How we bought our house in France

Obviously if you’ve watched any property programmes about France, you’ll already have an inkling that the house-buying process in France is a little bit different to the one in England.

Here’s how we did it

We were lucky enough to work directly with Jenn, a local property expert, who accepted a ‘mandat’ from us to find a property. That meant she worked directly for us, rather than a specific estate agent, such as Leggett Immobilier.

It definitely made the whole process much simpler, and if you are looking to buy a house in France, we would definitely recommend taking this approach.

1. Finding the house

Having put together a list of houses we liked and what we liked about them, we had a long conversation with Jenn to identify what we were looking for and what we liked, and - of course - what our budget was.

We then liaised with her to create a shortlist of properties to look at, which were in or around the Dordogne. She then talked to 5 different estate agents for us and made a plan for us to look at 11 houses.

We then flew over, staying in a local AirBnB, and had a packed 4 days looking at all the houses - located in 3 different regions. And, as with all good property programmes, we fell in love with the last one we saw.

So we made an offer and, thankfully, it was accepted.

2. The diagnostics

That doesn’t sound so different, does it? Well, this is where the processes start to diverge.

Rather than us commissioning a survey of the house and choosing the type of survey we wanted, we were sent the diagnostics - which is a long document telling you everything about the house and what needs doing.

I’m pretty sure that anyone selling a house in France has to ensure that they prepare diagnostics for the sale, and that they are up to date. And they pay for the electricians and the roofers and the local officials to examine the property and make a report - which become the diagnostics.

Some of the things we learned from the diagnostics were that:

• a roof tile was missing

• some of the electrics needed to be checked (albeit not urgently)

• radon gas isn’t an issue

• the house isn’t in an earthquake risk zone

• flooding might affect the local area, but not our house

• and more!

It ran to about 100 pages. But goodness, what a read (with the aid of Google Translate, obvs).

I lived in my London house for more than 30 years - I don’t think I knew even half of what was covered in those diagnostics!

3. The compromis de vente - and the notaire

The next big step in the process was signing the pre-sale agreement.- the compromis de vent. Doing this meant we were committed to buying the property, once we hit the end of a 10-day cooling-off period.

At that point, we paid a deposit, which we sent to the notaire. And that’s another difference.

Because all of the formal stuff happens with a notaire (kind of a magistrate) for the area, who is responsible for ensuring that both the buyer and the seller are treated fairly. So it is up to the notaire to collect the money and to distribute it, all of which needs to be done before you finalise the deal.

4. The walkthrough

I’m going to skip over all of the conversations and questions and fretting that happened while we waited for completion. Instead, let me tell you about the next big step, which is the walkthrough.

This is something that happens before the completion of sale, and involves physically walking through the property (or - if you can’t be there in person, attending via video) with the owner, so they can tell you about the house.

It’s really your last chance to raise final concerns about the house - say if something hasn’t been done that you were expecting or if something has changed since you saw the property. (If that was the case, then the notaire would hold back some money from the owner to give them an incentive to put it right.)

In our case, we were very happy with our house - it’s even nicer than we’d remembered - so we didn’t raise any concerns, but instead spent a glorious hour with the owner, while she told us all about the house and the garden.

5. The signing at the notaire

The final step of the process was the formal signing.

This is where we met up with the owner again, along with Jenn and the estate agent, Nathalie. And the notaire ensured that everything had been attended to - by going through the diagnostics in detail (using a video screen) and ensuring that we were happy with everything. (Which we were.)

We then paid the notaire a sum of money to cover half the year’s property tax (which is council tax in all but name), which he would forward to the owner.

We then each took turns signing the final sale agreement, after which we received the keys. And had pictures taken.

And the notaire’s dog, a lovely little white terrier, tottered over and congratulated us on completing the process, by licking our toes.

So there you go - a whistle stop tour on buying a house in La Belle France! And here we are…

A la prochaine, mes amis!