About Belle France Property

The Creuse at La Celle Dunoise

The Creuse at La Velle Dunoise

Belle France Property – A Short History

Belle France is run by Françoise Renet. She qualified in 1986 from the Faculté de Droit de Limoges and worked initially with an agency in Bordeaux, before moving to the tranquillity of the beautiful Limousin borderlands. She holds Carte Professionale No.163 registered in Limoges.

Françoise Renet opened her estate agency in 1991, and has continuously been in operation as an Immobilier based in the Perigord Vert, in the Parc Naturel Perigord-Limousin, since then.

She has a wide experience of valuation, property management and letting, and sales of private and commercial property and businesses to the French buyer.

In the late 1990s the agency moved into the field of international sales, mainly to UK buyers when she took on an Irish colleague who developed the sales to the English speaking market.

This has proved increasingly successful, and in 2004 we appointed and trained several new agents, who then set up their own regional offices under the overall direction and legal responsibility of the head office in Haute Vienne. Currently these are:

Lindsey Bovington at the Normandy office, of Belle France Immobilier (Dept 51)

Mary Cooper at the Vienne Charente-Limousin office(Dept 86),

Bob Pratt who is very busy in the North Limousin office in the Creuse, (Dept 23)

Our head office is at Champagnac la Riviere in the Haute-Vienne, Department 87, 40km south-west of its main city of Limoges, the regional centre of the Limousin, which includes the Creuse to the east, and the Correze to the south east.

French Estate Agents – Immobilier

We are actively expanding our successful practice and are looking for agents in areas we do not cover at present.

If you feel you can offer the level of professionalism that we require, have an interest in the French property market and are not afraid of hard work, feel free to contact us.

How we Help the Buyer of Property in France

We have a lot of ex-clients who we have got to know as friends, and we’d like to keep it that way!

First of all, we select properties that we think are worthwhile offering. This may sound odd, but we value our time and we want to pass this on to our clients. We do not accept just every property that vendors propose to us, just those we know represent fair value for money in the French property market.

Some may be in dubious condition, some are so badly located, or overpriced, that we would feel ashamed to offer them, so we refuse to take them on. We were, for example offered one house very close to the path of a future multi-lane bypass. We didn’t take it on, but it was our local knowledge which alerted us to the situation, the vendors didn’t mention it!

This means that what you see when you look at our site, and later when you visit the houses, has been ‘pre filtered’ by a team of experienced qualified people who know the area and have good knowledge of French houses and the techniques and materials used to build them.

Property Renovation

We have a list of qualified builders with whom we have worked and who we trust to do the job properly. There are too many unqualified 'cowboy builders' operating in France and we want to help our clients avoid them. Our recommended builders work carries a 10 year guarantee.

One word of warning here, if work has been paid for ‘on the black’ or in cash, and not on a builders books, this guarantee does not apply, so be sure this hasn’t happened! Receipts for work done in the name of the previous owners and with the address of the house being sold figuring on the document should be adequate in case of a claim.

Building Surveys in France & Legal Assistance

We can arrange for a survey, though this isn’t common in France, and if you want to pay extra for a UK trained lawyer to ‘vet’ your sales documents we do have a legal team based here in France.

Having said that, all our sales documents are bi-lingual, the draft contract or Compromis de Vente being in French on the left of the page and English on the right, so, unlike with some other agencies, you do not have to pay for translation.

We visit the houses you choose to see with you, explaining anything you don’t understand about planning consent, change of use, building restoration and development as we go around the site with you.

We can also advise on the other important questions such as ‘How to buy?’ or under which regime, Tontine, Commaunité Universelle, or as an SCI or other legal device, the intelligent selection of which should end up bringing benefits to the buyer.

We can give advice on inheritance, gifting between partners and other fascinating areas of french property and tax law, although we would prefer to refer clients to qualified experts in the field in certain cases.

We troubleshoot the purchase from the moment you decide you want to buy through to completion, and often give continuing assistance with planning advice and intervention far beyond the date of completion.

General Assistance with Moving to France

As part of our standard package we arrange for handover of utility accounts, water, electricity, and telephone, and often arrange Insurance for clients.

We have accompanied clients to set up bank accounts, on first visits to schools, to the Mairie, and later to the Prefecture for questions to do with Planning applications and car registration.

We’ve taken on re-registration of lakes, from “eau libre” status to fully private, which is difficult, but possible!

Pricing Your French Property

Last but not least, we do, of course, try to negotiate a good price for the buyer because we know that many of our clients come to us from past clients recommendation. We will always match or better the price for the same house shown anywhere else by another agency, if a buyer brings this to our attention at the time.

Help in Finding your French Property

We are very aware of what is on the market including properties that are about to be listed and those not directly listed with our agency. You can send us an enquiry form or just contact us and we will try our best to help.