Selling our house, having renovated it over the last two years, to go back to UK. Can anybody please tell me what costs/fees are involved when selling in France?
Is one still liable for CGT if it is your primary residence, but you pay taxes in the UK?
Hi Bridget,
Looks like you've got lots of good advice already - but I'd like to offer you a discount to try our advertising service... I work for a French property portal called French Property Links - our private advertising service publishes your property both on our UK site and our French site (we do the translation for you) - that way you get the best of both worlds. You can have 100 supersized photos and if at the end of the advertising period you haven't sold you can get your money back (subject to terms). The advertising fee is £54.99 for 6 months - but to encourage SFN clients to give it a try I've organised a voucher code that will discount this by 25% - reducing the fee to £41.24. Just type in SFN in the Voucher code field at the bottom of the page when entering your property details. This code is set up to last until 31st December 2013 and is for Premier Adverts only (there is a standard advert but this doesn't allow photos). Hope this helps and good luck.
Link for further details:
http://www.frenchpropertylinks.com/sellyourfrenchproperty.htm
David
My two bits is try and sell your property yourself directly. French agents I have found greedy (4-6%) for very little effort. Because they are never assured of having an exclusivity with you, nor do they generally ask for exclusivity, they are not inclined to invest much into marketing efforts. Photography, in general, I have found of very inferior quality and insufficient in showing the best parts of your property.
There are several great websites around, UK ones (Rightmoves) and French ones (we tried "Le Bon coin" successfully) where you upload 10 nice photographs and a nice description.
Advertise for the "full market price" incl agent's commission, and this leaves you a good platform to negotiate with the prospective buyer. That's what we've done and wouldn't dream of doing any other way. Good luck.
When you are selling, your notaire will not charge you anything, as he's sharing the buyer's costs with the other notaire.
They had a mortgage offer in place Tony…we are old hands at this now and have instructed that we will only deal with clients who are cash buyers or have organised a mortgage. The mortgage offer was withdrawn when the bank learned of the clients previous health problems. We have now insisted on a change with this issue as well…to state that any deposit paid, will not be repaid if the mortgage offer is withdrawn…just to concentrate the mind of anyone considering buying.
After a long day on the phone and at the computer I'm beginning to make progress.
Viewings set up for next Tuesday afternoon so far, contact with agents, and a list of suggestions to sift through.
Sadly our freinds only have dial up and that it seems isn't reliable so it's nose to the laptop & work until we board the ferry on Wednesday evening.
Also try www.greenacres.com for selling your house on the net without paying agents’ fees. We sold successfully on greenacres. They let you post your own pictures and do a good translation of your sales pitch into a number of languages
that is 23%...wow
This will only have happened if there was a 'clause suspensive' in the contract which made completion of the contract dependent upon the buyer being able to get a mortgage...this is not uncommon and should have been explained to you by the notaire when you signed it
Hi... it should never be difficult to buy property in the deux sevres.... there is plenty for sale and it's reasonably priced. In www.thedeuxsevresmonthly.fr you will find French and English speaking agents as well as private properties for sale. Bon Courage!
I found that quite extraordinary! I think you must have chosen houses belonging to people who live in UK, perhaps. One of our immos phoned on Saturday pm, last week for a visit the next day. Good to see that some people do plan in advance and at least try to be helpful and courteous!
Dont want to upset you Tony…but we had a Promesse…signed…and when the mortgage providing the mortgage for our buyers learned she had suffered cancer within the last 8 years…they withdrew. We didnt think that was possible…but if the mortgage company send a letter to the Notaire explaining why, then the sale can still be halted…and in those circumstances, the deposit has to be returned.
Hi Alan,
That is unbelieveable!
I suggest you try Kim Cowells from Allez-Francais who is based in Deux Sevres - you can contact her on 00 33 (0)5 49 27 01 22 or by e-mail at kim@allez-francais.com
Speaking as a potential buyer we have been trying to arrange viewings for a trip starting on Wednesday. I began a couple of weeks ago thinking 2/3 weeks notice was a reasonable time frame to arrange viewings. From a shortlist of about 12 properties guess how many viewing we have managed to arrange? We'll be on the ferry Wednesday and so far it's a big fat ZERO!
Anybody out there in Deaux Sevres close to 79160; we're looking for a property with ground floor living, may have guestrooms on upper floors, village or country mature garden, space for a pool. Structurally in good shape not averse to some additions, changes, refreshments etc. Our house in UK is on the market and we'll be in 79160 from Thursday for just over 2 weeks. Get in touch if you have something.
As far as i'm aware and unless the rules have changed since the '90s, there is no penalty paid in the event of either party pulling out unless there is a penalty clause included in the Compromis de Vente where both parties are in agreement with this clause. It is usually independant of the Clauses Suspensive and is usually put under the heading of something like "Versement De L'Acquereur Au Compte Etude" and can be any sum both parties are happy with, usually betweeen 5 & 10 % of the sale price.
Yes Tony, the Scottish system seeems a lot fairer - here is a link which may explain the system more clearly
http://www.primelocation.com/guides/legal-and-surveying/guide-to-buying-property-in-scotland/
If a condition of the compromis is not met then clearly there is reason to re-negotiate the purchase or sale price - this is not gazundering since there is a justifiable cause for doing so. In fact this proves that the french system works correctly I believe, since the clauses of the Compromis de Vente protected the parties and ensured fair play when the conditions had changed.
For sure, the legal process are so slow that nobody really has time to take that route, but if the sale fell through because of a condition not being met, then the deposit would (should) have been returned without any problems.
I fear you may have to buy a bike and clogs, and learn to love windmills and daffodils ! lol
Not entirely wrong..... the buyers stated that one of the many clauses in the compromis was not met.... but they would buy based on the reduced price. If that's not gazundering then I'm a Dutchman.
In real life who has the time and resources for a court case? The deposit does not automatically go to the injured party so practically you are gazundered.
I've been following this discussion with interest. Even within the small SFN community, people have had different experiences. In my view everything is relevant.
I'm afraid that you are entirely wrong Kwashi - the French system protects against guzumping by establishing the price and terms of the contract with the Compromis de Vente, which is a legally binding document. The only way in which the terms or price can be changed is if a condition of the Compromis has not been achieved. I suspect you have only heard part of the story!
If the conditions of the Compromis are not achieved then both parties walk away from the deal with no loss and the full return of the deposit (assuming it was not the proven fault of either party of course) - in this event the Agent receives nothing for the work that has been done!
I don't mean to disrupt the love-in with the French system but it is prone to gazundering. Friends of mine were so close to a sale and the propspectives had even moved some possessions in. On the day of the sale the buyers said they were only prepared to pay 60% of the agreed price. The transaction fell through and the only compensation my friends received was a few euros for storage.
In the event of a buyer refusing to complete the penalty is not the Deposit per se, but is in fact 10% of the net vendeur price, plus usually the Agency fees and any cost incurred by the Notaire. This also works in the opposite sense should a vendor retract from the sale. Most Agencies or Notaires will take a deposit of around 10% to show commitment, and also to have something in the event that the buyer does a runner!
It is worth noting that this is not an automatic penalty though - the other party has to agree to it, with the alternative being an insistence that the transaction proceeds as planned, if necessary with the backing of the courts ( a very long, slow and expensive process!)