Tips on buying a French Property

Whether in England or France, most of the same rules apply: have a good nose around, don’t be afraid to ask the locals, don’t rush into a purchase you may repent at your leisure. I’m always surprised when watching television programmes, now all the rage, about Britishers buying abroad without being able to speak more than a few words of the local language – but then maybe they make for better television ! So maybe the first tip would be to learn enough of the language to be able to get on, but hopefully our highly capable viewers will have already passed this point !

Don't be put off by lack of enthusiasm from the French Estate agents, who give the impression sometimes that they would rather not sell you a property ! Like everything else there are good and bad, so let's hope you have a good experience. Property agents such as AMR4France can be useful in understanding the demands of British buyers, and of course it helps speaking your language. Also, MD Derek Grimshaw has been doing this for long enough to have encountered just about every sort of problem when it comes to buying French property, so very often we can quickly cut through the red tape so often found in France.

Apart from traditional estate agent and property agent sources you can try notaires offices, and also why not get hold of the French local papers, both free and paid. The free ones are generally delivered once a week and tend to be found sticking out of letterboxes !

You will have a choice of buying either a plot of land, which should be pretty straightforward – just make sure you have planning permission, right of way etc – or a property. In both cases you will want to have a look at what is known as the  plan cadastral, or land register, which is the official public register of property ownership, and which shows the boundaries of each property.

You can find  a plan cadastral for the whole commune in the mairie, or local mayors office, although it is more than likely that the vendor will have a copy they can show you.