9 September 2018

The Notaire


When we bought our French house all those years ago the purchase was dealt with by the local Notaire (solicitor) and took a lengthy five months to complete.  We finally met with Monsieur M and the vendors in his dusty office in the local town to complete the transaction.  In France the Notaire acts for the buyer and the seller.  Monsieur M didn’t speak a word of English and our French was very limited so we were a bit bemused by the whole process.  We all crowded into his office, Sarah, Kat, Paul and me, the estate agent, the vendor and her two sons, and the Notaire.  Dozens of documents had to be read and each one signed or initialled; I think it took over an hour before the keys were handed over.

This time we used an English speaking Notaire.  She was not like Monsier M, not in the slightest!  Dark haired, pretty and petite, Madame Notaire was wearing a low cut t-shirt and shorts when we first met her.  She whisked us into her modern office and proceeded to talk us through the selling process at a breathtaking pace.  Paul had brought his folder of house documents and she pounced on that straightaway.  Paul tried to protest but she was definitely not going to hand anything back to him.  He was dumbstruck! The meeting passed with the fury of a whirlwind; she showed us out of the door and Paul and I just looked at each other in a complete daze.

Needless to say Madame Notaire is a force to be reckoned with and is extraordinarily efficient.  The signing of the Promesse de Vent was set up electronically so we only had to sign one ‘screen’.  When we enquired about a Power of Attorney (as we won’t be in France for the completion) she just shrugged her toned shoulders and informed us that it had already been set up and everything was in place.  Amazing!

I have to say that women like this make me feel totally inadequate.  She has a husband and young family and probably runs a quick marathon before breakfast.  Clever, brilliant with a successful career.  And she lives in a chateau.


13 comments:

  1. Your life seems to be one of not being in the right places at the right time at the moment. However, Madame Notaire sounds exactly as she should be, efficient, clear and it is all going to be stress free for you wherever you may be on completion day. I like the sound of her.

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  2. We have had many dealings with Notaires over the years; some have been no more than crooks, whilst others were charming. Is this one in V du Pd?

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    1. Monsieur M is the V du Pd one, charming but slow.

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  3. We had much the same buying experience here in Italy many years ago, except we had to take about 15 people, sellers, engineers, surveyors, witnesses, translators etc for lunch afterward a long morning st the Notarys office, Things are moving at a pace for you, let’s hope the lady is as efficient as she appears.

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    1. The whole process, which is incredibly complicated, seems to be going smoothly at the moment. I'm sure we will come up against a problem somewhere along the line.

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    2. Do not sow a negative seed. Always a bad thing to do. Think positive at all times.

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  4. I am sorry Sue but I have a bad feeling about Madame Notaire grabbing your documents - rather like a second row forward grabbing one's nether regions in a scrum. I hope I am wrong and that the process will all go very smoothly for you.

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    1. It amused me. Paul really didn't want to part with his meticulously prepared paperwork but there was no way Madame was going to return them to him.

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    2. It is difficult to see how she could prepare the contract and the deed without the documents.

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    3. I think Paul just wanted to hand over each individual document but she just swiped the lot. No nonsense!

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