How To Buy A House In France - Tips For Safe French House Buying

The French property market has risen in recent years but still offers many bargains. Whether purely for investment, for a holiday home or as a permanent move, many people are looking to buy a house in France.

As an Englishman living in France I would recommend it to anyone. There's plenty of space, beautiful countryside, good food and wine, one of the best health services in the world, good education... I could go on and on.

However, the French property market is a minefield. With many foreign born nationals moving into France each year (100,000 in 2006) there are a huge number of non-French estate agents and property consultants. Some of them are very good. Unfortunately there are many who are not, and some who are operating illegally.

On top of that you have the actual French property buying process that can confuse even if you speak good French. If your grasp of the language isn't all it could be you can easily find yourself out of your depth. I'm not suggesting people will mislead you but when you're talking about the sums of money necessary to buy even a cheap French house you have to accept that some people might want to gloss over little faults here and there. If you don't know exactly what's going on, you could find yourself seriously out of pocket.

For example, many rural properties are not on mains drainage and never will be. They should have a septic tank ("fosse septique" in French). In the old days these were often little more than big pits dug in the ground but nowadays they have to conform to strict regulations.

The thing is there are hundreds of thousands of properties in France that have not yet upgraded to comply with the new rules. It's not really a problem as there are five years or more before they all have to be changed. However, if you buy a house in France and it has an old-style septic tank you will eventually have to replace it and that's going to cost you upwards of six thousand Euros.

It's just that sort of titbit of information that might get overlooked. Someone might tell you the house has a working "fosse septique" and that might be true, but does it comply or are you going to be left to foot the bill?

There are many other things to consider. When you consider how to buy a house in France you need to find out about the actual steps you need to take. Are you going to use an agent from your country of origin? How do you know that they're acting legally? What certification do they need? What happens when you actually say "yes" to the house you want? What about a survey? Are there any other things you should know?

I know from my own experience that the process is quite different from buying a house in the UK. I know from what friends have said that it's also quite different from that of the USA and of the Netherlands. It stands to reason the same will be true wherever you're from.

So when you're considering how to buy a house in France make sure it's not just finding the property that you find out about. Do some research on the legal necessities and make sure you understand who needs to do what and when. It's a bit of a minefield for the unwary but, fortunately, quite a straight-forward set of steps when you know what to expect.

Jeff Seems is an Englishman living in France. He is author of The French Property Buyer's Guide which is vital reading for anyone wanting to buy a house in France.