Moving on

Having heard that our offer had been accepted, the next stage in the process is to sign the 'compromis de vente'. This is a preliminary contract which is a promise to buy / sell respectively. Once signed by the vendor it is immediately binding. The purchaser on the other hand has a seven day cooling off period. After that, if either party default, they have to pay the other party damages equal to 10% of the purchase price of the property. The cooling off period starts when the contract has been signed by all parties and the purchaser has received the signed contract by registered post.

The French have a very different approach to buying and selling property to the British. In the UK there is no contractual obligation until the final contracts are signed. It is also the 'norm' to have structural survey on any property that you are considering buying - indeed most banks require one. Not so in France. In France it is 'buyer beware'. Properties are sold as seen with few, if any, structural surveys being done prior to purchase. Further, you cannot get a formal mortgage offer until your bank has a copy of the signed 'compromis de vente'. As a consequence the 'compromis de vente' has to include a clause to the effect that if the mortgage application is unsuccessful then the buyer remains entitled to recover his deposit. Given our concerns about the roof, the electrics, the fosse septique (septic tank - few rural properties have mains drains) we thought it prudent to commission a surveyors report as soon as practical. Whilst we could include a clause regarding the mortgage (or absence of one) we cannot, apparently, include a clause on defects identified by a surveyor.

The surveyor completed the report within a week. Whilst not perfect the report was a lot better than we anticipated and so we happily signed the compromis - though not until we had spent an entire weekend translating the derned thing!