation by writing to the notaires pointing out that despite the terms of the compromis, the general intention of all parties was that successful planning consent was a critical element of the transaction (back this up with copies of the agent's e-mails) and that a new compromis should be drawn up to properly reflect this situation.  Whether or not the vendors will agree to scrapping the original compromis and signing a fresh one is a matter for them.

As Will says, the fosse is down to you, unfortunately.

 

 

[Babbles]

I'm really interested in what happens with this as its not dissimilar to our events concerning the fosse, I'm hoping that as we asked for clarification on drainage and have copies of the email it will go some way towards getting some money back for the fosse, my question about the fosse is, does not conform because your developing the property or would it have been redundant anyway if you kept the same number of bathrooms etc and its just the change in the law that now makes it redundant as that should effect what price you pay.

[steve tachauer]

I am also interested in what happens as I had a telephone call last week from an English neighbour who has told me that following the recent storms the roof of the house we are purchasing has been damaged. As this damage occurred after we signed the compromis de vente are we responsible for the repair or the vendor? I understand that we have the opportunity to inspect the property for loss/damage occurring between compromis and acte before signing the latter, is this true? I should just add that the house has been empty for some time and the current owner lives in Lille.

Thanks in advance for the help,

 

PP.

[Babbles]

As far as I am aware the vendor is responsible as they have to have insurance on the house until you complete and its the insurance that should pay.[:)]