How to buy your property in Brittany
by Charles Marriage
Ever since we started letting our holiday cottages in Brittany we have had a steady stream of visitors looking for property for sale in Brittany, in the Vilaine/Redon/La Roche Bernard area, but also further afield.
Prices in this area have been doing exceptionally well in last few years with investments often doubling in value from 2002 to 2007, and the market is now cooling down. Prices are not cheap any more and the supply of properties for renovation is reduced year by year. However there has been a lot of building, and there is an increasing amount of old vacant property in the bourgs (town/village centres).
This is a popular area for retired people and holiday-makers, and there is a lot of demand from people who commute to Rennes, Nantes and Vannes.
Perhaps the best opportunities in this area lie inland, in places like Carentoir, Malansac, Questembert, etc..
How to start looking for property in Brittany.
Most of our property hunting visitors cruise around, visiting the Brittany estate agents in areas that they like the look of, but most are unaware that notaires (solicitors) have a constant flow of properties which inheritors are disposing of so they usually have something of interest, and they circulate (from their offices) newspapers consisting only of property advertisements.
There used to be one or two English people who were in business here as estate agents to promote French property to English people, but they seem less prominent these days, and anyway the Brittany Estate agents speak good English.
Before you visit you can find Brittany Estate agents on Google, which lists 2700 entries for Breton Immobilier (estate agent). Agency rates can be higher than in England and pays to look around..
Visits to properties are usually accompanied, and their whereabouts are closely guarded secrets �" the agents are nervous of private deals that circumvent them.
How to buy your Brittany property
When you find a property you like you will be asked to sign a “compromis de vente†(selling agreement) and unless the property conceals any “vices caches†(hidden problems) you are then legally obliged to complete the sale. However the agreement can be made conditional, for example on getting planning permission, and the like.
Conveyancing is charged on a statutory scale and the only way of escaping the fees is to (illegally) hide part of the value of the transaction. You could well be asked as we were once, whether any part of the deal had been done desous table (under the table).
Completion is known as the 'Acte'. This is usually a very French occasion. Buyers and sellers meet at the offices of the selling notaire, and the whole conveyance is read out, with the notaire checking at each stage that everything has been understood. At one conveyance we went to, the selling notaire half-whispered to our own notaire "Will these people know what's going on ?".
Living in Brittany with your new property.
Although our property hunting visitors have demonstrated very clearly over the years that no experience is necessary for living in France those who come to make a new career find life extremely difficult, since France has policies which deter new business start-ups, and employers are not generally interested in having British employees. Be warned !
Of the rest all that we know have stayed.
France is a very nice place to be and of all the countries in Europe is closest in language and landscape to the UK.
Mostly we all do learn to speak French eventually, but often in the case of married couples one will learn French and the other not.
In Brittany itself, English people are very well treated, better liked than Parisians or Germans and mainly exasperate the locals if they never learn French.
Bon chance !
