Saturday, July 26, 2014

Selling apartment without car parking space - tips and pitfalls

I am currently selling my apartment which does not have a car parking space (I sold it several years ago just after I moved in). However the buyer of my apartment needs a parking space and to buy one separately can be costly - as the transaction costs can exceed the value of the car parking space! It is just like selling any other piece of real estate and land registration charges apply, in this case based on a minimum cost which cannot be avoided.

Fortunately the agent handling my sale had a couple of car parking spaces on his books, and to help my buyer and alleviate the transaction costs, we have associated the car parking space (owned by another individual in my building) with the sale of my apartment, using the same contract.

Everyone was happy with this arrangement until, alas, we came to sign the compromis de vente or pre-contract, which had taken five weeks to prepare under the new Duffflot/Alur rules I talk about in the post below. At the last moment the owner of the parking space decided he did not wish to sell, and as a result the whole transaction collapsed - just as I was putting an offer on aother flat in a nearby town.

Despair and annoyance all round, until my ressourceful estate agent said he had another seller, with another car parking space on his books - and willing to sell! As a result our notaires are now urgently preparing a a new compromis de vente (the first one has had to be scrapped) and both the buyers of my apartment and the seller of the car park space have agreed to give power of attorney (in French a procuration) to save time and avoid unnecessary visits to the notaire's office, until we all meet again in a few weeks to sign the acte finale and complete the purchase.

I alerted the agent handling my purchase and happily its resolution, and my offer has been accepted, and the notaires are now also preparing the compromis for my purchase.

What started out as a gesture to help my buyer in the event could have led to the collapse of the whole transaction, but thanks to my agent we are now back on course. I know from experience that every transaction can be complicated and my own has been no exception!