New House

The paint is barely dry in La Maison Verte and we have, this evening signed the Compromise de Vente (Agreement to Buy document) for a new house.

This house has the usual problems no electrics, no heating, no drainage and minimal plumbing, but at least there is a floor !!. The main problem for me is that the house faces the wrong way, but Mark argues that this gives the house character, maybe he is right.

We arrived at the estate agents’ office at 6.30pm. A young woman, in her late 20’s started this agency a year or so ago and we have been very impressed with her enthusiasm and tenacious approach.

Her office is in a tiny village, so she benefits from very little passing traffic but with her positive and dynamic approach she seems to be doing well in spite of the sluggish market and I really hope that all her hard work pays off .

We sit on black leather chairs and I count 7 cats. Marks’ nose begins to twitch, he is terribly allergic to cats.

We painstakingly go through the 18 page document, ‘ Et voila’, she says triumphantly as we reach the last page.

‘We have a couple of clause suspensives’, I say

These are not often mentioned in the ‘Buying a House in France’ books, but over the years we have learnt that you can put reasonable clauses in the contract and if these aren’t complied with the purchaser can walk away from the sale with his 10% deposit. A very valuable weapon.

We are concerned about the soil quality, will it support a standard septic tank ?, and we want to ensure that there are no land registry problems. We have encountered both of these issues before !!

The Clause suspensives are inserted, we sign, we hand over the 10 % deposit.

We are then asked about our mortgage, ‘who do you bank with ?’

‘Credit Agricole’. I reply.

‘Ah’, the estate agent says as she writes, ‘I will call M. Dubois tomorrow to get the details, and the house insurance when the sale goes through, who will you use ?

‘MMA’, I reply

Not looking up, she continues ‘I’ll advise your broker, M.Pellac of the purchase’.

I smile, the Data Protection Act hasn’t reached us yet, and it is strangely comforting.