We have a mortgage
We finally heard from the bank today - our mortgage has been approved! So we opened a bottle of wine last night - to celebrate getting into debt!
Still no news on whether the other vendor has signed. The notaire is going to email them again. But if the notaire doesn't know that means that she hasn't received the contract - which means it will be at least another week before we receive it! We are just hoping now that the vendors haven't had a change of heart.
We need to arrange a meeting with the notaire before we sign the 'Acte de Vente' (final contract) to sort out wills, inheritance tax and things like that. Talking about dying and wills seems a little depressing but France has very different inheritance tax rules to the UK. In the UK property is normally held by a married couple in a 'joint tenancy' arrangement so that each spouse has 'joint and several ownership'. Basically this means that if I die the house will be automatically be owned by my husband. The same applies to UK bank accounts held by husband and wife. It is possible to change the ownership to a 'tenancy in common' so that each spouse owns 50% of the house. On the death of one of the spouses, their 50% then doesn't pass to the spouse but can be left directly to any children. This is a common method of inheritance tax planning in the UK. 'Au contraire en France' property is subjected to French inheritance tax as though it were held as a tenancy in common. There are also protected rights for children, parents and remoter family members. The spouse, by right, receives very little and has to pay inheritance on the death of their partner. Preference is given to blood relatives which can cause some undesirable results and a nasty shock when the tax bill arrives.
There are several ways around this and this is why we need to meet with the notaire to discuss our options. We had hoped to visit at Easter, spend some time at the house, visit the notaire and get some 'devis' (quotes) for the work we need to have done on the 'toiture' (roof). However, all this is now on hold as son and heir has SATs after Easter and so needs to be revising not messing about in the Auvezère River. So looks like a visit after Easter instead.
So back to the wine and celebrating our debt - 'Cul sec!' (Bottoms up!)
Still no news on whether the other vendor has signed. The notaire is going to email them again. But if the notaire doesn't know that means that she hasn't received the contract - which means it will be at least another week before we receive it! We are just hoping now that the vendors haven't had a change of heart.
We need to arrange a meeting with the notaire before we sign the 'Acte de Vente' (final contract) to sort out wills, inheritance tax and things like that. Talking about dying and wills seems a little depressing but France has very different inheritance tax rules to the UK. In the UK property is normally held by a married couple in a 'joint tenancy' arrangement so that each spouse has 'joint and several ownership'. Basically this means that if I die the house will be automatically be owned by my husband. The same applies to UK bank accounts held by husband and wife. It is possible to change the ownership to a 'tenancy in common' so that each spouse owns 50% of the house. On the death of one of the spouses, their 50% then doesn't pass to the spouse but can be left directly to any children. This is a common method of inheritance tax planning in the UK. 'Au contraire en France' property is subjected to French inheritance tax as though it were held as a tenancy in common. There are also protected rights for children, parents and remoter family members. The spouse, by right, receives very little and has to pay inheritance on the death of their partner. Preference is given to blood relatives which can cause some undesirable results and a nasty shock when the tax bill arrives.
There are several ways around this and this is why we need to meet with the notaire to discuss our options. We had hoped to visit at Easter, spend some time at the house, visit the notaire and get some 'devis' (quotes) for the work we need to have done on the 'toiture' (roof). However, all this is now on hold as son and heir has SATs after Easter and so needs to be revising not messing about in the Auvezère River. So looks like a visit after Easter instead.
So back to the wine and celebrating our debt - 'Cul sec!' (Bottoms up!)
posted by Me at
10:26 am
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