Coast and Country in France

If you buy your home for a great view, a quite neighbourhood or for local services, nice neighbours or low taxes - guess what will happen next !

I read somewhere, “The only thing certain in life is change” (Google says it was Confucius, but he didn’t speak English - please mail me if you know who it was).

France is not a country with a “compensation culture” - the quote “All for one and one for all” comes from Dumas ( I am pretty sure about that) and the Rights Of Man are engraved in stone “literally” in many public places in France.

However, here is a mail exchange I had today ….

Dear Tony,

Just a shot in the dark; short and to the point.

I have a house at La Napoule nr Mandelieu, a very small residence privee.
Last year a development started around our lovely little lake which has now
turned into a huge holiday home, hotel complex which has completely ruined
the location of our homes.

I am not permanently resident and could not prod my French neighbours into
action but do feel we should have some compensation from the development
company for loss of value of our properties.  The French don’t think we
will lose out BUT WE WILL.

Please do you know of any groups who have been successful in cases of this
type. I am sure the developers are laughing as it is obvious that any one
in our situation should have made a stand and claimed.  We have a
management company, Foncia Azur. They did send us a copy photo of the
mock-up which didn’t indicate the full horror of it at all.   Seems they
were warned of it in advance. But, that was the end of their involvement.

Yours sincerely,

Jo

==

Dear Jo,

You have pinpointed a feature of life in France which clearly illustrates some basic cultural differences. I always tell people looking to buy a home in France, “There is only one thing you can do with a great view - and that is to lose it”.

Short and to the point answer - there is no compensation for the loss of a view or the blighting of a property. It is one of the reasons that motorways, railways, a by-pass, a nuclear reactor or a sewage farm can be built with simple planning permission. No committees or appeals - no compensation.

If a resource, building development or any construction is considered “in the public interest” (a cynic may suggest in the local landowners, mayors or investors “interests”) or for the National good - then anyone complaining would be considered as being unpatriotic and against the interests of the people of France.

In your area tourism is very much in the “interests of the people of France” so just about anything which increases tourist revenue is acceptable.

The developer, I assume, has full planning approval for the development and providing the regulations relating to noise are not broken, then I do not believe there is anything you can demand from them.

Your French neighbours may actually be surprised at your thinking that the value of your property will be affected. A home for a French person starts at the inside of their (usually high and impenetrable) front gate and their properties are usually surrounded by dense hedges plus secure wire fences. Being in sight of (and seen from) a motorway is actually considered a good feature by many people.

I do not know of anyone who has claimed for the loss of a resource you are describing. I doubt if the developers considered they were making any difference to the locality or your management company was concerned that owners would be affected or even interested.

However, I will publish this story and ask if any other readers have any experience, insight or success with this sort of planning problem.

Does the complex have a nice restaurant or club facilities you could use, gym, golf, tennis or something which is a positive aspect for this disruption?

Best wishes

Tony

Building in France, coast country france, French, French life, fruk, Investment, life, Personal Blog, Property in France, Property Values, Real Estate

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Many people buying proeprty in France will need to change currency and buy euro. With fluctuations in sterling, dollars, Australian dollars, South African Rand and the host of other currencies, buying a property for several hundred thousand euro can be expensive enough with fees and taxes without the banks clipping a little off the edge of the currency as well.

I am not a fan of banks - in fact I have an acute distrust of the rascals, the currency exchange rates they offer are disgraceful. We don’t even have a bank account anymore and use the French Post Office service. You will always get a better deal from specialists.

But you do need to look around and compare rates - I have made a page at www.nizas.com/currency With two independant currency dealers on which I have had very good reports from - if you use them please let me know as we do get a small commission and I will share this with you, or buy you a dinner, case of wine or something nice for your new home.

buying a property, change currency, currency exchange, currency dealers, currency exchange rates, euro, finance, French life, Investment, Personal, Real Estate

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If you are purchasing a property in France with a hectare or more of land, then the purchase will be brought to the attention of SAFER http://www.safer.fr/ (The Société d’Amenagément Foncier et d’Establissement Rural) by the Notaire.

This can cause problems you did not expect and you must get all matters clearly sorted, (by your honest and clever estate-agent) in writing, before you sign.

Here is an email I received today.

===

Hello ,

I own a property in the Languedoc Roussillon area which I bought 6 years ago. I bought some agricultural land around it 3 years later on the understanding that it was deemed “extension of garden” and that I could, within reason, do what I liked with it. This was reflected in the the fact that the land was being parcelled off by the environmental agency “SAFER” at a cost to me of twice as much per hectare as the cost to my farmer neighbour.

I have recently been trying, with the help of my avocat, who says I am completely in the right, to get my neighbour to stop tresspassing on my land so that I can put up a fence and gate on the edge of the property. He crosses my land with his farming equipment and lorries at the point of entrance on my property due to a ‘right of way’ clause that was added to my land purchase contract at the last moment. However, as soon as it was known that I was willing to go to a tribunal to make everything official I was contacted by SAFER who basically threatened to make my life ‘extremely difficult’ if I pursue the case.

In the smallprint of my sale document, SAFER have stipulated that in order to qualify to keep the ‘garden extension’ (as it was described verbally) I would need to register as a full time farmer and pay the annual ‘cotisation’ as a farmer. At the time of purchase my french partner was planning to plant cranberries so this wouldn’t have been a problem, but he subsequently left me with this legal connundrum whereby I face a heavy fine if I do not register as a farmer and start farming full time (I am an artist in reality with two children to look after), or face possibly losing the land.

According to my Avocat I would be hard pressed to prove any scullduggery but although I would be entitled to pursue an action through a tribunal to get my neighbour off my land, in his opinion I would be risking nasty retribution on the party of la SAFER, including compulsory purchase of my land.

The case IS complicated and I have tried to give you the briefest of details here.

Can you help or advise? Red tape and sheer fear seem to be the order of the day here.

If nothing else perhaps some of your readers could learn from my experience.

With very best wishes,

Amanda

===

Hello Amanda,

The main function of SAFER (The Société d’Amenagément Foncier et d’Establissement Rural) is to consolidate the fragmented structure of farming land in France and they do have a lot of special powers to force sales, access and overrule rights which could obstruct efficient farming.

The job of this agency is to decide whether agricultural land should remain in agricultural use. In practice, it rarely exercises this right, but the notaire (a French lawyer who will hand the conveyancing of the property sale) is under an obligation to notify SAFER to give it the opportunity to object to any sale of substantial agricultural property.

SAFER has up to two months following completion of the contract to announce if it wishes to exercise its right. It it does so, then any agreement is null and void.

http://www.safer.fr/ SAFER in France

http://www.saferlr.com/ SAFER in Languedoc Roussillon

The main function of the Notaire is to ensure that taxes are paid on property transactions and that what is presented to them is correct, strictly speaking they do not act in any one persons interest.

The main function of Mayors and officials is to get re-elected and safeguard their powers and pensions.

Add to this the facts that you are in a predominately farming community/region/country, that all power corrupts and that we are “strangers in a strange land”.

Thank you for the suggestion that this could be a warning to others. I would add to this that buying property in France is very much a case of “Caveat Emptor” - you must scrutinise and understand all implications in all documents before you sign them and you must understand all the implied legal obligations and rights.

There is no legal tradition of precedent in France - only of deposition. This means that if it ain’t written down, it don’t exist - unless of course it does (is written down) somewhere else and it is then your problem to find this out first and get the answer written down.

My gut reaction is to fight the rascals, go to the tribunal and then demand arbitration - experience tells me to roll over and die.

Life gets tedious, don’t it?

Bonne Chance

Tony

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Building in France, coast country france, france, Investment, land, land purchase, Languedoc, Personal, property, property in france, purchase contract, Real Estate, real estate agency, safer

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We are working on a service to compare currency exchange dealers and hope to be able to offer the best deal of the moment. The start of this is already online at www.Nizas.com/currency Although these companies are all very close together for their exchange rates, they are in competition and you can do deals, especially if you are buying big lumps of money.

I have also found that at different times, some are giving slightly better rates than others - OK a few points is not a whole pile of beans, but multiplied by a couple of hundred thousand and it can be the price of a (very) small car, of a fantastic celebration dinner for your new home.

I have put a regular newsletter from one of these services on at Forex April 2007 and will try to get a good inter-active service working very soon.

French life, Investment, Personal Blog, Real Estate

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As a fan of the music of Ian Dury I could not resist this name for my new blog of the life of an estate agent in France. I have a name for a website about France and the UK which I think is suitable Fruk.eu It wasn’t until someone spoke the name to me that I realised that it could be “misheard”, but I am sure no one else will make the same mistake.

So if you have an idle moment and would like to find out what the life of a British estate agent in France is like on a daily basis, tune in to Fruk.eu - going live next week.

coast country france, French life, Personal Blog, Real Estate

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Getting a builder to finish a job or repair damage is a common complaint - here is an exchange of mails this week and my notes about what to do if you want to take legal action.

=======

Hi
I don’t know if you can help but I will ask anyway! We have a house in the Charente and had a pool installed in 2004. To cut a long story short, the slabs around the pool have lifted and the skimmer has been damaged by this.

We called the builder (French) back in and he agreed to fix the faults under his insurance/warranty. This was back in Sept.

Despite several requests/letters he does not respond and we would like the work done before the rental season starts.

Would would you recommend if any our next plan of attack is. I don’t know if like the UK we can threaten to take him to court, I really don’t know how to proceed!!

Any help or advice or recommendation you can give would be very much appreciated!
Kind regards
Dawn

===

Hi Dawn,

If you have a correct invoice for this work and have paid by cheque, then you can register an action at your local Palais de Justice - the people at the reception should be able to help you and advise what to do, my personal experience with talking directly to these sort of services very positive.

First make at least one more demand to him, in writing and by registered letter in France requesting that this work is done. Point out that this must be done in time for the rentals or you will be demanding compensation, damages and full repairs if necessary by another macon.

Once you have a hearing set for the tribunal, it may be useful to see if the arbitration service can assist - I have found them very positive and helpful and they have avoided long delays and expenses - their aim is to reduce work on the courts so this can get things moving

Please let me know how you get on of if you need help determining what the invoices you have mean.

best wishes

Tony

===

Hi Tony
Thanks for the advice, I will send another letter and see how I get on! Will keep you posted!
Kindest regards
Dawn

===

Hi Dawn,

Make sure is is “lettre commande” , written in French and sent and receipted in France

Bonne Chance

Tony

===

Hi Tony
Sorry what do you mean, should I put that at the top of the letter like we would with “without prejudice” or on the envelope?

It will have to be sent via royal mail international recorded mail as the house is our second home, writing it in French isn’t a problem as we have a translation package.

Again, thank you so much for your help and advice, it is appreciated!
Kind regards
Dawn

===

Hi Dawn,

To get any result you really need to do everything in France - as the builder knows you are in the UK I doubt he will be at all concerned about letters or threats of legal action as he knows the complexity in France and the precise way things have to be done. The wording on any mail must be exact and a translation package is not likely to be much use unless you know the correct wording in the first place - you really need to go to the court and get help in filling in the depositions or make a plaint.

How much is the damage/compensation worth? Unless you are here in France and taking positive action, any threat to sue will be most likely ignored. The cost of you getting someone to do this will be at least 1000 euro.

Help is available through the government sites online such as

http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/

http://www.service-public.fr/

I suggest you find a way to get a correctly structured letter, in correct legal French, to the builder demanding that the damage be repaired and warning that any delay will give grounds for damages - get it sent from France by Lettre Commande - the proof of sending to the correct address is all that is needed for you then to be able to take an action - other methods of mailing, I believe, will require proof of delivery, builders are very good at not accepting these so the mail could be invalid. In France you only require proof of sending the mail (from France).

The important thing is to get the pool fixed for rentals so demanding that repairs are done immediately and that you will have to get another builder if it is not repaired very soon, pointing out he will be liable for these costs and any losses may help.

Do let me know how you get on.

Tony

Building in France, French life, Personal Blog, Real Estate

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For a couple of years, from 2003, there was a strong market for Leaseback properties, money was very cheap to borrow and a property could just about finance itself from the guaranteed rentals.

However, as I often say in these blogs, leasebacks should only be considered as an investment, like a bond, they can give an assured return on you capital - they are not a way of having a free holiday home and potential capital gains will not be the same as other types of property purchase.

There are still some excellent leaseback deals and finance can be arranged at attractive rates in France.

But for a real second home in France you should consider investing in an unencumbered property, this needs a lot of skill, advice and research and this is where I can help.

===

Hi Tony,

I’m not sure if you covered this in earlier emails but can you recommend a good letting agency?

I’m interested in buying a holiday home in the Languedoc-Roussillon area, I thought about leasebacks but as I have two children there seems to be little scope for occupancy during the school holidays with leasebacks.

So I’m looking at the option of buying with the idea of getting a good letting agency for the unoccupied months.

Thanks,
John

===

Hello John,

There are three main points here…

1. Finding a property which is suitable for you and viable for letting in periods when you will not be using it yourself (out of school holidays)

2. Having a local management company able to clean, supervise and let rental clients in, hold keys etc.

3. Having a marketing service to get you bookings.

It is very rare that one agency can do all three of these specialist services successfully.

I have written about all these points in previous newsletters and blogs and I have been directly involved in the development of Internet services for these points since 1996 when we pioneered rentals advertising sites in France, I have a lot of experience in renting vacation properties in Languedoc

==

In response to the above points.

1. I can certainly help you find a suitable property - I am a licensed estate-agent in France, the manager of the Coast and Country agency in Languedoc and we work with all reputable agents here. Please let me know…

* What size of property you are looking for - how many bedrooms/bathrooms etc ?
* What budget do you have - do you require finance ?
* Your preferred location - near beaches - countryside - town center - activities or peaceful etc ?
* What style of property are you looking for - traditional stone town house, modern villa or a country property

2. The people cleaning and looking after your property must be local and must be legal, insured and reliable - I do know some excellent teams offering these services (and many bad ones). It depends on the area whether I can help with this.

3. Getting bookings - this will depend on where you buy a property - the location is critical, a remote country cottage can get good summer bookings, but will have a shorter season than a popular resort of town property. Generally the nearer the sea the longer the season. Getting bookings is very competitive now, we have seen big changes in the last ten years as more properties come onto the rentals market. Foe example, the market for a village house is over-supplied and where we would have expected from 15 to 20 weeks rental in 1999 you would now be lucky to get 6 weeks. Villas with pools are in demand for the summer season, but are getting much harder to let from October to May.

Our skills are in Internet marketing and we can certainly assist and advise you on this, we have many special advertising offers through our ability to negotiate large volumes of properties with the leading rental sites.

Please give me some more information and I can give you some ideas about costs, investment and the returns you should be looking for.

I look forward to hearing from you

Sincerely

Tony

Fractional Ownership, Investment, Personal Blog, Property rentals, Real Estate

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There are two main problems in searching for a property for sale in France.

- The first is that there is no Multi Listing System between estate agencies, so to have a chance of finding even a quarter of the properties on offer in any area you have to search through thousands of listings from hundreds of agencies in any small region.
- The second problem is that a large percentage (possibly half) of all properties sold are not through estate-agents but are sold direct by owners. This always was the traditional way to sell your home in France.

Some websites are only for a “for sale by owner” service and many are very rude about agencies, I found this comment on a site today - (Mesdames et Messieurs les agents immobiliers, nos annonceurs ont choisi de traiter entre particuliers. Soyez donc aimable de ne pas gaspiller votre temps et votre énergie en les importunant inutilement. Soyez-en remerciés par avance.) - in other words “b** off if you are an agent”.

By the very nature of the Internet, with no central listing service and owners putting many adverts on free and paid advertising sites, this often means that the information available is out-of-date and inaccurate.

A whole industry of “property finders” has sprung up, for a fee or for a commission individuals will offer their services to “find” you a property. Often working outside of the laws of France, these “finders” look through the lists of local agents and act as aggregators for you, if you buy they will share the commission from the agent. They are tolerated by some licensed agents, who pay colossal taxes and insurances, as they do bring in a little extra business, but by creating yet more listing permutations they are making your search for a property more complex.

Because there is no effective multi listing service in France, this means that every registered agent will seek a mandat (an agreement with an owner) to sell the property - most owners will grant a mandat to any agent who asks and this can mean dozens of agencies all selling the same properties - in reality most owners will work with five or six agencies. However as agents do not want to get their “stock” of properties too diluted, this means that they will not show a photo of the front of the property or in most cases even advertise which town or village a property is in, lest competitor agencies will find the property and ask for another mandat.

All this makes it very difficult for a buyer, firstly to even know where the property is or what it looks like (pretty basic and vitally important information) - it also means a prospective buyer spends countless hours looking through details and finding the same property described in different ways and at different prices, yet none of these descriptions will say what the property looks like or where it is.

The prices vary because agents will add different commissions (typically from four percent to ten percent) - owners will also increase or reduce prices and not tell all the agents they are dealing with, they often forget who they have selling their house anyway.

So, how do you search for a property in France (apart from asking me of course)?

My advice is by a process of elimination. France is a big and diverse country, every village even in a small region, can be dramatically different, this is all part of the charm. Even in our small village, there are two boulangeries, we choose to go to the one furthest from us as we believe they have the best bread, the price is the same.

What I am trying to say is that you can only make a choice if you know what the options are. A house is a house, but a good home is a location. So first choose where you want to live, then look for somewhere there. If you start by looking at the house, then firstly you are wasting your time on the Internet as you will not be told where it is located and cannot see a photo of the front of the house anyway. It is rather like buying a car by mail-order based on a photo of a hub-cap and a price tag, not even knowing the make or style.

I have often said first find your village, sit in the cafe, chat in the boulangerie, ask questions at the Mairie - eliminate the villages and towns which you don’t like.

When you have decided the location - then decide the price - not just for buying, but for maintaining or adapting. Older stone houses will cost much more to maintain or alter than a modern villa. (very much more, believe me) - cost in the Notaire fees and furnishing etc. Set your budget carefully and eliminate anything over this.

Decide on you minimum needs and wishes - set these carefully and eliminate anything outside these reference points.

By now you have fixed a place, type and price - if nothing is apparent - then wait and keep looking - but try to do this with one or two agencies you trust. By working with them, if they are any good and by now you will have eliminated the bad ones, they will take you seriously and will keep trying to find something which comes onto the market and let you know quickly.

And if you are looking for a great agent in Languedoc, you can always contact me.

coast country france, Personal Blog, Real Estate

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In Languedoc, my own village of Montblanc, do look at http://www.coast-country-france.com/french-property/2958.html

On the estate agents details in our region, Languedoc, properties are often described as “Maisons de Maitre” or “Maisons Vignerons” - typically both are from the period from the 1840’s to around 1900.

These were properties built from the huge wealth generated by the advent of the railways combined with the industrial development in the North of France. Suddenly it seemed there was an unlimited demand for cheap wine, billions of liters of plonk were transported by rail to the happy workers in the factories - each person in the army and most factory workers had an allowance of 3 liters of wine a day. later at the Citroen factory the delivery drivers received an allowance of five liters a day.

This massive consumption, coupled with a 300 days of sunshine in Languedoc each year, made some previously very poor landowners suddenly very, very rich, much like Boris Yeltsin and the “democratising” of communist Russia.

The 19th century wine “Oligarchs” went on a building spree - the landowners build their Master Houses (Maisons de Maitre) - the wine makers or those with a little land and independent farmers built their Wine Makers Houses (Maisons de Vingnerone).

Thousands of these solid, stone built homes were constructed, using techniques which had been fossilised for centuries. Thick stone walls, roman tiled roofs and vaulting. The modern crafts from the “North” percolated through, cast iron and reinforced concrete - from Morocco Spain and Italy, tiling techniques were adopted - many of the massive oak beams from the ships made and demolished at Agde and Sete plus those remaining from the medieval (even Roman) homes demolished to make way for this building boom were used.

The result is a unique period when magnificent homes were made and many of these are here today. OK , a lot of rubbish was made as well, no planning and bad builders can create horrors, but luckily these have all fallen down.

What is left is a select heritage of wonderful, well proportioned and classic homes which are unique.

However, a word of caution - the cost of renovating one of these masterpieces is much more than building a new luxury villa - from five to fifteen times more expensive in my experience. Only ever consider something which you have good sound advice about (unless you too ar ean oligarch).

Occasionally a home comes onto the market which is not only in perfect condition and has been carefully maintained, but is also a fantastic buy.

Here is a Maison Vingeron which came onto the market this week - At the price of 265000 euro is is a very good buy and in excellent condition, it even has air-con in the barn.http://www.coast-country-france.com/french-property/2958.html

As an added bonus, it is in the same village as me - so you can use my pool before you build your own in the grounds.

coast country france, French life, Personal Blog, Real Estate

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If you have been reading my blogs and newsletters - firstly a big “thank you” - and you may have followed my news about swimming pool safety laws and standards.

It seems that these, like no smoking laws and dog poo regulations, are doomed to be another big non-event in France. Pools worry me, I get very nervous with young children playing around water. I also worry about children playing with guns or climbing scaffolding, but fortunately there are strict rules about these things which are enforced.

Pools are dangerous and, when laws came into France three years ago I did a lot of campaigning for awareness through my sites and newsletters

I am visiting a lot of properties now as a Realtor, I very rarely find a pool which complies with the safety standards. In fact these standards are very weak, a simple battery operated alarm unit costing a few euro is all that is needed - some owners have joked about not having batteries in them because they make a noise.

I know having a pool seems a great idea - but is there anyone else who thinks, like I do, that they are greatly over-rated, expensive, dangerous, unhealthy and a waste of space - I keep threatening to fill ours up and grow tomatoes.

Pools, like yachts, planes and wives are more fun when they belong to and are paid for by someone else perhaps.

Meanwhile I have been cleaning and preparing ours for the few days my kids will be lounging around it this summer.

French life, Personal Blog, Real Estate

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