This article from the Daily Telegraph focuses on costs to look out for when buying property abroad. It is an interesting feature which includes quotes from Home Hunts and a lovely property from Home Hunts also.
The article begins with – “After months of travel restrictions and lockdowns, those looking to buy a holiday home are now daring to dream. Property markets across southern Europe’s hotspots are busier than before the pandemic, driven by pent-up demand.
But it’s essential that you look beyond the headline price of a property when you buy abroad to discover the real costs.
The fees and taxes involved in purchasing a property can be higher than in Britain and, while the lower cost of living may be one of the reasons for moving abroad (Spanish council tax is a fraction of the level in Britain, for example), the running costs may be much more than you’d expected.
Tim Swannie of Home Hunts was contacted by the Telegraph and he discussed the fact that notaires fee’s are certainly not hidden, but they are sometimes misunderstood… because they are predominantly made out of tax (the equivalent of stamp duty) and the notaire themselves take around 1% only.
The article says –
“In France the system is different As with Italy, the property buying process is overseen by a notary (the notaire). Tim Swannie of the buying agent Home Hunts said: “There is quite a lot of confusion about notaires’ fees, which are paid by the buyer and added to the purchase price. It is typically 7pc of the purchase price – an extra €35,000 on a €500,000 property – which is a lot of money to factor in if you don’t know about it.”
The notaire’s fee is predominantly made up of taxes. To work out what the fees are on a property, the Notaires de France website has an online calculator in English.”
