Language matters

If you would like to purchase a property in France but worry that language and cultural differences will prove too complicated and will stand in the way, stop worrying. Instead why not use your concerns as a motivation and equip yourself with useful tools?

Thousands of British people have successfully bought property in France over the years but it is fair to say that those who speak French – even if just a little – tend to have an easier ride. If you don’t speak any French, you have the option of going to a UK agent who will deal with all the language issues on your behalf; there are several experienced companies who offer such a service. Alternatively, you can buy via a Francebased estate agent whose staff speak English and can translate everything for you. Again there are many such firms who do this very well. This might provide you with greater peace of mind and offer a satisfactory solution for all.

However, if you buy a house in France you will sooner or later be confronted with the need to speak French, be it to communicate with your neighbours, find out who does what in your community and where to source things locally, or to order essential commodities. So why not endeavour to learn the language from the start? It’s a good idea to try to pick up both vocabulary and confidence even while looking for the right property. The buying process can be lengthy, the number of participants high, so over time you will learn a lot and eventually feel less dependent on other people’s skills and availability.

If you address a French person in their own language, they’re likely to love the fact that you are making an effort and if you come to an impasse, you can always resort to finding an Anglophone. Also, if you accept the challenge of approaching vendors, notaires or agents in French, you will widen the range of properties available to you. It would be a great shame to miss out on the right property just because you haven’t dared ask for help from the French professionals.

Describing your ideal property

First of all, prepare a description of your ideal property. What are your main criteria? Think about obvious things such as location, size, style, state and age of property, budget, land, etc. Discern what is a must-have and what would be a welcome luxury, and work out how to say and write all that in French.

It is worth noting that unlike their British counterparts, French particulars do not describe properties according to the number of bedrooms. Instead they tend to give the size of the overall habitable surface of the property in square metres. This is not the same as the footprint of the house as the overall habitable surface will include all storeys. Often, and especially when describing an apartment, the particulars refer to an ‘F4’ for example. This means the apartment includes four rooms on top of the essential kitchen and bathroom. So similarly, an F3 would be an apartment with kitchen, bathroom, and three other rooms that may be used as reception rooms, studies or bedrooms.

Describing your circumstances

As far as is possible, try to tell estate agents what your circumstances and plans are in terms of timing, finance and end use of the property. If you need to have bought a house and moved into it before a certain date, tell them; if you’re likely to rent a house in France while looking to buy, say that too. You may also want to mention whether you will need a mortgage or not, and if you do, whether you have already found a provider; don’t forget to say if it is a French mortgage or a UK one. It will give them a sense of how urgently they need to assist you with your search.

If you’re looking for a holiday home and are happy to wait until a specific type of property becomes available, ask to be alerted as and when they find one. On the whole, you will receive better help if you sound like you have a determined plan of action.

Communicating in French

Picking up the phone and dialling a number in France can be a daunting prospect no matter how good your French is. It’s automatically harder to understand spoken French without being able to watch someone’s lips and body language and it is quite possible that you will panic as soon as the receptionist asks you to hold the line. However, in today’s world you don’t even have to face the difficulty of a phone call – at least not straight away. Emails offer the wonderful opportunity of communicating quickly yet in writing, leaving you time to work out your sentences calmly, to reach for the dictionary and to forget difficulties due to pronunciation.

This doesn’t mean that you can be lazy in your search though. Emails are so easy to send that estate agents are deluged with email requests, especially the vague, virtually anonymous ones that ask them to send details of far too many properties. Some estate agents might even have a policy of not replying to these; rather, they wait to see if the enquirer, upon hearing nothing back, gets back in touch demonstrating genuine interest.

So what’s the best way to attract an agent’s attention via email? The answer is by being specific either in terms of the type of house you are looking for or the exact properties you have already spotted on their website, or both. By explaining what you are after, you prove that you have already done your homework, that you are keen to engage in conversation with them and that you will not waste their time. You can even explain that you prefer to communicate by email for now, precisely because your French is not confident enough yet for phone conversations.