French Conveyancing & French Property
Our Approach
We ensure you fully understand each stage of the French conveyancing process and are kept fully informed of the progress on your purchase.
Our commitment is to provide you with entirely independent legal advice. We do not, as a matter of policy, make payments to third parties such as estate agents or mortgage brokers to introduce work to us thus ensuring our complete independence and commitment to you in the course of the transaction. If there is something wrong with the property or transaction we will tell you.
Our Fees
Our minimum fee for French standard residential transactions is £3,000. This minimum fee is applicable in purchases or sales up to and including €600,000. For purchases or sales between €600,000 and €2,000,000 our fee is approximately 0.5% of the purchase price. For these purchases and for higher value transactions, please contact us for a fee estimate. The fee excludes disbursements and is subject to our standard terms and conditions. Our fees are outside the scope of UK VAT so there will be no VAT to pay on them.
If the following matters arise an additional fee will apply; see below:
Meeting re power of attorney or contract | from £250 |
Swimming pool | from £250 |
Septic tank | from £250 |
Chattels (large number/over 5%) | from £350 |
Copropriété | from £350 |
Easements | from £350 |
Tenants or occupants in property | from £350 |
Capital gains on sales | £1,000 |
Loi Littoral (seashore rights) | £1,000 |
Loi Montagne (restrictions in the mountains) | £1,000 |
New build/Substantial building works | £1,000 |
SAFER/Agricultural land/zone | £1,000 |
Estate agent mandate (negotiation) | £1,500 |
Off Plan | £1,500 |
Visiting the property | To be advised |
Transaction in Sterling | To be advised |
For non-standard transactions such as development work and those with a commercial element we will provide a written estimate on request once we have full details. Advice on tax aspects is dealt with by a specialist French tax team and is at an additional cost.
We do not routinely visit the properties being sold or purchased, although we can do so at additional cost (see above). We cannot be held responsible for any matters which would have been identifiable had we inspected the property where we have not been instructed to visit the property prior to completion.