sometimes, in the rush and stress of almost any official “meeting” ( especially in a foreign language) … one can feel pressured… and end up agreeing with or to something which is not really clear… and only later think of the questions one should have asked… aaaargh… happened only the once… but that taught me to take my time… everytime.
Your phrase reminded me of something said in a Blevins webinar on buying a France property I watched the other day, which was -
If the agent fee is expressed as part of the advertised / sale price the notaire fee / percentage is calculated on that price.
If the agent fee is actually paid by the purchaser then the notaire fee / percentage is calculated on the sale price only.
I haven’t seen that mentioned anywhere before and appreciate it’s not relevant to your specific query, hope you don’t mind. I wonder if others have any knowledge of this.
Hope your purchase goes more smoothly going forward!
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I said that because it is the first document and not the final binding one for which you have little chance of pulling out of. The compromis is the outline document for you to read through, mark out any errors or inclusions you wish to make and is not the final printed out documents. My compromis had a lot of scribbles from me on it regarding items I was not happy with or where I had found mistakes by the Notaire especially the actual address of the property and not the neighbour plus it had things like my children were also purchasers and their names were on it, but it was not so, only me!
Hi Larkswood
Good point thank you must check before i bring it up. Our lady seemed to think as they had separated fee from price tax should be calculated separately.
I have no idea lol so another thing to check.
Thanks
Maybe there is some tax dodging going on by the sellers or avoiding succession with other family members, does sound a bit odd as all their details are normally on the paperwork including names, dates of birth and where born etc.
Hi Shib
Thanks for all responses . Yes on the offer with agent just thr names. On the compromis it does have full names , address , dob, marriages etc.
I only wish to do what you have, highlight any paragraphs unsure of, disagree or wrong etc then hopefully sign.
Will await their response.
Thanks to all for thier imput.
Agree with most here especially Porridge’s points and Stella about the moment you’re feeling railroaded put the brakes on.
It looks like they want a private treaty but when you look at it it’s quite binding too.
I would absolutely not sign it. I don’t care what their story is, I would insist on doing it in the normal compromis then acte way and at your own pace. You must receive documents with a lot of extra time for you to review them and possibly go back several times after consideration with questions with and/or without translators (yours or ahem, the translator introduced by these parties( before attending any meeting for signing.
Meeting for info, yes, a notaire may well know something from the seller that they will only mention face to face in their office and you must listen carefully.
If seller or notaire doesn’t like it you are the buyer. Walk away. There is never just one property that will suit you. Be hard, with charm, but hard.
Yes theoretically notaires are supposed to be neutral but they can be very helpful to both buyer and seller. Don’t rely on their neutrality there have been all sorts of situations over the years.
So it stinks and if the notaire is able to tell you what’s going on it will only be face to face and even then there could be more you might not pick up. Be very, very wary. Get yourself in to see them, take your time, on principle even if all sounds OK don’t sign on the spot even if you are taking a few days to consider and make another appointment to sign whrn you’re ready.
Don’t rely on being able to get out of a compromis once signed even for good reason/within delays, that’s not easy.
PS I’m assuming you have done all good things like visiting local mairie to ask about the property any local concerns or developments etc. Ours sent us to the DDE (in another town) who told us the fraud that was about to be perpetrated on us Our notaire, though, was excellent on the ‘informal’ side on that and the other property we subsequently purchased.
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Hi Karen
Thank you all.good advice. My worry is i am not confident i would pick up on whats not said.
No we havent been to see Mairie as no french, guess we should have gone with our translator ( not too late i suppose ).depending what they respond with.
I do not get the impression this notaire would tell us anything.
May i ask how fraud was going be committed and what is DDE ?.
When we went to our Mairie, I was surprised how informal the procedure was. We just turned up and were told where the relevant office was; we waited a short while and then had our discussion. It might be different in a small village (our town is about 7,000).
I think you said you’re renting at the moment. Do you have any friends who might be able to go with you, to save you the expense of a translator?
Dept that deals with development and future building projects in the region, bit like a powerful county council planning dept in the UK who deal with planning and the environment. French Notaires do not necessarily go searching for stuff like this and if forinstance there is a planned motorway coming through your garden, they may not inform you, in France the onus is very much on the individual to do some investigation as well.
our Mairie has my phone number in their speed-dial and I’m often asked to pop in (on a friendly basis) and help … not any legal basis, just ensuring both sides know what the other is talking about…
why not go along to yours and ask their help/show them the draft…
EDIT Good grief, if you’ve not investigated the property with the Mairie… please do not sign anything… not yet… as others have said… it can all go wrong and you could find yourself lumbered…
ok then you absolutely must take even more care.
Go to mairie now, get them to show you the property on the map, major roads, any developments planned, are there near neighbours, use your thinking cap. Ideal would be to find out more about all (though neighbours can be tricky to know about ahead and you never know who’s related to who etc). Listen carefully at mairie. You can also mention after a chat what you’ve been asked to sign and that it seems unusual to you. Then shut up and lisren.
.
Notaire visit after thst, not before, if you can manage it.
Our original vendor knew very specifically we were buying to convert ideally placed barn to living. Mairie hinted, did not say a lot but advised us to go to DDE for further info as more detail there (or something).
Lady in DDE went tiens tiens tiens I think I remember something, hauled out three monster ledgers covered in dust. She showed us 3 planning applications made by the owning family to convert, at intervals over the past 10 years including recently, that had been refused then said “C’est une fraude!”. DDE said local plans would not permit conversion in the future either. She was right. After over 20 years development has recently been permitted but only in the other direction on the other side of the village. Still banned at the original property.
Hi
Yes renting only been here 2/3 months so not really any friends. Landlady only speaks a little french.
However our translator very reasonable .
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which department are you in?
Ok thanks for advice. I suppose as its on a fairly main road, opposite side of road is the river not really space for development.Either side and behind are properties so i suppose we assumed no room.for development.
hmmm… floodplain comes to mind… I’m really beginning to twitch with this …
Hi
Oh thats very scary. As i just replied to Stella i suppose very silly but we assumed as neighbours either side and behind , river opposite we assumed probably nothing would be being built.
Logically thats crazy , for all we know there could be planning to widen road etc or demolish houses who knows.
If they come back ( nothing heard so far from agents or notaire ,) then yes i will ask translator to come to Mairie with us.
Thank you all ,lessons being learned
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very good idea… and possibly make a list of things you want to ask… my mind can go a blank at the worst times… eg at the Docs, and I recall the questions I had meant to ask when OH has driven us halfway home… 
I presume you’ve looked the house up on the Georisques website (https://www.georisques.gouv.fr). If not, it would be worth a quick look. Don’t panic when you see all the risks mentioned - they cover everything!
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Neighbours could have their own plans too…