Selling a French apartment becomes even more complex

Posted 08/10/2014

Many owners of a property in France will recall the various documents that were produced as part of the purchase process.  The contracts, together with their annexes, will have been substantial.

Following recent legislation known as the Loi Alur, even more information is to be produced in advance of an apartment sale.  This has left some agents, notaires and sellers feeling a little exasperated.  The seller of an apartment is now obliged to produce extra information, including the co-ownership agreement, the latest accounts, work carried out by the managing agent, and Minutes of the  AGM.

In practice, when instructed on an apartment purchase, we have always looked to seek this information, not least because the contract will often state that it has been produced to the buyer.

The rationale, then, of the law is to ensure that this information is indeed produced, and this is reasonable.  A buyer should review previous AGM Minutes and co-ownership accounts: they could reveal problems such as future works that may be necessary, litigation and so on.

The problem though, especially prevalent with older buildings, is that many different notaires could have registered small amendments to the co-ownership papers, all of which will have to be obtained, increasing time and cost.  Most of those amendments will probably have no relevance to the particular apartment.

This is likely, then, to increase the complexity of the process, without perhaps much relevance on a transaction.  As to how this will develop, only time will tell.

For individual advice, please contact Matthew Cameron at Ashtons Legal on 01284 727016 or email him at matthew.cameron@ashtonslegal.co.uk