COMPASS IMMOBILIER: Purchasing French Property - completion

Stage 4:

Completion

In France, completion occurs by the signing of a deed (acte authentique). The signing of the acte authentique will be witnessed by the notaire. The acte should contain full information about the purchasing parties, the property, title to the property, declarations for the taxation authorities and the results of the various checks, searches and reports. It should also contain details of how the purchasers will own the property between them.

All parties should be present at the signing. If one party cannot be present then a power of attorney (procuration) will have to be drafted. The signing and witnessing of this document can be subject to particular rules and the exact requirements will depend upon the precise circumstances. For example, it may be necessary to sign the procuration in front of a lawyer in the home country and then have it legalised by the insertion of what is known as an ‘apostille’.

Usually possession of the property is taken immediately after the acte has been signed and witnessed. This may not be the case if the property is rented out (on this point, particular care should be taken as tenants have extensive rights in France about which a purchaser should be fully aware before taking them on) or if it is the purchase of a new development of which the construction is still ongoing.

If the taking of possession is delayed for a reason such as to allow time for clearance of the property, it is possible to include a clause in the deed specifying a deadline for the handover of possession, with a sum withheld from the vendor until this is complied with and a daily penalty if the deadline is exceeded (known as a clause d’astreinte).

Payment of the purchase price and all the fees (minus any deposit that has already been paid) will be required in cleared funds before completion can occur. You should thus ensure that the payment is made in a timely fashion in a means acceptable to the notaire (often a direct bank transfer is the safest form of making the payment). Attention should be paid to the fact that delays can occur when transferring money to a notaire due to anti-money laundering regulations and you should preferably allow in the region of up to 5 working days to be certain that there is sufficient time for the funds to clear.

It is highly advisable to view the property prior to the completion to ensure that the vendor has respected his obligation to clear the property of furniture (unless it has been agreed otherwise), has not made any alterations to the property that were not agreed upon and generally to check that the property has not been damaged since the initial viewing. Also, you can ensure that any items that it was agreed should remain are still in the property. This is one way of safeguarding yourself against being the victim of one of the horror stories that many of us have heard about as immediate action can be taken in the event that the vendor has breached his or her obligations (for example by using a clause d’astreinte).

Copyright All Rights Reserved Victoria Headdon, Compass Immobilier