What can a vendor take from his Dordogne property?

Horror stories can be heard about purchases of Dordogne property, where a buyer has come into a house after completion and found it stripped of everything, even the fitted kitchen. Dordogne estate agents rarely advise on what should be included in a sale, and notaries rely on people being familiar with the basic principles. Neither the agents nor the notaries think that things may be different in the home country of the purchaser. An English purchaser will come with certain expectations, which may be rudely disappointed.

The English legal position

UK purchasers are familiar with the expression "fixtures and fittings". However, few of them will be able to state what the legal definition of these is. Briefly, in the UK a "fixture" is anything attached to the property, while a "fitting" is something not so attached and therefore not usually included in a sale. In deciding what is "attached" and therefore a fixture, it is usually said that items screwed to the walls, floors or ceilings are "attached" and therefore fixtures, while if nails are used they are not. In strict law, this is not necessarily correct.

Because this is something of a grey area, it is now standard practice in the UK for an inventory to be prepared of what is included in the sale, whether fixture or not – in other words, proper fixtures such as curtain rails may be included but it may well be that the curtains hanging from them are not.

The French legal position

The French position is not radically different from that in English law. The distinction in French law is between "immovable property" ("immobilier") and "movable property" ("mobilier", giving rise to the related word "meubles" for furniture). When you buy a house you are buying an "immeuble" - "immobilier". Any related sale of "mobilier" needs to be separately itemised or documented.

The "immeuble" you are buying will necessarily be the house and land. However, certain items are considered as being so much a part of the house that they are transformed from being "meubles" to part of the "immeuble". The French legal term for these is "immeubles par destination".

Two categories of immeubles par destination

There are two categories of immeubles par destination. First are those items that are necessary for the proper use of the property, regardless of any physical connection. These are particularly relevant in the sale of agricultural or industrial property. For example, if a working farm is sold, the farm machinery, necessary for the proper usage of the property, are considered as part of it, as would fertiliser etc. stored on the property. The position regarding livestock becomes more complicated under decided cases, and it is prudent to specify in the deed what is included and what is not.

In the case of an investment property, this category would extend to such items as would be considered necessary for a rental property, including shower cubicles and bathrooms.

The second category of immeubles par destination is more relevant in the sale of ordinary houses. These are items that have been attached to the structure of the house. The French courts have decided that the attachment has to be "apparent and lasting". The Civil Code gives as an example items that are cemented in to the structure, and which cannot be removed without damage either to them or to the structure itself.

The priest's view

Our local priest in Ribérac was recently speaking about an organ he had acquired from a church in Périgueux that was being deconsecrated. He said that the new organ had been fastened to the structure of the church with three screws and thus became an "immeuble par destination", whereas, he maintained, two screws would not have had the same effect. Since parish church buildings in France belong to, and have to be maintained by, the commune in which they are situated, the usage of three screws rather than two had successfully transferred the task of maintaining the organ to the local council.

This has to be taken with a pinch of salt. The fact is that there is probably as much uncertainty over what is an "immeuble par destination" in France as there is over what is a "fixture" in the UK. Unscrupulous sellers will take advantage of this by removing everything they can, and rely on the buyer not taking any action.

The steps for a buyer to take

In these circumstances it is prudent for a buyer to require an inventory to be taken of what is included in the sale of the property and what is not. If this is done before the signing of the compromis it avoids any subsequent dispute.

In reaching agreement on this point it is useful, in my view, to retain the distinction made in English law between matters screwed to the wall and those that are not. Bookshelves are a case in point. A single shelf may not amount to a fixture, but a fitted set of shelves probably will. Light fittings such as chandeliers, hanging from a hook in the ceiling, will not usually be considered as "immeubles par destination", although the hook itself may well be. Curtain rods are in my view often "immeubles par destination", although a vendor may not agree, and a purchaser may well not want the old rods in any event. A freestanding kitchen unit will not be an "immeuble par destination" but a fitted kitchen will be. Bathroom fittings and central heating equipment are usually considered as part of the structure of the house.

So the advice is to get a list made with the assistance of the agent and then to inspect the property before completion to check that items agreed as being part of the property are still there. That way you will avoid any unpleasant surprise.


Antony Mair
MCM Dordogne Property