• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content

Best French Mortgage

+44 (0) 207 205 2511

  • Home
  • About Mortgages
    • Mortgage Types
      • Second Home Mortgages
      • Buy To Let Mortgages
      • Renovation Mortgages
      • Refinance Mortgages
      • Leaseback Mortgages
      • Home Business Mortgages
      • SCI Mortgages
      • Business Mortgages
      • French Rent To Buy
    • Mortgage Products
      • Repayment Mortgage
      • Interest Only Mortgage
      • Hybrid Mortgage
      • Buy to Let Mortgage
      • Renovation Mortgage
      • Equity Release Mortgage
      • Business Mortgage
  • Mortgage Rates
    • Mortgage Quote
    • Mortgage Calculator
  • Property Finder Service
  • Advice
    • Advice on French Mortgages
    • Key Steps To Getting A French Mortgage
    • Frequently Asked Questions
    • Ten Must Knows
    • COVID-19 French Mortgage Holiday
    • How Much Should I Pay For My French House
    • Property Insurance
    • French Property Legal Advice
    • French Property Survey
    • Foreign Exchange
    • Foreign Exchange Planning
    • Viager Investment
    • Viager Sales
    • Yacht Leasing
    • Consumer Guide
    • How to Choose a Broker
    • Our Customer Charter
  • Knowledge Base
    • KB Search
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms & conditions
    • About Best French Mortgage
    • Press
    • Sitemap
  • Contact

French Property Legal Advice

Home » French Mortgage Advice » French Property Legal Advice

French property legal advice will always be provided by your Notaire. However, if your French is not good and you are not familiar with French legislation regulating French property transactions you may find it helpful to use an English speaking law firm familiar with French property law.

French property law is fairly straightforward and very well regulated so you should not expect to encounter any difficulties with your purchase. In our experience, going back to 2004, the three most common, albeit very infrequent, problems arise from bad practice or lack of due diligence on the part of the estate agent. They are:

  1.  Estate agents attempting to sell properties for which they have no seller’s mandat. This is illegal in all circumstances.
  2. Estate agents attempting to retain the purchase deposits of buyers who have exercised their right to withdraw from the purchase transaction. This is sharp practice and is most common where the agent does not hold a French Carte Professional but is a commission only sales agent.
  3. A badly drafted Compromis de Vente which gives rise to eventual ambiguity over what is and what is not included in the property sale.

French Property Legal Advice

When buying a French property using a French mortgage there are some specific areas of French property legal advice where it may be wise to look for help.

Purchase of French Residential Property

Whatever type of property you buy (villa, apartment, barn to renovate or off plan construction) you will eventually be asked to sign a purchase agreement (compromis de vente) later followed by the completion contract (acte). Both are substantial documents, both in size and import, and it is vital that you understand what you are signing because you will be putting a considerable sum of money at risk. If you have any doubts as to the detailed significance of the documents you are being asked to sign we would recommend you seek professional guidance.

Transfer of ownership

Property transfer, where the property is held on a French mortgage, can be surprisingly difficult. The difficulties typically arise from one of two causes, a reluctance on the part of the bank to release the outgoing borrower and unexpected tax implications of the transfer. If you are not entirely sure of the law surrounding the transfer of ownership we would recommend that you seek French property legal advice at an early stage.

Other Matters

Though the above sections cover the majority of the French law you will need to consider in the context of a French mortgage product, there will be many areas where French property legal advice may be needed. Examples include, French Wills, Estate Planning, Disputes, Litigation, Debt Recovery and Probate. If you are not domiciled in France or if you are unfamiliar with French law seeking impartial expert advice may save you time and money.

Manage Cookie Consent
We use cookies to optimise our website and our service.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}