Hello. I’m trying to buy a farm in the Puy-de- Dome region. My estate agent has chosen a notaries. Work started having had my offer accepted. I am selling my home in England to provide the funds for this purchase. Naturally I have asked for a claus suspensif to protect myself in the event of my English House sale falling through.
The notaire has said she will not be able to proceed with the CS until she has a copy of what she calls “the English version of the French Compromis de Vente”. I have checked with a number of English lawyers who tell me there is absolutely no such thing. English sales are formalised through an initial Memorandum of Sale which has details of the buyer’s and seller’s solicitors and is never signed. I have actually got this signed by us both and the notaries refused to accept this. To make matters worse, the seller has been told all of this and has taken the view that I am unwilling to share evidence of my sale and she will not sign the the C de V until I produce this mythical and unattainable documentary evidence.
I’m guessing that many thousands of English buyers in my situation have successfully completed their French House purchase without this peculiar requirement.
Any ideas from someone with knowledge of these matters?
France and the UK are worlds appart when buying or selling houses.
I understand your situation that you cannot buy the french house until you have sold your UK house to fund the purchase, but a french person would not understand that, and the chain system that exists in the UK.
In France most would sell their house and then rent until they find the next house.
If you haven’t got the means to buy in France without selling your UK home then you need to complete your uk sale and then enter the french market.
Sorry if I am being blunt but that is how I see it.
Having owned 4 french homes in 33 years and bought and sold numerous uk homes/houses, and suffered the problems that the uk chain process throws up, then give me the french system anytime.
You can choose your own notaire. If you can’t get satisfaction from the one you’re using at the moment, that’s an option.
I think it’s about money-laundering. Is what is happening the following? Your notaire has to comply with regulations requiring her/him to be satisfied of the source of your funds. Is s/he wanting proof of the origin of your funds, and perhaps also to have some proof of what is going on with regard to your sale (English property) in case the clause suspensive needs to operate?
Could you perhaps speak to the notaire and explain that you are trying but without success. You realise s/he has procedures to follow, and if s/he can explain exactly what is required, rather than describing a document which doesn’t exist, you will provide it.
Could you also perhaps provide authorisation to your English solicitor/conveyancer for them to answer any questions and provide documentation to your notaire?
I am reliably told that a French translation of the exchanged contract plus a letter from your UK solicitor confirming the exchange is what you need and should be accepted. NB I am not a lawyer and am just passing this bit of advice on.
If not accepted, as @Porridge says there are a few solicitors in the UK that specialise in French property law. We used Heslop and Platt. There are many more, though they are some comments in the forum which might provide guidance who to avoid.
It sounds like retaining someone on your side would be a good idea, assuming you want the property badly enough.
In France each property transaction is normally separate and as such chains do not normally exist. It is a very different system to England.
In England the exchange of contracts happens very late in the buying process (even on the day of sale) whereas in France it happens within a couple of weeks of an offer being accepted at the signing of the CdeV.
When I was working as an Immo (no longer) I would not have put forward an offer from someone who does not have the means to progress the sale - I may have passed on the details to the seller and let them know there is somebody interested but until you are in a position to actually proceed you cannot sign a CdeV.
You can request a CS be added regarding your sale but it has to be with the agreement of the sellers - if they don’t wish to proceed on this basis they may be better to find an alternate buyer until you are able to proceed.
Do you have a mortgage on your UK house? When we bought here 10 years ago, we hadn’t sold in the UK and it was going very slowly. The estate agent said our only hope of being taken seriously was to get a bridging loan.
We ended up talking to BNP Paribas International Buyers department who said that in our case, as we didn’t have any outstanding borrowing, we could have a normal mortgage which was cheaper than a bridging loan. We checked the terms of repaying the BNP loan once we had the funds and there were very few restrictions. I think we paid them back after about eight months.
They were very good to deal with and had a lot of English speaking advisers.
That would be exactly what I would say. Just give them a copy of the contract when it’s exchanged (English and only offer a translation if they ask), and a copy of the draft till your exchange takes place if it hasn’t already.
When I bought this new house in 2022 I had to prove to the Notaire acting for both me and the building company that I had the funds readily available and could proceed as soon as the paperwork was complete and this was for the first compromis. that I wished to buy the property. Luckily I had sold four months earlier and the funds were sitting in the bank so no problem and I transferred a deposit of €10k to show faith, but his concern was that I would be penalised if any financial loans were not forthcoming by 10% and 48hrs before the final Acte de Vente was due to be signed, I had to transfer the rest of the balance complete so it was in the Notaire’s account ready to transfer to the builder after signing was completed. They are quite strict here and very cautious for both seller and buyer in most transactions and none of the British act of gazumping either. Does that still go on?