Buying a house in France

Beatle_Ray

Hello,
Thanks in advance for any replies I might get, i'm considering buying a small place in France, it will be in the South of France and I expect to pay approx.£150K for the property, I was there in the summer and those places do exist, the location and price are not the issue but if anyone has done this before what do I need to look out for, its only an idea in my head and will be as a holiday home not my main residence,

Thanks

G_M

Use Google. Or Bing. Or DuckDuckGo.

There are specialist websites for UK buyers in France which

* list properties
* explain the legal process/costs
* explain the tax and inheritance laws
etc

There are also many books on the subject eg
https://www.amazon.co.uk/YOUR-PROPERTY-FRANCE-Renting-Letting/dp/0749440163/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1533555558&sr=8-3&keywords=buy+property+france


You'll even find them (free) at your local library.

LittleMrsThrifty

The simple answer is that it's really quite complex. You really need to engage a professional for this. Or, don't bother and just rent places when you want to visit France. Chances are it won't increase in value considerably and could end up being a money pit.

AdrianC

Why ask on a UK forum?

There are English-language forums for non-Francophone French residents - or I presume, if you're thinking of moving there, your French is good enough that you can get reasonable meaning from French websites?

eddddy

Read these forums to see all the potential pain and traps people encounter buying property in the UK.

Now imagine that every legal document is in 'legal French'. The EA hardly speaks any English, the solicitor (Notaire) only speaks French, the vendor only speaks French. And you have to resolve similar problems.

And French property law is very, very different from UK property law.

And then you have to call French call centres to deal with electricity, water, phones, buildings insurance - and deal with plumbers, electricians, odd job people in French.

And they all see you as potentially a soft-target and try to rip you off, because you're foreign and don't know how things work in France.

RosendoHarris

Bonjour, si vous voulez embaucher une nouvelle femme de m!nage dans votre nouvelle maison, v!rifiez les ant!c!dents de votre emme de m!nage avant de l'embaucher, puis profitez de votre temps libre en lui permettant de s'occuper des tâches m!nagères.

Cakeguts

You are going to need to speak French. Plus depending on where it is you may need to spend quite a lot of money on it. Some parts of southern France get very cold in the winter so you will need to insulate the house including the floor.