Moving Within France

[AlanW]

I apologise if this subject has been answered elsewhere, but I can't seem to find an answer.

My wife and I currently live in the Tarn and are considering relocating to a different part of France within the next year or so.  Neither of us can work out how to deal with two Notaires possibly 100 or more miles apart so that we can move smoothly on the day of 'completion'.  We understand that the French system is different having survived the purchase of our current home.

Has anyone relocated within France recently who can maybe explain the system to us please?  [8-)]

Many thanks in anticipation

[Anton Redman II]

Three purchases and two sales. I have never found anyway to control the date the notaire and the other party select for signing the Acte. And in one case we all signed the Acte, paid the money but did not receive vacant possesion for ten days. The French seem to either rent, or store and move in with relatives. If you have a signed compromis you can negotiate a bridging loan but it is not for the faint hearted or thin walletted.

[ericd]

Hi, good luck with the move. Whas the Tarn getting too hot for you?

[AlanW]

[quote user="ericd"]Hi, good luck with the move. Whas the Tarn getting too hot for you?[/quote]

Can't cope with snow in May!!!![:)]

But seriously, we feel that we need to get down off the mountain BEFORE we get too old

[Panda]

Hello

I moved within France and had a bridging loan which does not require loins of steel or a thick wallet as it is at the same rate as the mortgage rate (of thereabouts) so not high by any stretch of the imagination.  I completed on my purchase two weeks before the sale, at the point of sale the notaire pays off the bridging loan.  Was pain free and simple.

 

Panda

 

[ericd]

......Cross the Aveyron and join us in 82 !!

[Benjamin]

I've never done it but here's my cunning plan.  [:-))]

You'll have to find your buyer and a house to purchase whatever so I'm not addressing that.

Agree a Notaire to use with your purchaser but only on condition that he also handles the purchase of your new property. If the seller of your new property wants to appoint a second Notaire at his end then that's up to them. Get the first Notaire to liase (if there is a second Notaire involved) so that everything occurs on the same day.

Your sale is dealt with first and then your purchase occurs with your Notaire arranging to forward the proceeds to your seller or, if appointed, his Notaire. A seller doesn't have to be present on the day but the purchaser should be unless he has made an arrangement with the Notaire.

[P-D de Rouffignac]

I did this recently, moving between two apartments which were reasonably close together. I found the following helped:

1. Using the same Notaire to handle both transactions - the sale of my apartment (A) and the purchase of the new apartment (B).

2. I signed the 'compromis de vente' for the purchase of B at the same time as my buyers signed a compromis for purchase of A (which I countersigned of course) - that way, we were both more or less protected from either party pulling out, as compensation would have been paid by one or another.  We had each paid a 10% deposit on our purchase, lodged with the Notaire.

3. Signature of the final act and completion were supposed to take place on the same day (rather like a UK 'chain'), but this slipped a little by mutual agreement. Because everyone knew everyone else (Notaire, agent, my buyers of A; and the agent knew the sellers of B)  I in fact moved out of my apartment A two weeks ahead to help my buyers (who wanted to start alterations before the summer deadline) and was allowed to store my furniture in apartment B (but not live in it - I squatted elsewhere) and move in finally two weeks later, on completion.

It should be possible for both transactions to be completed on the same day, ideally by the same Notaire. But even in my case because from the outset I had stressed and had written into both compromis documents that one transaction was dependent on the other, given reasonable goodwill all round there were no hiccups. The sellers of apartment B were also anxious to complete, being in the throes of a divorce and having suffered an unreliable tenant who had left them with a trail of unpaid bills - so the circumstances helped.

If your own situation is not quite the same (for example, the sums involved are larger) and you have any doubts at all,  my advice would be to always secure the sale of your existing property first - compromis, completion, money in the bank - before committing to a second purchase, even though you may have identified a property you want to buy. Completion can take as little as two weeks if you push everyone and you are a cash buyer, and at worst you may have to store your furniture temporarily and rent somewhere to live. Better that than finding yourself committed to a purchase and your existing property unsold. The golden rule is it is always easier to buy property than to sell........

Hope this helps a bit, very best of luck - P-D de R.

 

[AlanW]

Thanks to you all for your various advice/opinions.  It's given a starting point at least and prompted a few questions to ask the professionals. 

[:)]

[Ellis]

I also am thinking of moving so this thread is interesting to me

[Swissie]

LOL  poule mouillée - we love our cold winters and crisp snow, here in the Jura.

[zarathustra]

I'm in France and have signed a compromis de vente with a notaire close to the new house. The sellers are using their own notaire 60km's away. It hasn't caused any issues for us as the two notaires communicate between themselves, and split the costs. I'm not quite sure what happens on the final signing next month, but we will be signing with our designated notaire and assume the sellers will be joining us.