Buying Land in France

Building Your Own House & Renovation Projects
Buying Land in France with Planning Permission
Choosing your Architect
Agree a fee before you start
Types of Land in France Available for Purchase
Buying a Property In Need Of Restoration or Extension

Building Your Own House & Renovation Projects

If you have the time and funds available, buying land in France to build your own home is an ideal solution for many people. You could consider having your own house built for you or renovating an old house either by employing builders or doing the work yourself.

If you go either of these routes to get your home in France, you need to have the time, the knowledge and the money to be able to cope with the project, which as we all know, always costs more than originally planned.

Buying Land in France with Planning Permission

It is possible to buy a plot of land that has ‘outline permission’ to build a house allowing you to build in the style that you admire but with all the ‘mod cons’ and guarantees.

If this is your preferred option, the ideal is for you to find:-

1. A single piece of land with permission for one house of a certain size ie. The amount of square meters of habitable space will be defined. You should be able to buy this land subject to getting permission so that if you cannot build the house you want you will get your deposit back.
2. You will then need to find an architect to draw up plans to submit to the ‘mairie’ to obtain detailed planning permission. This will take around two months and once received you will have display a sign on your land for another two months to give details of the size of the construction etc. Meantime you will need to obtain estimates from preferably three builders for the construction.

Choosing your Architect

Choose your architect carefully – a local French architect who is well known at the mairie and who knows everyone there is the best choice. It’s not ‘what you know’ but ‘who you know’ applies here!

Agree a fee before you start

It is advisable to ask the architect to oversee the works and worth paying for if you are not going to be on site throughout the building. Agree the cost and timing for payments and completion with the builder before you sign any contract with the builder.

Types of Land in France Available for Purchase

1. A ‘lotissement’ This is a group of plots of land situated together and being sold separately. All the same facts apply as above but there will be several purchasers building at the same time and it might be possible to use the same builders, which may reduce the cost.
2. A plot of land amongst several where the vendor is selling the land and a house on it together at an all-in price ie. You have the choice of which piece of land and then there are selections of designs, perhaps 4 or 5, from which you can choose.

Buying a Property In Need Of Restoration or Extension

You may choose to buy a property to restore because:

• You love working on a property
• You cannot find exactly what you want as far as internal requirements but love old properties
• You cannot afford what you would like and are prepared to live in a part of the property and gradually improve it.
• You believe you can make a profit by buying, restoring and selling on.

Internal works in a property that is already a house (ie not an agricultural building/barn) normally present no problem as far as permission to change internal layout, but if you want to move or add windows and doors you may need permission.

If you want to extend the property you must first check that this will be possible, which is based on the percentage of property allowed to be built on your piece of land.  It can range from 10% to 30%, so for instance if you have 1000m2 and your allowance is 10% then the total habitable area you can have will be 100m2.  If the property is perhaps 80m2 then you can build another 20m2 – but you will still have to apply for detailed planning permission.

Land in France for Sale | French Renovation Projects | Land for Sale