Do you need a survey when buying a home in France?

Published 18th Nov 2006

British people should take at least as much care when buying a property in France as they would in the UK.

That is the view of Brian Hersee, who has been working as a surveyor in France for the past four years. Before that Brian, who is a chartered engineer and surveyor, worked in the UK construction industry for 35 years ands was the director of a construction firm so he knows a bit about buildings.

And he is constantly amazed at the way people take chances on buying property in France that they would never dream of taking back home.

‘If you are someone who would get a survey in the UK, then why would you not get one in France?’ says Brian, who works in the Charente.

‘After all you are buying in a foreign country where you probably don’t understand the language and where some of the construction techniques are completely different!’ he says.

Misconception

Brian says it is a ‘misconception’ that the French do not have surveys carried out on their houses. ‘In the department where I live there are French surveyors and so one assumes they must find some work!’ he notes.

It is true that, unlike in the UK, French banks and building societies do not routinely ask for surveys to be carried out when they are lending money to fund a purchase.

But this says Brian is no reason not to have one yourself when you are looking to buy – and this should ideally be carried out before you sign the compromis de vente. Although the buyer is given a seven day cooling off period after signing it, this does not give a surveyor much time to visit and detect if there are any major problems.

‘I get a lot of calls from people asking me to carry out a survey in that cooling off period but it is much better to have one done before you sign anything,’ says Brian. ‘And of course if you leave it till after that period is over it is too late – at least to influence the sale,’ he adds. Another advantage is that this gives the surveyor a chance to advise on which conditional clauses should be inserted into the compromis.

Brian says that a few estate agents may be tempted to discourage a buyer from getting a survey carried out because they fear it might put them off the sale – especially if they are buying an older stone property.

‘In fact a survey can have quite the opposite effect – it can reassure the buyer,’ he points out. ‘Lots of the old stone houses will have cracks that worry people, but often the cracks are not structurally significant.’

Cost of renovation

And even if people do not want a survey carried out, Brian says they should at least get expert advice before they buy on any likely repair or renovation costs. ‘I know of one case where a woman bought this huge house and barns and called me in after the purchase to give her an idea on how much the renovation work would cost. I told her it would be around €600,000 – but she only had €150,000 available.’

Brian often gets asked to accompany prospective buyers around a property just to reassure them on one or two specific issues or to give them a rough estimate of likely renovation costs. ‘This at least gives them an idea of what they might have to find on top of the purchase price,’ he says.

‘And when I do a survey I give an estimate of the cost of any repair work as well as an estimate of any renovation or improvement work they want done.’ In fact a lot of his work is now post-purchase in project management – and sourcing artisans for clients. ‘In France as in the UK there is a shortage of good artisans, especially in the countryside.’

Brian’s surveys typically take four hours and the average cost is around €750. For that the buyer receives a ten to twelve page full structural survey. ‘I also speak to the client to give them the salient points in plain English,’ says Brian. He says that if you find a surveyor charging significantly lower fees make sure in advance that they will not simply be giving you just a one page summary rather than a full survey report.

‘When you buy a house in France you buy it as seen,’ says Brian. ‘So why wouldn’t you want to make sure that what you are getting is really worth the money?’

Source: ' French Entree '

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