gazjan

Good afternoon,i am in the process of buying a property in France and i need to ask the owner some questions and i need a truthful answer.I think i heard a while ago that in France the seller has to tell the truth by law to questions asked re a sale.Is this correct or was i hearing things.

Thanks Gary

audio

Did he tell the truth? That could be difficult to prove in some cases but as I understand, the seller must by law disclose all known ‘problems'
Put your Q&A's in writing

Best to talk to your notaire.

dmu

Hi, if you're worried about the vendor omitting to inform you of "vices cachés" (hidden defects), you'd have a 2 years guarantee, as per
https://www.service-public.fr/partic...sdroits/F11007
but you could get the structure of the house checked by a professional, for your peace of mind. Such things as a leaking roof or faulty boiler aren't covered by the compulsory "'Diagnostics" (paid by the vendor).
The Notaire should be able to inform you of existing servitudes, e.g. ancient rights of way passing over your future property, and the vendor should show you the most recent Taxe Foncière/Taxe d'Habitation.
As suggested, talk to the Notaire about any issues.
Maybe one of your questions might be Why are you selling?, but the vendor isn't likely to be truthful about neighbours from hell or other nuisances...
Good luck!

gazjan

Thanks to all for the replies but i feel i should explain a little further.The property is lovely but the problem i have is with a farm about 1km to the east.On two fields adjacent to the property i noticed cows,couldent see if they were dairy or beef,but the farm buildings are down wind of my perspective purchase.My possibe problem is with smell as i have found out that dairy farms can chuck up somewhat.
So my question to the vendor would be do you suffer with strong odours from the farm or just the normal country smells.Would he have to answer this truthfully by law in France.

dmu

If you know that there are dairy cows/beef cattle adjacent the property, and you buy it, you accept the consequences, whatever the vendor says.
Caveat emptor....

EuroTrash

Quite honestly, if I didn't like farm smells I wouldn't even consider buying a house next to a farm.

If he says he never suffered from strong odours, and you buy the house and find the whiff is overpowering, then one of two things - either he lied, or he told the truth and the smell genuinely didn't bother him because maybe he grew up on or next to a farm and is used to it. Either way, I don't think the law is a substitute for common sense because I don't see you wanting to spend thousands of euros and many years taking him to court. Even if you could get the legal bods to take the case seriously.

Novocastrian

FFS. No.

JWL

Probably only after he stops laffing.

Sorry, I understand your concern, but hard to see how you can extract from the countryside only the smells you like. A bit like moving next door to a primary school if you hate noisy kids.

On the other hand, by asking that question he'd be living on free drinks at his local for years by telling the story about the foreigner who asked him how bad the local cows smelled, so go ahead and make his day.

Chatter Static

Their friendly in France just ask them.

You know the Le French wind changes direction nothing stays downwind forever.



Pig and Poulet farms tend to be the smelliest and then it doesn't matter which way the wind blows and is it a big farm?, as the large scale farms are the best ones to avoid imho.

gazjan

If you lived down wind of a busy dairy farm JWL you may not find it quite as funny........but i would

Tweedpipe

We live just on the outskirts of a small town, renowned for its AOC wines, and love it here, as the house and the area ticked all the boxes. But we didn't count on one of the locals 'muck' spreading about twice a year. When it occurs, it's usually early evening, and the last spread was last Fri.
Mme looked at me, and I frowned at her, and we were about to accuse each other, when we realized it was 'that time of year'. Rather a shock at first, but I now delight in these rare occasions by opening a Petite Munster, cutting & spreading a few slices on a fresh baguette, and I'm in heaven! Mme usually won't allow me to eat the stuff throughout the rest of the year, because of the smell, but - being somewhat of a gourmet - I find it's the perfect solution to help mask the outdoor odour - which usually disappears by early morning.
If I ever sell here, and am asked probing questions by the prospective buyers, I'll certainly tell the truth, and advise them of a wonderfully pungent cheese to complement the occasional outdoor mephitis.
I was brought up in Somerset, so country smells (and the fabulous related Adge Cutler songs), are not totally alien to me. Even the other evening, between mouthfuls of Munster (and a flagon of cider), I was singing along to this little ditty. All together now.......

Now some folks like to boast of their father's occupation,
Dustmen and the likes, and other situations.
That's so, our old man, working was 'is pride,
In 'obnailed boots and gaiters, and a dung fork at 'is side.
(Chorus): Hi Ho, fiddle - iddle- o, Chesterfield to Cheddar,
Hi Ho, the folks all know, he's a champion dung-spreader!

Now many years ago, when Dad was in 'is power,
With a mighty two-hand swipe he hit the old church tower!
"Lord help us," cried the vicar, "Tis the judgement come!"
"Not so," said the verger, "Tis a hundredweight of dung!"
(Repeat chorus)

Now his aim was straight and true, when 'is arms start flailin'
We'd all look out the way, when they girt brown lumps go sailin'.
Just leave our old man where the dung lies piled up thick,
And he'll make it fly for miles with 'is girt big blackthorn stick!
(Repeat chorus)

Now as you all can see, father was quite contented
He had the finest job, since work it was invented!
And when our old man laid him down to die,
In a forty acre field, with the dung piled six foot high!
Repeat chorus (twice)

Bless 'im!

gazjan

very good tweedpipe that made me laugh

JWL

OK, but that's the point. If I felt threatened by that (or whatever), I'd think twice about putting myself in its way.

Actually, I love cows. I find them very relaxing and calming. Even the smelly ones..

barnaby

You can ask the question, but I agree with everyone else that this is something you have to judge for yourself. Can you drive by the neighbouring farm and see how it looks, are the fields over-crowded, are they really messy and smelly?


For what it's worth we currently live in Devon and we have a dairy farm to one side and a cow breeding farm on the other, so we are always downwind of one or the other and in seven years I have never had any problem with the smell. Cows aren't a big problem. A goat farm or a large scale chicken farm would be much smellier.

EuroTrash

Or pigs.
I'm very fond of pigs, but put a lot of them in one place and they do hum.