If you are considering or even are very keen on the idea of investing in French property, buying a holiday home in France or finally purchasing your dreamed of French Chateaux (whether tiny or enormous), you should, perhaps, also be looking at French lessons if you are unfamiliar with the language. 'I'll pick it up french property for sale as I go along' is the boast of many a non-francophone when they are buying the property of their dreams to live in for the rest of their lives. However lack of communication, or indeed the inability to communicate with your neighbours, local councils and lawyers, can be problematic in the extreme. Whilst there are likely to be many wonderfully helpful French people in the area you are looking at, not all of them speak another language, particularly out of towns, so how are you going to make head or tail of the legal documents, bills, taxes and so on? Well, it is certainly the case that you will need an English-speaking lawyer, but by no means all French lawyers and notaries speak English. It is very important to know what you are buying, what the legal steps are in your particular transaction and of course whether there are going to be large extra expenses to be taken into consideration, such as local taxes, property taxes and so on. If you do speak some French it's still a good idea to be accompanied by a French/English speaker when you visit lawyers and officials so you don't get caught out by technicalities, time limits or caveats in the deeds for instance. If you are not careful you may find a public right of way through your garden or find that someone has an option-to-lease over your few hectares of land which you hope to till yourself. Language problems and this is not only so in France, can lead to more misunderstandings than almost any other cause when buying property. The system of property purchase and ownership is likely to be very different from the one in your home country, and local regulations differ widely throughout France, just to make sure, it may seem, that it is even more difficult to obtain the necessary documentation. Do not be afraid to ask questions if you do not understand property for sale in france what is going on, even if this takes a long time. After all it's your hard earned money you are spending, or contemplating spending, so don't be shy to ask what the extra 2000 euros is for, or whether the boundary is yours or shared and the other multitude of questions that can arise from property purchase and sale. To be able to ask these questions you may well need a very competent French speaker with you. If you're French is pretty reasonable, you have a French wife/husband or good French friend, then your choice of translator or French assistant will be simplified, but if you do not have this advantage the best advice is to find someone well before you part with a lot of money. It will make life so much easier in the transaction.
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