Ooh la la!

In France it's a good idea to buy a house from a solicitor (notaire). They charge lower fees to the vendor, so they can accept a lower price, and they do you a special deal on the legal fees.

Well a solicitor arranged to show us a house in Pessac. Same secrecy about where the house was and stuff. We even parked round the corner from the house! But as soon as we met the lady and she showed me the picture of the house I knew I had seen it before and rejected it because of a very small, very overlooked garden (a gym full of Thai boxers staring down into your lounge all day...)

She said "It doesn't matter. Though you sign that bon de visite, it has no standing in law. You buy from whoever you want to buy from. It's like buying a car. You buy from whoever gives you the best price and no one can stop you doing that."

That's good news because if we eventually decide to go with the upside-down house, it's for sale with the notaires, too.

Unless, of course, the lawyer lady speaks with forked tongue... Is that possible? Surely not.

Comments

Anonymous said…
That's encouraging Alan, but remember that in the rather uncivilised country you have left, your notaire would probably be considered to have a 'conflict of interests' and not without very good reason. However, their system still seems to work very well for them, just be careful my friend.
(There's no need to publish this, I'm in a hurry and too lazy to e-mail.)
3:30 pm
Anonymous said…
I don't quite get it- you're a pastor but you're comfortable cheating someone of a commission because 'it has not standing in law' to save a few bucks?

And it's the lawyer lady who speaks witha forked tongue? Surely not...
5:32 pm
Alan said…
Well, I don't think you are right in this case, but I can assure you I am guilty of far worse than that. If you only knew, my friend. If you only knew!

The church I belong to is full of hypocrites. That's why Jésus is good news. Forgiveness for people who mess up constantly. Even pastors.

But I am not going to accept anonymous comments in future. OK, people?
7:38 pm
Anonymous said…
I can't help feeling that Anne O'Neemus is unfairly vitriolic there, or maybe a hard-up estate agent? I fail to see the 'cheating' aspect, it strikes me that if the owner has chosen to sell through two legitimate channels, it would be ridiculous, not to mention very poor stewardship, to choose the most expensive option if aware of the least costly. I certainly wouldn't dream of going to Harrods to buy our bed, (which they do sell by the way), when it's sold at a much lower price in our local shop. I'm sorry Anne, but in my opinion, cheating is definitely the wrong, and a rather unfair, term to use.
11:53 pm
Alan said…
You do have to watch the old legal thing, though, and it isn't as easy as it would seem.

When we made our house offer, the agent said he would work out what the legal fees would be. There's a scale based on the purchase price of the house. He said "I'll take out of the price things like my fees, the garden shade thing, this, that and the other, to reduce the fees... so the legal fees will be..."

I said "Is that permitted in France?"

He said "As long as it isn't a huge sum of money..."

But it does sow a doubt in your mind. Another thing about living in a new country.
6:32 am
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