Completion day

You can now arrange a time and date for completion to take place. It is your responsibility to instruct the notaire to request the mortgage funds from the lender.

Once you know the date you will be completing on your property purchase you will need to make sure that your French bank account is open and funds are being transferred into it in time for the completion date and arrange for buildings insurance to be on risk from the date of completion. You will need to provide details of the insurance policy.

You will be sent a draft of the acte de vente (projet de l'acte) (final deed of sale) a few weeks before the completion date. It will contain much of the same information as in the original Compromis, but check it through carefully. It will also state the date that you may move into the property.

If you think you may be unable to attend the meeting to sign the acte de vente (final deed of sale) you can give a trusted person or friend a power of attorney (a mandat) which authorises them to act on your behalf if you unable to attend the actual signing.

The acte de vente is signed by you (the buyer), the vendor and one notaire. If both you and the vendor have different notaires, only one needs to witness the acte de vente.

Once the acte de vente has been signed and witnessed, the notaire has to pay all the taxes, settle all the accounts of the purchase/sale and register the deeds and mortgage. A few months later you will receive a certificate informing you that the title has been registered. The original title deed is kept by the notary, although they may make authorised copies.