heading off

knownothing

greetings, looking for a bit of advice.emigrating to france and purchasing some property. can anyone recomend a solicitor , who can speak french and who is familiar with the laws and process out there .many thanks in advance.

Grolschevik

Did you try googling "French speaking solicitor"? I did, before replying here. Why not try it?

Carawaystick

I'd go with an english speaking advocat...

From knowing people who bought a house in France the main steps are:

estate agents are more facilitators of a sale, buyers and sellers pay roughly half the commission - 2-3% each
a notary acts for the conveyancing another 4% or so
The notary acts for France, and makes sure good title passes
the vendor gets a survey which shows floor area in ares( google it), the presence or absence of white lead and termites.

If you're married or buying with another the succession laws in France are different - you need to get legal advice about a will here

There's property tax - each commune will decide its own rate
it comes in 2 parts owners and residents, although I think if you don't have a registered tenant the owners pay as if they live there.
This can be a fair tax people I know pay 1200 per annum on a 70sq m house
It does include tv license costs though.

you've water bills as well but electricty is much cheaper

There's no motor tax though, there's bureaucracy but not much cost to bringing your car over, just new headlights.


French tax is based on the "centre of financial interest" basis, so the Fisc can decide you're resident in France while Revenue think you're resident in Ireland. This probably won't matter if you are reasonably orthodox in your business here, but wor noting

There is a large social health insurance levyed on French residents. Your ehic will only cover this while you are a resident of Ireland.