Any serious investment of your money and time needs to be addressed in a professional manner. For instance, one would never think to buy a property in the UK without engaging a solicitor. Yet it is remarkable how many British people do not think to do so when they buy property in France. Whilst the notaire is theoretically acting between, and for, both the vendor and the purchaser, in practice they cannot be considered truly independent, given that they are normally only paid when a transaction is successfully concluded. Furthermore, unless you find a notaire who speaks good English, or unless you have a good command of the French language and legal system, how can you be sure that the notaire understands the issues that are important to you, and is able to look after your interests properly? There are significant differences between the English and the French legal systems that can easily catch out those who are ill-prepared or ill-advised when they buy property in France.

In order to give yourself the best chance of working through the purchasing process with as little burden on yourself as possible, it is important to prepare the professionals you wish to engage in advance. Speak to a solicitor before you start your property search, then they will be able to respond more quickly to your needs when you have found a property and want to make progress to buy it. They will also be a useful line of defence against a pushy estate agent or a notaire. We receive many calls from potential clients who have been lured into signing a compromis de vente, perhaps in the last moments of a house-hunting trip, afraid they might miss the boat if they don't sign a contract before they leave. Many have been persuaded to do so on the basis that they can still withdraw from the contract within a seven-day 'cooling off period'. The reality is that rescinding a contract within that period will often create ill feeling and misunderstanding with the vendor, even if all you really want to do is to buy a little more time to get the contract and the property checked over by professionals.

The French attitude is that an offer should not be made until you are sure. Therefore, to sign the compromis and then to talk about sending in a surveyor to look at the property can make the vendor feel nervous. If you are lucky you will come across a vendor who is used to the British way of doing things and they will be happy to enter clauses into the compromis. Currently, the market has slowed a little, so purchasers are in a better bargaining position if they approach the situation in the right way. Usually though, the vendor will want a reasonably fixed agreement and the timescale and content of any clauses will not be too open-ended.
 
Any reasonable vendor or estate agent will understand that when you buy property in France you want your solicitor to look through the compromis before you sign it. In the time that this takes you should be able to engage a surveyor to inspect the property for you and to give you his report. Clearly, you do not want to incur the costs of engaging various professionals if you are uncertain about the property or do not feel confident in the vendor's commitment to sell. So you may well have reached a fairly advanced stage in your negotiations with the vendor, and be sure that you want to go ahead and buy the property, before you reach this stage. So do you really need a survey? The straightforward answer to this question may be gained by considering whether you would buy the property in question without a survey in the UK. Then ask yourself whether you are familiar with French construction techniques and practices, how much you understand of what the vendor or the agent/notaire is telling you about the property, and whether there are particular things that you have seen on your own inspection that you are unsure about.
 
If you do engage a surveyor, use one who is based in France (or at least specialises in French property surveys), who will have some local knowledge and understanding. Don't be afraid to ask for details of the surveyor's experience, qualifications, and professional insurance. There are some specific surveys, required by French law, which must be paid for by the vendor; but these do not amount to a full survey of the property and (importantly) do not address any of the main structural issues that commonly concern a purchaser. A diagnostic amiante (asbestos report) is obligatory and must be produced when the compromis de vente is being signed. In many areas a study must also be undertaken to establish whether lead is present in a building; and there is the état parasitaire, a report on whether the property has termites.

It may be helpful for your surveyor to have any such reports to hand – and they should be able and happy to translate and interpret them for you – although the inspection and report will normally cover such issues quite independently. Termites, whilst representing a serious problem if you have them, are less common than some purchasers might expect. Capricorn (House Longhorn beetle) is a more common problem, and can cause quite extensive damage in softwood, not always visible on the surface of the timber. However, the Capricorn beetle leaves a much larger flight hole than common furniture beetle, and can be readily recognised by that. What the surveyor looks at initially, in an inspection, is the structural soundness of the building. Access to the loft space so that the underside of the roof can be examined is very useful, and often it is easier for the surveyor to gain access than the prospective buyer. Surveyors also use binoculars to examine the outside of the roof. Many French houses have slate roofs, and the slates are fixed with an 's'-shaped crochet hook. The condition of these hooks can be observed, as well as the condition of the slates themselves. On modern roofs the slates are fixed with stainless steel hooks, but on older roofs one finds galvanised metal hooks that are often starting to corrode. What looks superficially like a sound roof may have such hidden (or less visible) defects, which a good surveyor will spot. The surveyor should also be able to advise you on the future economic life of the roof coverings as a result.

One issue that the French appear to be less concerned about than the British is rainwater disposal. It is common to find rainwater down-pipes fixed at the corners of a property discharging to the ground around the base of the walls, and causing minor settlement and cracking. This is more of a problem in areas where there is a significant annual rainfall. A very simple and inexpensive solution is to provide proper soakaways. Dampness in the main walls of a property varies from one building to another. Sometimes this can be exaggerated by the presence of cement rendering on the outside of the building, which whilst keeping the damp from entering the building, also prevents moisture such as rising damp from getting out (other than through the internal surface of the wall). The use of more traditional materials, and lime-based mortar on a solid stone wall, is to be strongly recommended. Problems with damp can also commonly be solved by a combination of improved rainwater disposal and land drainage outside the building, and dry-lining the inner surface of the external walls.  The French method of screwing (rather than nailing) plasterboard to aluminium (rather than timber) studwork gives a good, professional and lasting finish. Further to these areas, a surveyor should look at the electrical installation and the plumbing, as well as the foul drainage arrangements for the property.  Many of the properties I visit in rural areas do not fully comply with current regulations relating to foul drainage and the earthing of electrical installations.

Your surveyor should also be aware of French planning laws so that they can advise you as to the feasibility of any work you are proposing – whether that is simply changing the fenestration on an existing house or a major barn conversion. Stricter rules were introduced in 2000 to control the conversion of buildings in rural areas, principally to protect agricultural activities on neighbouring land and to safeguard the rural economy. I would normally advise the purchaser of a redundant farm building, for conversion to a house, to ensure that the property has a positive cetificat d'urbanisme for the change of use, before being committed to complete their purchase.  This can normally be done by adding a condition suspensive to the compromise de vente.

As a purchaser it is important to be clear what you want the surveyor to look at in terms of any specific requirements – whether, for example, you want to remove internal walls or enlarge external door openings. The surveyor should be able to advise you on the feasibility of such operations. It is only in exceptional and very rare circumstances that I might feel the need to advise a client not to proceed with a purchase – perhaps in circumstances where a property has been very badly renovated, and where disproportionate costs would be involved in putting things right.

Overall, it is important for the surveyor to approach each property from a positive point of view. I always assume that before instructing me, my clients have set their heart on buying the property; so they don't want to receive purely negative advice. If I do encounter defects or problems that
the client is not aware of, and always try to identify I try to recommend positive solutions – and they are usually there to be found, even if some renegotiation with the vendor is appropriate in terms of the costs that will be involved in implementing the works.

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The French health service
Mastering a French bank account
Starting a business in France

Article first published in January 2006