A few questions about property buying ....

[JonDuncan]

Just wonder if this is the typical procedure in France: when signing the Compromis de Vente papers, and paying the 10% deposit, is it usual to make it payable direct to the estate agent rather than the notaire?

Also, with regard to the seven day cooling-off period, does that automatically apply to all property purchases, because an estate-agent told a friend that when buying building land, as a opposed to a house, the 7 day period does not apply.

Thanks for any help.

[Pickles]

[quote user="JonDuncan"]Just wonder if this is the typical procedure in France: when signing the Compromis de Vente papers, and paying the 10% deposit, is it usual to make it payable direct to the estate agent rather than the notaire?[/quote]

It isn't unusual. The agent has to have in place a guarantee that will cover deposits IIRC.

[JonDuncan]

Thanks, that's good to know.

[Daft Doctor]

The 7 day cooling off period does indeed apply to building land, as we have recently gone through signing a compromis for just that.  The 7 days starts from the day you receive your copy by recorded delivery.  We also paid the 10% to the agent, but we were told by the agent not to pay until the 7 day cooling off period had expired for both parties (as it happens we were behind the vendeur by a couple of days).