Letters: Why can't French property deeds be simpler?
Connexion reader asked notaire for a copy of their home's titre de propriété and received a 21-page document in reply
Reader was shocked by the painstaking details included in the property deed
emilie zhang / Shutterstock
To the Editor,
Recently, responding to a reader who asked how to obtain a copy of a deed/title to his house, The Connexion stated that the notaire would send the transactional information to the prefecture, which would register and archive the information and return a copy to the notary, who would then be in a position to send the buyer a copy of the titre de propriété.
Following up on your advice, I wrote to my notary asking for a copy, and was frankly shocked to receive a 21-page document in reply.
Beyond the basics of identifying the seller, buyer, date, amount and special conditions – typical of an American deed in three pages or less – this document contains many headings and subheadings relating to:
- The identity of the parties,
- Their tax residency
- Their personal and financial history (including police reports)
- The tax history of the property, improvements and defects, and so forth.
Read more: 12 key Q&As for anyone selling a property in France
The original document completed during the transfer ran to 161 pages, and included all the home inspection reports, as well as digressions about local flood control history.
Why do the French believe that this sort of information cannot be confined to a three-page summary?
Vic Ridgley, by email
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