Building certificates

[johnson]

I have purchased a plot of land in the Dordogne and would like to to use builders from England. I have been told if I do this I won't have the building certificates which I will need if I decide to sell within 10 years. Does anyone know if this is right? If it is and I go ahead, will I be able to sell if I decide to? Thank you everyone for your replies, but I may not have made myself clear. I would like to use fully qualified british builders to build the main frame.  I will then use French artisans such as plumbers and electricians, ground workers for everything else.These english builders would be fully insured, hopefully in France.Would this not satisfy the frnch authorities?

 

Thank you

Margaret

Dover

Kent

[Tony F Dordogne]

Margaret, you will have to make sure that the British builders are fully registered in France, pay all their taxes and cotizations here and have the decennial insurance that they need, which I think are the building certificates that you're referring to.  If you use unregistered buiders there is every likelyhood that your plot may be visited by the gendarmes as there is a crackdown in the Dordogne across the board on unregistered builders and I can assure you that if they are caught it's something that neither you or they will want.  And then there will be the reaction of the locals against you if you do this on a long term basis, not a good way to start in your French commune.

And no, it's very unlikely that you would be able to sell your house especially is the builders build to Uk rather than French specifications (wiring and plumbing) and remember that if you're building to sell on, CGT kicks in within the first ?five years for maison secondaire.

[Wilko]

Hi

I think that you will find is that TFD is misinformed in this case. If your UK builder is perfectly legit in the UK ie stamps etc fully paid and his workers insured he can come and work here. He would only have to become a registered french builder if he was doing more than the occasional build in France. In the case of 10 years insurance ask him to give you a guarantee from his insurance company.

TFD makes a good point about plumbing and electrics.........if they go wrong your builder is a long way away and you might have a problem with a local looking after an etranger's work.

Happy biuilding

Wilko

[Tony F Dordogne]

Sorry Wilko, how about the money that the builders earn here, aren't they taxable here?  They work in France, they pay taxes in France?  So how do they do that without being registered here? I know for sure of two UK registered builders on short term work projects here who have been 'caught' here and have got their employers into serious trouble.

 

[Scooby]

Our neighbours are building their own house - literally.  Unfortunately they are not builders and have already built the walls crooked, forgot to allow for the opening for the garage door and had to know part of the walls down to start that bit again.  It's becoming the gossip of the village.  Those in the village with a building / related trades background offered to help out - for the price of a couple of meals but their offer was declined.  I was really surprised that they could build a house in such an ad hoc way and asked about French building regs / inspections etc...I was told that it was perfectly ok and that there isn't any such concept as building inspectors in France.

[Nick Trollope]

There are no buildings inspectors in France, but there are a whole host of regulations ("normes, DTUs or whatever). Significant problem for the OP is that all building trades in France are heavily regulated and you can't just import a team from "overseas" (even within the EU), without jumping through an inordinate number of (expensive) hoops.

Builders are expensive (in France, at least) for a reason - mostly due to the huge payments to the government they must make. Most take a dim view of illegal competition and will have no reservations about reporting it. Remember that, as the owner it is your legal responsibilty to ensure that the house is built in accordance with the law This is why one uses legal builders, who have the insurance to cover you.

If you build yourself, you can also get insurance, but it will not cover illegal workers.