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When buying a property in France, you may either acquire through an estate agent, or directly off the property seller. Contrary to other European countries, many people in France market and sell their property directly, without the intermediary of an estate agent.

Few people know that buying a property directly off the seller, may have an impact in case of hidden defect. Why? French law draw a line between the responsibility of the estate agent deemed a “professional” well aware of hidden defects, and the private individual directly marketing his property.

buying through an estate agent:

The estate agent is a professional, as such is considered aware of potential hidden defects, therefore the estate agent guaranty any hidden defect, as long as you can prove its existence.

buying directly off the seller:

the owner who sells his own property is not deemed a professional, as such he cannot guaranty the hidden defects, unless he was aware of any hidden defect before selling the property and he did not advise the buyer, the wording in the “compromis de vente” and “acte authentique” would be similar to the following (standard wording):

“le vendeur ne sera pas tenu de la garantie des vices cachés pouvant affecter le sol le sous sol ou les bâtiments, toutefois il est ici précisé que cette exonération de la garantie des vices cachés ne peut s’appliquer aux défauts de la chose vendue dont le vendeur a déjà eu connaissance”

What may happen if you discover a hidden defect after buying the property?

Once you discover the hidden defect, you have the right to initiate a legal action, within 2 years following the date of the discovery of the hidden defect. In case you bought your property directly off the seller, you will have to prove, 1/ that existence of the hidden defect 2/ that the seller was aware of the hidden defect. If you bought the property through an estate agent, you only need to prove the existence of the hidden defect.

The court case should be at the “Tribunal de Grande Instance” (TGI) of which depends the geographical location of the property. You will be required to get your court case through a lawyer ( a lawyer is compulsory for a court case at the TGI). Under the French “code civil”, the court sentence may either be a cancellation of the property acquisition and a full refund of the price paid or a reduction of the property price (article 1424 of the “Code Civil” (it could also be a refund of building work to repair the hidden flaw).

Prior to going to court: attempting a transactional agreement

Since April 2015,  claimants are required to seek for attempting a transaction directly with the seller or the estate agent in order to resolve the dispute before taking a court action.

In any case, it will be better to seek for advice, initially from your French “notaire“, and of course from a lawyer with expertise in real estate/ property.