France real estate laws and information for buying property in France (French riviera Nice)

When you buy or you sale an apartment, the real estate agency informs you about the laws.

If you sell or buy a house in the French Riviera you have differents laws to protect you :

- The Carrez law :
Law n°65-557 the July 10th 1965 modified by Law 96-1107 the December 18th 1996.

The carrez law consist in doing the length in meters of the apartment.
To sold or buy a house it’s necessary to do the carrez law and to write it on the sold agreement.
If there is a mistake about + 5 %, if the carrez law is different more than 5 % the buyer can lower the price of the apartment in the year.
Generally the real estate agency recommends someone.

- Termites :
Law n°99-471 the June 18th 1999. Décret n°2000-613 the July 3rd 2000. Arrêté the August 10th 2000.

To sell a house it’s necessary to have a diagnosis of the presence of termites.
The real estate agency recommends someone too.

- Abestos :
décret n°96-97 the February 7th 1996 modified by décret n°97-855 the 12th September 1997.

This law protects the population against the sanitary risks.
The conductor looks for the presence of asbestos.

If there is some asbestos the conductor appreciates the material conditions who will be regularly check.
The real agency checks it on the compromise.

- Lead :
Art. L.32-5 and R.32-10,11,12 from Public Health Code.

It’s against the saturnism.
It’s necessary for all builts construct before 1948. A conductor have to looking for lead in the apartment and to know how much.

- Electricity diagnosis for buyer in france :
The objective of the electrical diagnosis is to make owners aware of potential electrical risks in the home. In the event of a negative electrical diagnosis, the seller is not bound to carry out repairs.

- Gaz diagnosis for buyer in france :
Designed to prevent risks linked to gas use (intoxication, leak, fire, etc.), the gas installation survey has been mandatory since 01.11.07 for all transactions involving properties equipped with gas for more than 15 years.

The survey covers:
the condition of built-in gas heating systems
the condition of domestic hot water production systems
the condition of pipes and coupling accessories
the ventilation of rooms and evacuation of combustion products

If you buy a house :

- SRU law :

Law the 13th December 2000 intent on June 1st 2001.

This law allow for the buyer a grace period to think. For 7 days he can cancel the sale after to sign the sold compromise.
The real estate agency informs you about this law.

- Charges and others laws :

The excluding notary :

Before to buy, you have to anticipate excluding notary in your budget. For the sale you can choose 2 notaries : one for the owner and one for the buyer without supplement.
The excluding notary are composed from the taxes for the State and for the notary. For example, for an apartment at 150 000 euros there are 6.84 % excluding notary but only 1.18 % are for the notary. The others charges and taxes are the mutation rights.

Others charges : Ground Tax (Taxe Foncière) :

The ground tax is a charge who represents the value decided by the State and the municipality.
Every owners have to pay the ground tax if he is owner on the January 1st in France.
If you buy an apartment it’s possible to share theses charges with the solder but you have to write it in the sold agreement.

Only the owners who live in their apartment and who are more 75 years old don’t pay these charges.

You can choose to pay the charges : monthly or twice a year : one time on March 30 and a second time on July 31st.

Others charges : Taxe d’Habitation :

The Taxe d’habitation is an annual charge for the municipality, for the works in the City. It’s depends of your financial position on the January 1st.

You pay these charges for the house where you were on January 1st. It means that you have to pay this taxe d’habitation if you live in France on January 1st.
If you rent your apartment, it’s the tenant who has to pay these charges.

It’s more easy to know theses laws if you buy or sell with a real estate agency of course !
If you want a Real estate agency in Nice you can visit this website: Real estate Nice