French House Check Check a property

Terms

By Phil, French House Check. 21 September 2026.

These are the terms for every report. They are written in plain English so that you know what you are buying before you ask for it. Sending a request with the box ticked means you have read them and agree to them.

1. What you get

A desk review of the public records for one house in France, written up in English. I read the local plan, the risk registers, the sale records and the other public sources listed in the report's appendix, as they stand on the day I run them, and I report what they say.

Two documents come back within 48 hours of your request: a verdict page you can read in five minutes, and an evidence appendix with every source and the date it was read.

2. What it is not

A report is not a survey, a valuation, a diagnostic, or legal, tax or planning advice. Nobody visits the house. It does not replace the notaire, the mairie or any professional you instruct, and it does not tell you whether to buy, what to offer or whether something at the house is lawful.

Registers can be wrong, incomplete or out of date, and permits in particular are held locally and not published. A report says what the records hold. Where nothing is recorded on a point, the report says "nothing recorded", which is all it can know. Where a finding depends on how a rule is read, the report states the reading and names the body that gives the binding answer. Plans and rules change; confirm anything a decision turns on with that body before you act.

3. Who may rely on it

Every report is prepared for a named client, on a stated date, for their use in deciding whether to buy, sell or build at that property. The first lines of the report say so. Nobody else may rely on it without my written agreement. If you are asking on behalf of someone else, tell me, and the report is addressed to the person deciding.

4. How the work runs

5. Corrections and reissues

If you know something the records do not, send it over. I reissue the report with a version number and a one-line note of what changed. A reissue on your own correction costs nothing.

A report older than three months is rerun before it goes to anyone, including you, because plans and registers move on.

6. Confidentiality

Your request and your report stay between us. I do not contact the agent, the seller or anyone else about the house, and a report never names who asked for it or where the request came from. No report, excerpt or quote is used as a sample, in a guide or as a testimonial unless you have said yes in writing, and then only with the address and your name removed.

Your request is stored on my own systems so that I can run the job and keep the record of what was agreed. Ask by email and I will tell you what I hold or delete it.

7. Price and payment

EUR 150 for one house, EUR 400 for five houses requested together. There is nothing else to pay. The fee is due when the report is delivered; I send the report and the payment details together.

8. Starting straight away, and cancelling

By ticking the box on the request form you ask me to start the work at once, without waiting out the 14-day cancellation period that applies to services bought at a distance. Until the report is delivered you can cancel by email, and you pay for the part of the work done by then. Once the report is delivered, the work is complete and the right to cancel ends.

9. If something is wrong

If a finding is wrong, tell me and I will rerun the check and reissue the report. My responsibility for a report is to the named client only, and it is limited to reporting the public records accurately as they stood on the run date. Decisions about the property, and what you pay for it, remain yours.

10. Questions

Email me before you send a request if anything here is unclear. I reply the same day.