The French Legal System and the Move

Once we decided to buy, we then had to try to understand the French legal system as it relates to property.  It is antiquated, and there are Napoleonic laws applied to inheritance for married couples.  In addition, it is not normal to appoint a lawyer - the theory is that the whole process of determining ownership etc is done by the state appointed Notaire.  In order to ensure it all went OK, we did appoint a French lawyer in the UK, to translate the documents and to ensure we were not disadvantaged.

Anyway it all went through relatively smoothly.  On a Sunday in April 2008 we packed up a van with furniture - some new some additional to requirements here - and headed down to Gironde.  We stayed at La Terrasse in Duras, where we had stayed in an earlier visit (for measuring up etc), and then had all day Monday to buy little bits and pieces - mainly for cleaning.  The meeting with the Notaire was not until 17:30; during the meeting, Monsieur le Notaire reads out the contract word for word to ensure both parties understand.  We then had to sign each page individually.......

It was then late, and we needed to start unpacking the van so we could make our bed to sleep in.  We got there in the end.  That trip was seriously hard work - decorating bedrooms, laying flooring, buying and building IKEA furniture.

More on that in following posts.