The Compromis du Vente is the agreement to sell. It is this document that determines the form of the final bill of sale, the Acte.The Compromis du Vente is the most important part of the buying process. Once a Compromis du Vente has been signed by both parties and the seven day cooling off period has passed and the 10% deposit sent to the Notaires paid then is the house yours.- Well not quite. But we are getting head of ourselves.
First comes the offering the offer price part. This is done in the form of giving a written proposal to the estate agent or the owner of what you are prepared to pay. The French estate agent will advise you on what they think the owner will accept. Is their advice objective? No not always, remember they are paid a commission on the agreed price, not a flat fee, so they have a vested interest in a higher price. However a good estate agent will know what has been offered before, what the owner has said is his or her target price, and of course they will also know the real level of interest in the property. Because the idea of exclusivity is alien to the culture here they are in direct competition with may be up to five other agents they also have huge pressure to get an offer agreed before their competitors sneak in in front of them.
As a rule of thumb about 5% off the asking price will get an offer accepted, however some of the asking prices are getting quite speculatively high, which is why we strongly advise looking at at least 15 properties to gauge the general price/quality ratio for the type of house you are looking for. If you think a property is outrageously overpriced then it probably is, it shouldn't stop you making an offer at what you feel is reasonable. This works well in the Autumn and Winter if the property has been on the market all summer. The owner has the choice of accepting your price or possibly waiting until the spring to see whether a mug walks in the door.
Making a bid is simple, a letter addressed to the estate agent or the owner simply saying "Suite a cette visite ce jour (08/07/2003), nous proposons pour celui a un prix de xx,000Euro." (Following our visit on.... we would propose a price of xxxxx euro).
Then owner will either accept or reject the offer, you can always propose a second price and keep going back until agreement is reached. If you are going through an estate agent remember they are also advising the owner so it is a good idea to keep any discussions about the price you are really willing to pay to yourselves.
Once the price has been accepted then there are two main forms of agreement, either a compromis du vente, which is drawn up by a Notaire or a Sous-seing Prive which is drawn up by the Estate agent. My advice is always go for a Compromis du Vente, as it is wiser to trust a notaire than an estate agent, but both are equally binding to both parties. Both parties need to sign the Compromis du Vente or Sous-seing Prive, and at his stage you need to put down a deposit of 10%. This money is held by the Notaire in a blocked bank account. Some estate agents may ask for the cheque to be made payable to them, if they are a fully qualified member of FNAIM or CNAB and has a "Carte Professionelle" then it should be OK, if not then I would advise confirming with the Notaire exactly who should be paid. Cheques to estate agents of course should be to agents professional bank account under the company's name not to an individual (Sounds self evident I know but you will be surprised what people will try and pull).
Once all of this has been acheived there is a 7 day cooling off period in which you may change your mind. After that period you are bound into buying the house and the owner to sell it to you, subject to the "Clauses Suspensive"
"Clauses Suspensive" are additional clauses you may want to add to the Compromis du Vente, some are standard some more complex.
These clauses can actually be anything you want, pre-approval of planning permission for a terrace, some work to be done, or even that you sell your house first- however the seller has the right to refuse some of the clauses and annul the sale. The estate agent should have a good idea of what the owner will and will not accept.
Disclaimer. These pages are accurate to the best of my knowledge but I am not a qualified legal advisor and would urge buyers to confirm the above information with a qualified legal representative before acting.