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- Useful Information
Getting a mortgage for your property in France
For many people, buying a property in France is the realisation of a dream or the path to a better quality of life, but it requires careful consideration before the dotted line is signed.
One of the first considerations is how it’s going to be financed. Conti Financial Services Ltd., the UK’s leading overseas mortgage specialist, says that there’s no right or wrong approach to this, and it really depends on personal circumstances. Unless the property is going to be bought outright with hard cash, there are generally two options - either raising capital on existing property holdings in the UK, or taking out a mortgage secured on the property abroad using an overseas lender.
Releasing cash from the equity of a UK property may facilitate a more rapid realisation of the purchase of a French property, and the loan will be usually be in sterling. However, this route may present some risks, especially if independent legal advice isn’t sought. For example, issues may arise over problems with title to the property if it hasn’t been thoroughly investigated.
The other option is to secure a mortgage against the property with a lender in France itself. In many cases, this means finding a better interest rate than raising money on a property in the UK. The lender will also do its own checks on the property, ensuring that a proper legal title exists, that the property is registered in the buyer’s name and that a valuation of the property takes place. It will also check other issues such as whether proper planning permissions have been obtained or that building licences are correct.
Faced with the possibility of having to hire local professionals such as lawyers, surveyors and currency exchange, a prospective buyer might at this point decide that money can be saved by ‘going it alone’. This is possible, but fraught with difficulties - for example undertaking transactions in a foreign language. Increasingly, people are deciding that the safest option is to leave the hard work to an overseas mortgage specialist.
At Conti we work closely with French lenders and know what they require, which can save buyers a lot of time, cost and hassle. We also liaise with other carefully selected local professionals, such as lawyers, surveyors and currency exchange, eliminating the necessity to appoint these.
For more information, please visit www.mortgagesoverseas.com
