Choosing your agent
We would recommend choosing a French National Real Estate Federation (FNAIM) registered agent. FNAIM regulates, insures and advises French real estate agents. FNAIM regroups its best professionals in its 10.000 agencies and intervenes in all different aspects of the trade - sales, administration, expertise and counsel. Sabode is a member FNAIM – Member N° 29779T. As a member we are in possession of a professional certificate issued by the Prefecture, attesting that we conform to official rules and regulations of the trade – Sabode’s professional card N° is 10950. We also benefit from continuous training on the legal and technical aspects of the trade in order to best serve our clients.
Sales contract
Once you have chosen your property and a price is agreed, a sales contract is drawn up, most frequently by the agent, called a ‘compromis de vente’. Due to Sabode’s membership with the FNAIM, we have standardised French sales contracts translated into English, Italian, German and Spanish. The contract includes results from obligatory surveys such as Termites, Asbestos, Lead (for buildings older than 1948) and Surface measurement (Loi Carrez for apartments). These surveys are all paid for by the seller. The sales contract can also include a mortgage clause. This will allow the buyer around 4 weeks to obtain a loan to buy the property (note - during this month, the seller cannot offer the property to anybody else). The buyer and seller choose their notaire to represent them. In many cases the buyer and seller share the same notaire, however this is a personal choice. In the buying process in France, it is obligatory to use a notaire. A notaire is a public official who is under the authority of the Minister of Justice. Sabode will help you consult your notaire in French if they do not speak English. Your notaire can answer any questions on buying your property in the name of a company, on succession laws and on the effects of buying as a non-resident.The buyer must now prepare a 10% deposit to hold the property which can be paid by cheque or transfer to the notaire.
Cooling off period
The buyer will receive a registered letter in the post from their agent once the initial sales contract has been signed by both parties. You now have 7 days to reflect on your purchase starting from the day after the post slip arrives at your home. If you feel you have made a mistake, you have the right to pull out of the contract by sending a registered letter to your notaire (sent before the 7 days are up) without giving a specific reason. You will then recuperate the totality of your deposit.
Mortgage clause
If you chose to opt for the mortgage suspensive clause in the initial sales contract, you must prove that you tried to obtain the amount specified in the sales contract. If after 4 weeks a bank accords you the loan amount, the purchase proceeds. If you receive a letter from a bank refusing your loan, you can terminate the contract and get your deposit refunded. The seller then has the right to put the property back on the market for sale.
Final contract
The notaire is responsible for the preparation, signing and execution of the final deed (acte authentique) which is normally signed between 2 and 3 months after the signing of the initial sales contract (compromis de vente). The signing of the final deed is carried out in the office of the buyer’s notaire. Sabode will check the property is in the same condition as the day you viewed it and will accompany you to the notaire’s office for any advice or translating that is requested. The remainder of the purchasing price must now be transferred into your notaire’s account. You must also transfer an approximate figure of 7 - 8% of the purchasing price. This amount includes the notaire’s fees which are around 1.5%, the government taxes on owning a property in France, the administration costs involved in the transfer of ownership of property and the mortgage fees if you opted to finance the purchase with a loan. Once the deed has been signed by the buyer and the seller, either in person or by power of attorney, and the money has been received by the notaire, the keys of the property are handed over and you are a home owner in France.
Note: The two taxes that you will have to pay annually as a home owner in France are Taxe d’Habitation and Taxe Foncière. The Habitation tax is paid by whoever lives in the property on the 1st of January of every year (your tenant or yourself). It is determined by the government depending on the size and luxury of the property, the number of people living in it and your income. The Foncière tax is land tax and is paid for by the owner of the property. It is fixed on the property not on its inhabitants. It is determined by the local town hall on size and location.
