Buying a house in France who doesn’t dream of it? Enjoying the beautiful weather, delicious French cuisine and wonderful culture. Before buying a house in France, it is important to know what you are getting into. Information plays an important role here. The process of buying is different from buying a house in the Netherlands. Of course, the seller can tell you all about this. In addition, in this country dossier you can read about some basic things you will encounter when you want to buy a holiday home.

France, a country as diverse as it is vast, offers a wealth of opportunities for anyone dreaming of a second home in an environment rich in culture, history, and natural beauty. From the rolling vineyards of Bordeaux to the glistening coastline of the Côte d’Azur, and from the rustic charm of Provence to the majestic Alps – France offers unlimited possibilities for epicureans, adventurers, and everyone in between.

Various purchase contracts

There are also estate agents/brokers, who are not members of any organisation and just get a standard purchase contract from the bookstore. Such a sales contract from the bookstore is applicable to all kinds of real estate (new construction, existing construction, building land, flats, etc.). In such a standard sales contract, provisions can then be ticked, which are applicable to the property and/or buyer in question.

Besides estate agents, notaries can also draw up their own contracts of sale. These standard contracts are usually strongly geared towards the seller and, to a lesser extent, the buyer. If the buyer has some additional conditions added to the purchase contract (possibly by a lawyer or legal advisor), he will be a lot stronger in the buying process.

The main legal difference when buying French real estate compared to the situation in the Netherlands is, that in the Netherlands, ownership only transfers after signing the authentic deed and transferring it in the land register.

Civil Code

In France, under the Code Civil (= French Civil Code), there is already a final sale-purchase as soon as both parties agree on the property and the price, after which, by this agreement, the ownership of the house passes to the buyer. A verbal agreement used to be sufficient, but in the complex legislation applicable to French real estate today, the following applies:

• Any agreement can only be proved if the agreement is in writing.
• The buyer must enter into the contract, under a resolutive financing condition, unless he waives it in writing (by means of a handwritten statement).
• Many French properties are subject to one or more pre-emptive rights. If preferential rights are attached to the property in question, they must first be exercised before the property can be transferred to the buyer;
• Change cooling-off period when buying a house in France. since 2001, the buyer had a statutory cooling-off period (delai de rétractation) of 7 calendar days (période de rétractation or période de réflexion). Buyer and seller first sign a Compromis de Vente (= abbreviated CSP = purchase contract). Due to the Loi Macron that came into force on 8 August 2015 (amending article L271 paragraph 1 of the Construction and Habitation Code), the cooling-off period has now been extended to 10 days. The period starts to run on the day the signed sales contract (usually the ‘Compromis de Vente’) is handed to the buyer. Only the buyer can invoke this period; the seller is immediately bound by signing the contract.
• The statutory cooling-off period has therefore become 10 days and these are calendar days (i.e. not working days, noting that if the 10th day is a Sunday or public holiday, the period is extended until the day that is no longer a Sunday or public holiday.

If the buyer and seller sign the compromise de vente at the notary’s office, the notary may hand a copy of the signed document to the buyer, with the latter signing a so-called récépissé, stating that the buyer has received a copy of the CSP from the hands of the notary. In that case, the signed compromise de vente no longer needs to be sent by registered post with proof of receipt to the parties involved.

Furthermore, the 10-day cooling-off period starts the following day. These forms of cooling-off period are referred to as délai de retractation. They follow an ‘avant contrat’. There is also the form where the French notary immediately sends a draft of the notarial deed, after which a so-called délai de réflection of 10 days starts to run. In these cases, there is no question of an ‘avant contrat’