Legal Assistance

Legal handhold service....
 

A Home in France Ltd (AHF) offers purchasers of French property a handhold service during their purchase. The French conveyancing system is totally different to that in the UK and even British buyers who speak fluent French are unlikely to understand the process and many of the terms used. AHF has years of experience of helping British buyers through their purchase, explaining the documentation and making clear the choices that are available, and a network of notaires with whom they work regularly.

AHF offers two levels of help:

• A basic service which involves reviewing the preliminary contract to ensure that the purchasers interests are protected and explaining the salient points. When the deed of sale is produced AHF will verify that it respects the preliminary contract and contains no new elements.
   

• The full service includes the basic service elements but is open-ended. It will include succession planning (French inheritance laws define who must inherit property), it may include help with planning applications, obtaining finance, opening bank accounts – in fact almost anything the client needs. AHF gives advice before you visit to ensure that you know the right questions to ask and can negotiate the price of the property you choose. Once you have an offer accepted AHF will review the draft contract and explain this to you before signature. AHF can refer you to exchange dealers to help you get the best rate of exchange and advice on forward purchases. AHF explains the statutory protections for buyers in France, and in conjunction with a notaire it appoints to work for you, ensures that you purchase in confidence. AHF has experience with clients buying a whole range of properties – from chalets in the Alps to farmhouses in the Loire, from new build to ruins, from flats to chateaux.

Danielle Seabrook heads the legal assistance service; she is fully bilingual and a UK qualified barrister with a career in international commerce, including years of experience in French conveyancing. She is assisted by Philip Seabrook, a UK chartered accountant who has worked in France with French tax awareness, and other French staff with legal qualifications.

The basic service costs £400 plus French VAT; given the level of fee AHF will confine itself to specific interpretation of the contracts involved. If more general questions arise, AHF will agree a supplementary fee for handling these. The full service cost depends on your family circumstances and the property you are buying and AHF will agree a fee with you before starting work.

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