Where to begin when buying property in France

Are you considering buying property in France? As the new year commences, the French president Emmanuel Macron’s loosening of France’s wealth tax laws, coupled with an ever-steady property market, renders French property a highly attractive proposition for investors and holiday-home buyers alike.

Whether you plan on acquiring a French property, renovating or developing real estate from scratch, or are seeking to raise money against an existing property, the first step is getting a mortgage in France—but it can be tricky to know where to begin.

Whether or not you have identified a property or plot you wish to acquire, develop or from which to raise capital, a specialist French mortgage broker should always be your first port of call. International brokers such as Enness International work with a multitude of retail banks, private banks, and private lenders across the continent and beyond – and know their criteria inside out. Your broker, therefore, will know who to best approach out of the myriad options on the continent.

The value in appointing a broker for your mortgage in France doesn’t end here, though. A specialist French broker can often have access to preferential interest rates and can secure you a product not available in the wider market. Further, a good French broker speaking the tongue fluently can approach the smaller and more niche lenders that do not necessarily have English-speaking representatives, but often offer the most competitive products.

The process of buying property in France

Once you or your adviser has identified a product for which you wish to apply, you will need to pass the lender’s anti-money-laundering, as well as affordability checks. Contemporary due diligence checks for French mortgages can be quite exhaustive; when applying, you will need to provide a full suite of supporting documentation covering everything from payslips/tax returns, to loan and credit card statements. Read more about French mortgages for UK residents.

Submitting the application correctly the first time over is of paramount importance in maximising your chances of securing an approval. Again, your broker will prove invaluable. Depending on the lender approached, your adviser will provide you with a tailored list of documents required, will package your dossier in the most suitable manner as efficiently as possible, will submit only what is absolutely required, and will push back on any seemingly unreasonable requests.

Buying a property in France can be a long-winded process, but don’t be perturbed in applying if your financial arrangements are complex. As a specialist international HNW lender, Enness International are used to and excel in dealing with clients with unusual or complex income structures and wealth arrangements. As such, for such types of client – more so than for any other – it is crucial that your enquiries begin with a specialist French mortgage broker.