Coisas muito importantes para descobrir

Before you put an offer on a villa, it’s very important that you find out the following things about the property:

Diagnostics Reports & Surveys

Há uma série de pesquisas que o vendedor é legalmente obrigado a lhe fornecer (se não o fizer, você poderá processá-lo mais tarde). Eles não são de forma alguma exaustivos, e alguns topógrafos são corruptos e mentirão em benefício do agente ou notário, por isso é importante fazer também a sua própria inspeção (antes você assina o contrato.)

O diagnóstico fornecido pelo vendedor precisa ser recente (aqui estão os detalhes). Aqui está um guia para relatórios de diagnóstico e outro guia. The seller isn’t obliged to fix defects; as the purchaser, you will be expected to pay to fix them. The obligation on the seller is simply to provide the full reports. If he/she does not do so, they remain fully responsible for defects relating to these specific matters (that is, if your notaire doesn’t screw you by adding an “as is” clause — more about that in the section about contracts).

Requirements for the reports change over time, so it’s important that you’re up-to-date on the latest rules. For example, from July 2021 the energy consumption levels in the property can no longer be used to determine the rating (since people selling second homes were faking good ratings) and a broader analysis of the energy efficiency performance of the property now needs to be undertaken. (Still, there’s rampant fraud as sellers bribe to get good ratings.) Sellers must also get an audit that will provide a precise outline of the work needed to renovate the house so that it can achieve a rating of at least B on the DPE.

You 100% should contratar um 'Expert de Batiment' certificado pelo CERTIBAT to inspect the villa and point out any areas for concern (like non-obvious structural problems, etc.) Make sure to hire someone that’s not too local, so there’s less chance that they’re pals with your real estate agent or notaire (which may lead them to omit some flaws in their report.) Meet them near the villa, so they don’t know the address in advance and can’t work out an under-the-table deal with the real estate agent.

While you’re at it, get an engineer to check the condition of the ‘vide sanitaire' (um espaço de cimento sob a vila que previne problemas de umidade, o que é muito importante na Riviera Francesa), o telhado e como a vila irá resistir ao longo do tempo, estruturalmente.

Não desanime com pessoas que dizem que não há necessidade de fazer uma pesquisa ou que você deve fazê-la depois de assinar um contrato com o vendedor. Make sure you get your surveys conducted antes you sign the 'compromis de vente'. Although as a buyer you have your ten day cooling off period, it’s not always possible to arrange a survey during that time. In other words, you run the risk of forfeiting your deposit should you wish to pull out at a later date, after any survey results. Still, you should definitely add ‘clauses suspensives’ to the contract that give you recompense should you change your mind about going ahead with the sale after any additional surveys are done.

Se as inspeções revelarem anomalias nas instalações elétricas, hidráulicas ou de gás, é importante corrigi-las. Você também deve verificar se tais anomalias afetariam o seu seguro de propriedade.

Tip: The date on the diagnostics report will tell you that the property has been on the market pelo menos since that date.

Sun & Micro-Climates

Shade: On the French Riviera, especially from Villefranche to Menton, there are many pockets where the mountains hide the sun early and/or late in the day. For example, in Eze-sur-Mer there’s a section that locals dubbed “Dark Eze” because after 2pm it goes dark — the sun shines on the rest of Eze, but this area gets no light, as it’s in the shadow of the mountain. Villas in this area rent for less money and are much harder to sell. You can get a sense of this via Google Earth, but make sure to also visit the villa both in the morning and the late afternoon.

Clouds: E enquanto o resto da região desfruta de um lindo dia de sol, qualquer vila situada a mais de 300 metros acima do nível do mar (acima da Moyenne Corniche) estará envolta em nuvens de montanha durante um quarto do tempo, bloqueando o sol e a vista. Isso é algo que só acontece nos Alpes. La Turbie é famosa por ficar envolta em nuvens densas, como neblina, em muitos dias, dificultando a visão a mais de alguns metros de distância. É um supermicroclima estranho.

Local knowledge: You need this local knowledge so you don’t accidentally buy in “Dark Eze” or in “The Fog”, for example. But ask locals, not agents, of course. The next best thing is going there at all times of the day to check what it’s like.

Potential Issues with the View

Find out if the neighbor cuts his trees short to give his neighbor a sea view (because, if he doesn’t like you or if he sells his property to someone less accommodating, your sea view can be taken away, destroying the property value).

Find out if the property between you and your view is developable (and assume that if it is, it will be) or if a tall building could one day replace the villa that stands between you and your view (in Eze, new buildings are only allowed to be 2-stories tall, but in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, newly-built 8-story apartment blocks have ruined many villas views.) In other words, look into whether your view can be blocked, as a big part of the value of a property is the view.

You can search for existing and past building permits on this government website (which also lets you look up property owners names, so you can find out who your neighbors are).

Housing Taxes

Housing Taxes (taxe foncière): You can see the trend in housing taxes over time, and by area. Your agent should be able to tell you the tax rate that the current owner is paying (and verify with the Mairie), but know that this rate can increase by up to 10% year-to-year. Check the historic debt of the area you are considering. This will give you an idea of if the people managing the area are overspending and you’ll eventually have to pick up the tab by way of increased property taxes.

Second Home Tax (taxe d’habitation): There’s an extra tax on second homes (any property that’s not your ‘primary residence’) that’s based on the ‘cadastral rental value’ of the property (and the tax rate is generally 60% higher on the French Riviera than in other places in France). Think of the ‘cadastral rental value’ as the tax office’s notional guess at what your home would earn in rent for a full year if you let it unfurnished. For example, a 200 m² villa in Beaulieu typically shows a cadastral value around €45,000 which is multiplied by 35% to give you a taxe d’habitation bill of €15,700 every year (plus you’ll also get a separate bill for the taxe foncière of €6,750).

Wealth Tax: There’s also an additional wealth tax on villas worth over €1.3 million (but by buying it with a mortgage, then refinancing to keep the equity less than €1.3 million, you can get around paying this).

Surprise Tax Bill: If you buy a villa with hidden additions and you can inherit a surprise, multi-year tax bill you’re legally obliged to pay. If, after you purchase the property, the tax office discovers an undeclared pool, extension, or other improvement (and they’re checking via drone!), they will reassess the property and bill you, the current owner (not the one who did the work), for 4 years of back taxes plus a 10% late-payment surcharge.

Community Tax: If the house is in a gated community (“domaine”), you’ll need to hire an accountant to analyze the finances of that domaine. We’ve heard horror stories of neighbors not paying their dues and saddling new buyers with much higher fees than expected (more about this below).

Its Age

Se a moradia tiver menos de 5 anos, você terá que pagar 20% de imposto sobre vendas! As taxas notariais serão menores, mas apenas em alguns pontos percentuais.

If the villa is old, the roof, plumbing and electrical might need to be re-done (the standards have changed a lot in the past decade), which can be expensive. Make sure to get an independent inspection and factor these into your cost analysis.

Health Risks

Radon

Radon is a colorless, odorless toxic radioactive gas that’s the leading cause of lung cancer next to smoking. It comes out of the ground and then builds up inside homes — and it can make you extremamente sick. According to a recent study by the French nuclear safety agency IRSN, the gas multiplies lung cancer risk “by a factor of 20”, and over 3000 new cases of lung cancer per year in France are directly attributable to radon. In areas that have high radon, there’s no way to completely avoid exposure.

Aqui está a searchable map of the areas with radon, so you know where to avoid.

Pollution and EMF

Here’s how to find out if there are toxic pollutant zones or cancer-causing electromagnetic radiation to worry about nearby. And here’s a map of areas with especially high levels of PFAS (forever chemicals that your body can’t detox, and that build up in the body and cause cancer and other diseases).

Asbestos

Many villas built before the year 2000 have asbestos problems. This is an expensive problem and a serious health hazard, which is why it has to be reported to you, as a buyer, in the diagnostics. It can take just a tiny amount of asbestos to give you mesothelioma, and it can be decades before you know you’ve been affected. It’s incurable and a particularly nasty way to go, which is why regulations are so stringent.

Se você precisar reformar ou fazer reparos, o amianto precisa ser considerado, pois aumenta significativamente o custo. Também é mais difícil revender uma casa com amianto, pois muitos compradores não querem comprar uma casa com amianto.

As an owner, you’re required to have the status of the asbestos audited every couple of years. Eventually it will start to crumble and you’ll be forced to replace it. The cost of safe disposal is muito expensive. It requires two trained personnel to wear the correct clothing while they erect a safe changing area on site; after using specialist equipment to cut and remove asbestos they have to remove their safety clothing in the correct manner. The air at the removal site has to be filtered and measured for days until it’s deemed to be safe. A specialist has to analyze the exact type of asbestos and it has to be bagged and disposed of safely. This process can take weeks and isn’t cheap.

Remember: asbestos isn’t just on roofs — it can also be indoors, on heating pipes hidden under the floor, used to insulate walls, etc. It’s nasty, insidious stuff and you won’t know if you’re breathing it in until it’s too late.

Nearby Farmland and Golf Courses

Living near a golf course or farm can have serious health consequences due to the pesticides they use. Pesticides are known to cause cancer, and a 2025 study found that living within 1 mile (1.6 km) of a golf course doubles the risk of getting Parkinson’s disease, with risk fading beyond 3–6 miles. House-dust studies found herbicide levels are four times higher when crop fields lay within 750 meters of the front door, and spray studies show pesticide droplets travel about 300 meters (≈1000 ft) on a light breeze, so homes inside that radius get a very high amount of fallout. If you want to minimize the health risks, aim to buy at least a kilometer (1000 meters) away from golf courses or non-organic farmland.

How to measure the distance in Google Maps: right-click on the villa→ measure distance → click the edge of the golf fairway or field; read meters.

Danger (Risk) Zones

The zoning is very important to find out. As a buyer, you should be informed (before sending your offer) if the villa is in a red zone, via the diagnostic reports & surveys owners are required to produce as part of the sale process. Sometimes owners or agents try to scam buyers by giving them false or outdated reports, so it’s best to check for yourself.

Before buying a villa, make sure to visit the nearest Mairie to ask about the local risk plan and what your obligations will entail. While you’re there, make sure to also ask if there are any building/planning requests for properties near the villa (you can see approved projects here).

You can also consult um mapa interativo showing layer overlays of each individual type of risk. Here’s some more information about risk zones in France, and this website explains each of the potential risks.

Risk-Zone Insurance Warning

In red zones, insurance companies are allowed to deny you coverage. If they do cover you, it’s muito caro (custa pelo menos € 3.500 a mais por ano para segurar adequadamente uma pequena vila na zona vermelha no valor de € 1 milhão).

Regardless of the zoning, if your house is damaged by a natural phenomenon and you’re lucky enough to have an insurance company willing to insure you, you should know that insurers will only process claims once a state of natural disaster has officially been declared by ministerial decree (called an ‘arrêté interministériel’, which clearly defines the zones affected and the nature of the damage), and then you have only a tight 10-calendar-day window to make a claim. The downside is that it can take months for the status to be granted, or the area covered could possibly not include your villa. If the natural disaster was in a small area (like only a few houses), your commune will likely not declare a natural disaster and then your insurance can refuse to cover you.

Red Zones

Being in a red high-risk zone should lower the valuation of the property by at least 20% comparado com vilas em azul (riscos gerenciados; requer permissão especial para construir qualquer coisa) ou zonas brancas (sem riscos e sem complicações).

If the villa you’re interested in happens to be located in a high-risk (red) zone, then:

• There is a high risk of your property eventually being damaged or destroyed by something natural, like a sink-hole (empty caverns under the ground that sometimes swallow houses), avalanche, fire, flood, etc.
• If your villa, swimming pool, outbuildings, or part of any structure is destroyed, you can NOT rebuild. Ever. Your property will become worthless.
• It limits the number of banks willing to give you a mortgage, since they will also take on the risk of the property becoming worthless.
• Your insurance will be very expensive (adding a lot of yearly sunk cost), and insurance companies can refuse to cover you.
• You can not build anything new on the land. You can’t build a pool or addition or new terrace. If the previous owner built anything illegally, you could be forced to pay to rip it down.
• The government limits the number of bedrooms and occupants in the villa (and it may be less than you’re expecting, so you’ll need to check).
• It makes it harder to resell.
• In some cases, it also commits you to paying for risk-prevention measures several times per year.

Se o seu corretor imobiliário minimizar a gravidade dos avisos de zona vermelha, ou disser que é "uma decisão tomada em Paris e que eles não inspecionam cada propriedade", ou disser que quase toda a Riviera Francesa é zona vermelha (apenas 5% da França é zona vermelha), ele não está sendo honesto.

Below is an example of a “PPR map” which shows where the red zones are, which you can get at the local Mairie (you can also check the risk areas by address online). It’s incredibly specific and there are many types of risks that are accounted for. Highly educated specialists examine each property in order to assign it to a red zone.

Blue Zones

Blue zones are areas at moderate risk. This means that it’s much harder (but not impossible!) to get permission to expand or build. You will have to make concessions on what and how you build (for example, your living room may not be allowed to be on the main floor, or you might have to add a basement, etc.) This makes building and renovating more expensive, and increases your insurance costs.

Green Zones

This is a protected nature area. You can not build on (that includes pools and terraces) or clear trees in this area (unless instructed to in order to prevent fires). Green Zones must stay 100% natural.

White Zones

This is the ideal zone to be in. No significant risk (aside from seismic) and you can build (assuming the house isn’t already the largest allowed on that land size, and you’re not close to anything historic).

Renovation Limitations & Zoning

Besides the zoning rules (as described above, if you’re in a red zone, you won’t be able to enlarge or rebuild the structure), you’ll also need to check whether a property is a listed building (monument historique), within 500m of a listed building, in a conservation area (zone de protection du patrimoine architectural urbain et paysage), or in a protected green area (you can search here to see the zoning and green area limits).

Se for o caso, pergunte à prefeitura local quais são as restrições, principalmente em relação à reforma. Você provavelmente será proibido de fazer alterações significativas na fachada, por exemplo, e poderá ficar severamente limitado na escolha de materiais, acabamentos e até cores, o que pode afetar não apenas o seu conceito, mas também o seu orçamento.

Planning permission is also key; you should also make sure to insert a condition (‘clause suspensive’) into the sales contract (‘compromis de vente’) stating that the purchase is dependent on planning permission being approved.

Get at least a couple of ‘devis’ quotes (not ‘estimations’, which are not binding and therefore usually a fraction of the real cost) before you sign for the property, and have a plan for how you will proceed: Will you use an architect (legally required on projects of 170 m² and above), a project manager, French or British builders and artisans, or do the work yourself?

Está pensando em pular a etapa de permissões de planejamento? É tentador, mas não faça isso. Surpreendentemente, é um Criminoso offense to undertake works without planning permission, and the penalty is a fine of up to €300,000 and 2 years in prison(!!) Local mayors can also impose fines of up to €500 a day for unauthorized construction work. Although you may think you can get away with it, it is normally neighbors who alert the authorities, and bring a civil action for ‘damages’.

Nearby Problems

Here are some simple ways to see past satellite images of the area so you can see how it’s changed over time (and if that trash on the adjacent property is actually just “temporary”, or if there’s camping grounds nearby, etc). The easiest way is to download Google Earth Pro to view historic images.

Make sure to check (at the town’s Mairie / town hall) if the land next to the villa is buildable, and if there have been any nearby land sales in the past decade. Also check o site de permissões de planejamento.

You don’t want to buy a villa and then find out that a developer bought and divided up the land next door, and you’ll be listening to construction noises for the next decade. Or worse — that they’re planning an apartment building, hotel, or camping site next door.

What You’ll Actually Own

Cadastral maps are the government’s official documents showing the outline of the property boundaries and the shape of the buildings on it. You can search for them on the GeoPortail website ou on the official cadastre website.

You should also check at the Town Hall to see the plans to make sure they match up with what you have seen, to make sure there weren’t any recent changes that haven’t been added to the maps yet. You don’t want to find out later that your neighbor recently purchased half of the garden you thought you were buying. For this reason, it's worth paying to get a survey done.

Illegal Additions and Structures

This is important… If part of the villa you're considering, or the pool or any of the outbuildings, isn't shown on the cadastral map, that means it was built without proper permits / permission, and the local government could charge you a hefty fine and force you to rip that part of the villa down. Na verdade, pode ser (secretamente) por isso que o vendedor está tentando se desfazer do imóvel. Se o vendedor não obteve a devida autorização, certifique-se de que ele corrija a situação antes da venda e verifique diretamente com a Mairie (prefeitura) local e/ou com a Préfecture, ou então não compre!

You can search through historic building permits on this website, by searching for a town, then clicking on the green “see building permits” button to see the building permit history. Keep in mind that this site is usually a couple of years out of date, so it won’t show you the most recent permits.

If, for example, the agent tells you that the addition was done in 2018 and you can’t find a building permit that matches, then it was done illegally and you could be forced to pay to rip the addition down. Same thing with a pool or garage.

After 10 years, compliance is no longer required from the Mairie, but the period of appeal by third parties for a non-conformity, discovery, and causing damage, is 30 years. So if any part of the building, terrace, pool or garage was built or added within the past 30 years (and you’ll need to verify this), then you need to make sure its construction and specs were 100% legal, otherwise a spiteful neighbor could force you to tear it down.

Make sure to get a recent attestation de non contestation / certificat de conformité (a certificate confirming that the property and prior renovations conform to the local laws) — it’s important for a lot of reasons, including insurance and the ability to repair and renovate in the future. Again, verify its authenticity at the Mairie! Do all this before putting your signature on an official offer.

The Space Between Your Villa and the Neighbor

If you are thinking you’ll put up a tall line of trees or shrubs between you and the neighbor, you should know that the Civil Code states that there must be a minimum of 2 meters between the property boundary and a tree that is more than 2 meters tall. The minimum distance for all other plants is 50 cm. This rule only applies if no other rules or uses apply to the region or district. Your town hall will be able to provide details of local laws. Also note that the owner of a tree, even if planted at a legal distance, is liable for damage caused by trees and roots extending to neighboring properties.

Internet & Mobile Access

Does the area or villa have fiber (high-speed) internet? Here’s a map of internet speeds available (you can also search by address), and a map of the areas with fiber, and you can drill down the the exact property. If you know the exact address of the villa you’re interested in, you can check on the Orange website to see what type of Internet is available. If fiber isn’t available yet, you can check out the forecast of when it might get fiber internet. The government has a plan to make sure more areas get fiber access, but they keep pushing the deadline farther and farther, and some streets with few villas, or villas that aren’t on the main road, may nunca get fiber, so we don’t recommend you rely on that.

Keep in mind that even if your street gets fiber, not all the villas will be able to get it because of terrain type and incline issues. It's best to buy a villa that already has fiber, since if the villa doesn't already have it, there's no guarantee you'll be able to get it in the future. And not having fiber will become even more of a deal-breaker for buyers in the future (as people get more reliant on video-conference and streaming services), when you want to sell.

All forms of Internet (including satellite, 4G, VDSL, ADSL, etc.) other than fiber have outages and inconsistent speeds that make video calls difficult. They also have download caps, meaning that even if they say “unlimited”, after you download a certain amount of content, the speeds get throttled down to a trickle. So if you’re planning on streaming lots of video (ie. you like to ‘Netflix and chill’), or doing any video calls, you’ll likely need fiber.

It’s also good to know what the mobile / cell tower situation is for the area you’re considering. Here’s a map of the mobile coverage across France.

Why Are They Selling?

Descubra o máximo que puder sobre a situação do fornecedor. Pergunte:

“How long has it been on the market?” (Watch out: many agents will tell you how long they já o tinham listado, mas poderia ter sido listado com vários outros agentes antes disso... você pode verificar novamente vendo as datas nas pesquisas que eles encomendaram para a venda.)

“Why are they selling?” (Again, the answer may not be truthful… the seller is unlikely to admit that there’s a permit to surround the villa with camping, or that a high-rise will soon be built and block the view, or that there are major structural issues with the villa.) It’s up to you to check who owns the nearby plots and what they can be used for.

You can also check on this website (via the map) if it’s sold in the past 1 to 5 years, and for how much You can also check how much recent turnover there has been in neighboring buildings.

Gated Domains

Is the house in a private gated domain (“lotissement” / gated community / private estate)? While the agent will pitch this as a positive thing, it’s usually not. Being in a domain could end up being a huge headache and a lot of extra cost.

Break-ins are just as frequent inside as outside of domains, but it makes having guests and getting packages into an ongoing hassle. It also means increased regulation for what you can and can’t do with your villa, adhering to extra rules regarding noise and yard-work, receiving deliveries, working from home, etc., and paying hefty yearly fees (that can increase at any time!) The rules can change at any time to prohibit you from renting your house or running a home business. For these reasons, they’re also harder to resell.

Gated domains can turn into owning property into a money pit. Today’s service charges look fine—until a few neighbors stop paying, or the private road, gate, trees, fences, pipes, or drains need replacing (resurfacing a 200-meter internal road can mean €25-30,000 per owner) and—instead of the town paying for it—você and your neighbors must cover the bill, plus deles portion. Services start to fray (gate repairs postponed, road lights out) and property values slip.

And if você can’t pay all your fees? Interest accrues quickly and the association can register an automatic lien (hypothèque légale) on your villa; the notaire will block any future sale until every cent is cleared. Bailiffs can freeze your bank accounts or seize the property outright. Recent laws even allow a “flash” seizure without a full trial.

Make sure to check the finances of the domain to see if it’s in debt, in legal trouble, or if neighbors have stopped paying their fees—and assume tomorrow’s rules (and costs) may not match today’s brochure.

Don’t Just Trust—Verify!

The notary and agents may not be looking out for your best interests, considering they are paid a percentage of the sale price, and eles só serão pagos se você concluir a compra da villa. Expect this, and keep in the back of your mind that—just like agents—many will hide issues from potential buyers, and there’s no way to know if yours is other than hiring your own inspectors and doing your own research at the Mairie.

Never forget: It’s up to you to hire independent experts (who get paid whether you buy the villa or not) to double-check everything.

Comprar uma moradia? Leia isto primeiro!

Quando estiver pronto para procurar um imóvel, leia nosso guia completo para comprar imóveis na França. Estes guias explicam como estimar o valor de uma propriedade real valor, como obter o melhor preço e evitar preços excessivos, o que observar, como evitar golpes e muito mais.

Primeiro, para compreender o mercado imobiliário em França, é necessário compreender como o preço por m² é uma farsa gigante. Então, você pode passar para os outros guias:

Nosso guia para onde o mercado está indo inclui: previsões do mercado imobiliário da Riviera Francesa, tendências atuais e históricas de preços no mercado e as razões pelas quais os preços continuarão a cair. Além disso, complementar guia para russos e seu impacto no mercado imobiliário da Riviera Francesa.

Nosso guia para listagens de imóveis inclui: como encontrar moradias para venda, o que procurar, desinformação e avisos, leilões e execuções hipotecárias, compra direta dos vendedores, por que o tempo é tudo e a razão pela qual apenas cerca de metade das vendas de moradias são listadas publicamente.

Nosso guia para golpes e segredos inclui: avisos sobre os truques antiéticos que agentes, notários, vendedores, desenvolvedores e construtores usam para tirar mais dinheiro de você. Esta é uma leitura obrigatória, e o guia do denunciante que aqueles no negócio não querem que você veja.

Nosso guia para corretores de imóveis inclui: as coisas desonestas que os agentes dirão a você, como as agências imobiliárias operam, agentes de compradores e localizadores de imóveis, por que você deve evitar agentes ilegais e não locais e em quem confiar (um aviso importante).

Nosso guia para preços e determinação do valor de mercado de uma villa inclui: por que há tantos preços excessivos, como estimar o valor de mercado de uma villa (quanto vale) e um guia passo a passo para encontrar o preço de oferta.

Nosso guia para coisas a considerar inclui: seu real custos, problemas com a compra de uma villa 'recém-renovada', aprendizagem sobre crimes e invasores locais e perguntas a fazer a si mesmo.

Nosso guia para o processo de compra inclui: negociar o preço e a oferta inicial, escolher um notário honesto, comprar no azul, a oferta oficial e o depósito, usar um SCI, armadilhas contratuais, o período de reflexão, o que fazer antes de entregar o dinheiro e o assinatura definitiva.

Nosso guia para depois de comprar inclui: armadilhas de seguros, dicas para segundas residências, aluguel de villa, reformas e o que saber sobre contratação de pessoas.

Guia para vendedores: Como definir o preço da sua villa para que ela seja vendida.