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What is a Notaire?
Appointed by the State Minister of Justice, the civil law notary is responsible for the legality of official documents. He can enforce the deeds he draws up and play the role of an arbitrator who, impartially, and under strict observance of the law, enables the parties to reach a mutually acceptable agreement.
Purchase agreements and undertakings to sell : Some guidelines
Let's say you're looking to buy a flat, a house or a piece of land. Perhaps, with help from your notaire, you've already found a property that suits you perfectly. You don't want this opportunity to slip through your hands. So you need to "freeze" things in place by signing a purchase agreement with the seller or an undertaking to sell. But what does that involve?
These contracts indicate that a secure agreement has been reached between a seller and a purchaser. In general, they are valid for a few months, during which time the notaire prepares the sale documents. It takes about three months, and sometimes longer, to obtain the necessary information and documentation from government offices: an identification of the parties, mortgage status, a cadastral map, zoning and urban planning information, an asbestos certificate, the questionnaire for the managing agent, etc. In addition, the buyer needs time to raise the necessary funds for the purchase: bank or family loans, employer contributions, personal contributions (which are sometimes frozen in a savings account), capital from an inheritance or a post-divorce division of assets, income from the sale of a previous residence. Finally, the seller will need time to organise a move and leave the premises. So the purchase agreement and undertaking to sell will prove very useful and can be signed quickly – generally within a few days after the buyer and seller reach an agreement.
Nonetheless, you should use caution – don't enter into an agreement lightly. Both purchase agreements and undertakings to sell are contracts that share certain features. They obligate sellers to sell the property, and purchasers must provide a security deposit (usually 10% of the price) when the contract is signed as proof of their intent to buy. But these agreements differ in a number of ways as well; each has advantages and disadvantages. In a purchase agreement (compromis de vente), the buyer makes a commitment to purchasing the property. The undertaking to sell (promesse de vente) includes no such commitment, but the buyer will lose the security deposit if he or she chooses not to buy. The undertaking to sell must be registered within a strict time period or it is null and void, whereas there is no such requirement for a purchase agreement.
In addition, for either a purchase agreement or an undertaking to sell, the notaire will add a number of suspensive conditions. These provisions stipulate that the contract will be invalidated and the parties released from their obligations if certain events occur prior to the final sale, e.g. if the purchaser's bank rejects the loan application, the local government exercises its pre-emptive right, a serious zoning easement is discovered, etc.
Notaires specialise in property law and are highly attentive to the specific circumstances of both the buyer and the seller (marital status and regime, the size of the purchase, etc.). Each transaction calls for a thorough, personalised assessment. Don't hesitate to consult your notaire before making a commitment.
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