You have found that dream property in France but it has some cracks or one of the walls seems to be leaning over - what should you do?

If you are thinking of buying the property we can visit the property and provide a preliminary structural defects report including a preliminary cost estimate of the repair at a fixed price of 500 euros plus the cost of travelling at 60 euro-cents per kilometre + TVA.

What will the report include?

The purpose of the report is to provide you with sufficient information to proceed with the property purchase or to renegotiate the price with the vendor.

It is not a structural survey of the type undertaken in the UK where on the whole the housing stock is in excellent condition. You will appreciate that the risk involved in the purchase of old rural dwellings is high - that is one of the reasons why they are so cheap! Hence please note that the limit of our liability will be the amount of the fee.

The report would include:

• An outline schedule of the buildings assessed

• The agreed survey scope including any particular concerns identified by the client and the scope and extent of any renovation or extension works that may be required

• A general description of the main structural elements including the walls and roofs

• Comments on the general condition of the buildings and the standard of recent maintenance

• Comments on the layout and other issues associated with any proposed conversion works

• Detailed comments on the roof structure and the roof covering

• Detailed comments on the walls and their condition

• Comments on the services within the building and the adequacy of incoming mains such as power and water.

• Comments on the adequacy of the existing drainage disposal system (it may not always be possible to be form definite conclusions due to the difficulty in identifying the location and size of the system elements) and a budget cost for any remedial work required.

• A summary of the findings including cost estimates for the clients budgetry purposes

• A fixed quotation for the investigatory work required to allow the structural repair works to be designed

• Comments on the water supply and electyrical systems - the water supply will invariably be buried and we are not qualified to assess the adequacy or safety of French electrical installations

How accurate are the budget costs?

The actual cost of any remedial / renovation work is dependent on many factors including:

• The work load of artisans in the local area
• The number of local artisan firms that can carry out the work
• The location and accessibility of the property
• The specification and extent of the work required
• etc.
• etc.

The budget costs that we provide will be based on our travelling to the property and carrying out the work ourselves with our own plant, equipment and labour force. Hence it is quite likely that you may be able to get the work carried out more cheaply than our budget figures. On the other hand the investigation may show that more extensive remedial works are required and in that instance the costs may be higher - but we would normally advise you of this in the survey report.

Where is subsidence and cracking likely to occur in France

Click on the following link to visit our sister site on swimming pools in France and fosse installations

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Click on the following link to see details of houses near us in Jonzac

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