Once you have decided on a house you want to buy the agent will assist you if you wish to negotiate the price or if there are things about the property that you want checked out before you make a final decision. French estate agents are more highly qualified and more highly regulated than their counterparts in Britain and will be invaluable to you throughout the purchase process. They will act between the vendor, the Notaire and you, the purchaser, to make sure everything proceeds as simply and quickly as possible. It is also worth noting that their fee (which they share with Beautiful French Houses) is included in all advertised sale prices of French Houses.

The French legal system requires there to be two contracts for the transfer of ownership of a property. The first stage in the buying process is likely to be the need to sign an OFFER with your proposed purchase price and if this offer is accepted by the vendor the process will continue to the signing of the first contract, the COMPROMIS DE VENTE. This first contract will include the CLAUSES SUSPENSIVES which are the necessary factors that have to be confirmed before you, as the purchaser, are prepared to proceed to the final contract. If you are obtaining a French mortgage the receipt of this will be one of the CLAUSES SUSPENSIVES so that you are protected if the mortgage is not forthcoming. At the point of signing the first contract you will be asked to transfer 10% of the purchase price into the client account of the Notaire. Should any of the CLAUSES SUSPENSIVES not be met your deposit will be returned in full to you.

In many ways the French sale and purchase system is better than the English and Irish system in that the seller is bound to sell you the property once the first contract has been signed, although you do not become the owner until the final contract is signed by both parties when all searches etc. have been done. This two contract system has the advantage of securing the property to the buyer whilst all the legal work is done by the Notaire. The two contract system protects the buyer from gazumping and from any change of mind on the part of the seller. If either party choose to withdraw from the transaction once the first contract has been signed they will forfeit 10% of the agreed property purchase price.

Finally once all matters, written as clauses suspensives in the first contract, have been satisfactorily confirmed, once the Notaire has done all checks required by law and once the purchase funds are in the Notaire’s bank account it is time for the signing of the ACTE DE VENTE.This normally takes place in the Notaire’s office with all parties present, usually including the French agent who will have been helping to process the sale. If either party is unable to attend they can sign a power of attorney giving the clerk to the Notaire the right to sign on their behalf.

The whole legal process is likely to take around 3 months and your only difficult task is to decide on which Beautiful French House suits your requirements.