Inspection prior to acte de vente?

[Carolski]

When we bought our house here in France 4 years ago, we never checked it out just prior to signing the acte de vente. We are now just about to sign the acte de vente before returning to the UK.We have a very officious estate agent who has been pretty difficult. We have complied w ith everything she has asked even down to having the boiler serviced, chimney swept and fosse sceptic emptied. We have papers to confirm all of this. I recieved a telephone call today from them to say that they are coming round the morning of the signing (2pm) to check the house out!!! I was quite surprised as we never did this 4 years agowhen we bought the place and certainly not in the UK.

 My question is this: Are they entitled to do this? Not that we have anything to hide at all but we have reason not to trust them as they have done some pretty underhand stuff these past few months.

[Jacqui Too]

[quote user="Carolski"]

 My question is this: Are they entitled to do this? Not that we have anything to hide at all but we have reason not to trust them as they have done some pretty underhand stuff these past few months.

[/quote]

Of course they are entitled to have a last Minuit check, we certainly did and I would do it again as well.

You may be trusting, but its to late when you get the keys and find out things are not as they should be, at least this way you don't have to sign if things are not right!!

[mint]

Jacqui Too is right.  Trusting is one thing but there is just too much money and potential aggro involved not to do something so simple as an inspection on signing day.

[Ron Avery]

I think Carol is actually selling not buying.  A lot has changed in that last four years, there are so many inspections and reports (like lead, termites,  asbestos, size of fosse) now necessary that were not four years ago, and more to come next year, Whereas in the past it was all done informally, that is not the case anymore.  I suspect that the OP's agent has had a few problems in the past with after sale comebacks and wants to make sure all is in order before the money changes hands.

[andyh4]

It should realy be just to check that everything is in order and that you haven't removed the kitchen sink, radiators and plumbing.  (Oh yes, I have heard of such things).

[mint]

Some friends of ours bought a house where they went so far as to drain the oil tank!  Not that the OP would do such a thing, of course.

[Ron Avery]

A lot of the French would though, and have in the past.  When the Notaire said the house must be emptied it was, no fuel, firewood, light fittings, bulbs, plants etc

Before Claire comes along and clouts me that is an outrageuos slur on the majority of the French, some UK sellers have also done the same thing.

[Clair]

[quote user="Ron Avery"]

A lot of the French would though, and have in the past.  When the Notaire said the house must be emptied it was, no fuel, firewood, light fittings, bulbs, plants etc

Before Claire comes along and clouts me that is an outrageuos slur on the majority of the French, some UK sellers have also done the same thing.

[/quote]

It happened to me too (empty fuel tank)... [:)]

[Llantony]

Well, we bought our little French house 5 years ago and before we went to the notaire, the estate agent came with us for a last look.  We'd heard of people taking everything including the toilet seat!  In fact, the first thing we bought was a toilet seat as the existing one was disgusting.  He left the horrible rusty fluorescent lights, & the sink and quite honestly there wasn't anything else worth having!

[Mr Coeur de Lion]

Heh, the first time we saw our house, ever, was after the acte de vente, when we finally had the keys in our hands!

Although this is not recommended, we were totally happy with our purchase, and it turned out better than we expected.

[Cat]

I know of people that bought a house with a fully equipped kitchen, the dishwasher and cooker were listed as included in the price.  When they took possession though, there were a dishwasher and cooker there alright, but they weren't the ones they'd seen when they last viewed the house!  The owner had substituted them for some tatty old second hand ones.

[Boiling a frog]

We inherited an ancient fridge/freezer with contents.Unfortunatly it had obviously been switched off several weeks before.

[RicandJo]

We signed two days ago, the agent took us for the pre signing inspection just beforehand.

 

Normal practice.

[timc17]

We are signing for our new house today and had a good look round the property a few days ago. We noticed a water leak on the property side of the meter and promptly called the agent. He arranged for a plumber to repair the leak and the vendor will bear the costs.

A pre-signing inspection is vital!

[Gastines]

Reminds me of the TV show called Moving Day with Alf Garnet. It showed the move and stunts involved of about 8 families moving along one chain. At the top end the gentleman took the ashes from the fireplace,for the rose bushes he'd already removed,the light bulbs,the doorhandles and letter-box and  the brass house numbers even though his wife did point out that their new house had a different number. By shopping around to get the cheapest removal cost he did mamage to get conned and the conmen drove off with his household furnishings. The Prog. finished with his wife chasing him down the road brandishing one of his golf clubs which were to important to him to entrust to the removers.

Perhaps the TV company should show the film at regular intervals?

Regards.

[PaulT]

Had a slightly different experience with our agent. Asked to view and the statement was 'I've never heard of this before'.

We did inspect - and met the sellers for the first time. They were delightful, were thoroughly cleaning the house, no rubbish and were leaving us plenty of useful things such as a chainsaw etc.

I do know of someone who did not inspect and discovered that not only had the door furniture been taken but also the doors AND the frames!

Paul

[ams]

When we purchased our house we took digital photos of the inside and outside of the house, oh yes the wife says and garden to include several expensive plants that we got listed. No problems were encountered they even left us hose pipes and some extra items.

 

ams

[Rob Roy]

The people buying our house asked us the other week if we were leaving the kitchen (there is a run of fitted units) - I said of course and he looked really pleased! I have also found out that we are inheriting a lot of the furniture at our new house as the seller as no use for it (it was her aunt's house), so we will be getting some beautiful old wardrobes, beds (I'll buy new matresses!) dresser etc [:)], plus various useful outside items (trailers, grass cutter etc.)

[leslieneils]

We have friends across the valley who turned up at their house after they had bought to find one member of the family still there and reluctant to move out. It took months to sort it, as they were not on best terms with the seller!