french mortgage and renovation loan

[mikadoy2k]

we have just made an offer and paid a deposit for another renovation project in france (third one) but in the past have paid cash for the property when purchased but this one being a little bit of a bigger project we applied for a loan (large bank)and have been an accepted on a french mortgage subject to valuation .. on valuation, house deemed not habitable (as are most renovations i thought?) bank insisting they loan "extra" monies for the renovations and work only to be carried out by french registered builders(protectionism?) despite us proving we have ample funds and expertise of our own to carry out renovations to a very high standard ourselves (having completed renovations and sold in france previously) they insist on estimates before loaning the original purchase amount which by the way is 70% of valuation .. two points really, i have been told that a certain amount of the money paid to the artisands are reclaimable on sale of property, if so, is it labour or materials and at what rate is it refundable, and i presume its deducted off of capital gains tax if and when we sell ?..or, although i am semi retired, we have a  family building company registered in uk, is it a simple process to register ourselves as builders in france (considering how beaurocratic most things are in france i can only imagine its a nightmare, but, one i would consider as we love the country) ..but i dont understand why with proven track record a 6 figure sum available for renovation in a french bank account and us risking far more than the bank, they are standing firm on the conditions ...confused peter 

[Panda]

Hello

We had exactly the same thing happen with  UCB bank (assocated with Abbey National) , they wanted artisans quotes to their valuation for the work to be done and we could not do the work ourselves.  We told them to keep the money and went with CIC who gave us the full amount of the loan and were happy that we did work ourselves.

The artisan bills can be offset against CGT and some can also be offset against tax on income  in my case a the peoperty was to be rented.

If you are seen to be renovating as a business you will be asked to register as marchand de bien, be careful how many you do as this will attract more costs.  On the plus side you may find it benefical when selling, I dont know enough about it to say.

Panda