Property Renovation in France

When people talk of home renovation they are talking of a wide range of different things. For some people renovation is adding insulation in an attic, replacing some slipped roof tiles, fitting a new kitchen or perhaps refreshing the interior of a property with some paint. For others it is buying a complete ruin or a derelict farm building and starting to construct a home from almost nothing.

For most projects, renovation falls somewhere between the two of these options.

Commonly, a building ‘for renovation’ suggests a building that has fallen into disrepair or been empty for some period of time. Also common are buildings that have been inhabited until recently, but have no modern conveniences, 50 year old electrical systems, no insulation and so on.

Luckily France can offer buildings in all possible states of repair. True, in some popular areas it is now hard to find a ruin to renovate at a bargain price, and in some areas at any price, but this is simply because the price in a popular area represents the value of the final building less the costs involved in restoring it, rather than the value of an old heap of stones in a field. Most areas still have plenty of places to renovate, but they might be a bit hidden away, and they might be a bit rural.

That bargain property you saw on the TV for £20,000 and needing a few hundred spending on it to convert it into a house worth a fortune may or may not have existed. To say the least you will be lucky to find it nowadays. The French (especially the estate agents) have certainly got wise to the idea that a pile of rubble with planning permission can actually be worth quite a lot of money.

Usually the distinction between ‘degrees of dereliction’ is unimportant. But bear in mind that when you go into a French estate agent and say you are looking for a ‘property to renovate’ you might be describing something in rather better condition than the estate agent thinks. They will have seen hundreds of derelict buildings with no roof and a wall falling in, perhaps in an infinitely worse state than you can imagine. So when you ask for ‘properties to renovate’ they could imagine a few walls with no roof while you imagine a house needing a new kitchen.

If you want a house that is habitable straight away, but in poor state so you can add your own mark on the property, you should make that clear.

Note that I have not generally made a distinction between ‘DIY’ renovation and paid renovation, but there is a key difference. If you pay a registered artisan to do the work it will be covered by a 10 year guarantee, and if you sell the property you can demonstrate that the work was professionally performed. If you do the work yourself, it will not be guaranteed. So the savings made at the time of doing the work could be lost when you come to sell the property and get a lower price.

So, renovation for me, and hence for this website, is the conversion of a building (or just a room) that is in poor or run-down state into a building that is comfortable, attractive and safe to live in. It that is your goal, read on…

Reading the factsheets and information should get you started on your project and help you during the process. But what about renovation projects in the real world? What really happens? In ‘Real life projects’ you can see stories of actual projects as they unfolded.

Fonguilleres

Our own renovation project included a cottage, a house and a barn conversion all on the same site in south-west France. During the renovation of the barn I kept an online diary. I’m afraid it is a bit rambling and there are not many pictures. You can still see the diary at our Holiday Rental in Villereal site.

Meydieu

Jean and John Smith have been carrying out renovation work at Monbahus also in SW France. Much more sensibly, they have kept an extensive and fascinating photographic story of their renovation that you can visit HERE

Chalais

Our third project is at Chalais, in the Charente region of France. Pat and Yvonne arrived in France less than six months after holidaying here. The house they bought had not been lived in for at least 50 years. Taking on a house with a leaking roof, no water, electricity, or drainage was very brave or extremely stupid depending on your point of view. Based on the work done so far (all their own, except for the septic tank), they are both in the throes of mid-life career changes. Yvonne has proven to be a talented designer and Pat is a competent all round builder able to work to French norms. Start HERE for the beginning of the story - again with an extensive collection of photographs to make it easy to follow the weekly progress.

One option taken by a lot of people is to find a project manager or building contractor who will run the whole project from start to finish, and will deliver a completed building in due course. This project manager will sometimes be an architect who will also advise on the initial planning of the renovation.

After initial discussions the involvement of the client should be reasonably low during this kind of project. Costs, of course, will be higher. If there are language problems, it will be possible to find an English speaking project manager, although experience suggest that this also substantially increases the costs. It is absolutely essential to only use a project manager approach based on personal recommendations of people who have been satisfied with the work of the individual, or to ask for references from existing clients. You or I or anyone else can call themselves a project manager, but it will not necessarily mean we are good at the job.

The Negatives

We considered this approach for our first renovation, a small 17th century cottage. When we obtained estimates this approach indicated a price of £600-700 (900 - 1000 euros) per square metre of final internal floor area. Why so high?

Although a project manager will only charge approximately 10% of the total project cost as their ‘charge’, they have little incentive to keep your costs down, and will often wish to use their relationships with existing builders, or even their own builders, to do the work.

Also there are a significant number of people who can afford to buy a ruin and throw large amounts of money at the restoration, almost regardless of the cost, since it may still appear relatively cheap. If you are the kind of person who can afford to do this, and is happy to do this, fine. There are plenty of companies and individuals who will be happy to separate you from your money. But you need to be aware that this is what you are doing.

The component charges of the build (the masonry, roofing etc) are also likely to be higher than if you deal directly with builders yourself, and since you are not getting separate quotes for all the individual parts of the job, it is hard to know if ‘new roof £25,000’ is a competitive quote – separate estimates for each section of the work will enable you to get the best price / quality for each individual part of the work.

The Positives

But for all that, there is a good case for employing a manager or building firm to do the whole project. If you can find a good project manager, you will save yourself an enormous amount of grief by paying a bit extra. Note, it has to be a good project manager - if you are simply moving the stress of dealing with tradesmen to being the stress of dealing with a project manager, that serves little purpose.

The second advantage is that you don’t have to deal with the problems of delays in area of the project causing problems in the other areas. Delays will still perhaps happen, but it won’t be for you to tell everyone else.

There are good project managers, who will deal with local workers for you, and get devis in the same way you would yourself, from local French workers. This method is worth considering if you wish to avoid the challenges listed above and can find a good project manager.

The Footnote

I know of someone having a renovation done for them at the moment. It was supposed to start six months ago and be more or less finished by now. In fact it has not started yet. The person involved doesn’t like to ring the ‘project manager’, feeling sure it will start in due course and doesn’t want to annoy or trouble them.

If you are this kind of client, and many are, I would seriously suggest that you buy a property that is already renovated. We never had any significant problems ourselves in any of our projects (and no our French is not perfect) but we did need to pick up the phone from time to time…

Legally Required pre-purchase checks

The following aspects of a property are always checked as part of the purchase of a property in France. While all renovation projects in France are going to uncover some surprises (some welcome and some not) there are some problems that you do need to know about in advance. It is the responibility of the person selling the property to provide a report prepared by a certified specialist verifying the following items

Asbestos

This check applies to all properties with a ‘permis de construire’ (planning permission) dated before 1st July 1997. The most common places where asbestos is found is in insulation, especially near very hot surfaces (eg built in fireplaces), and various other roofing materials. Before panicking if you are told tht asbestos has been found you should be aware that: (Read on …)

A swimming pool is not really an urgent part of renovation, but many people moving to France think that a pool is as important as the house itself. After all, what point is there in moving to France if you can’t relax by the pool when you get there.

Swimming pool placement and size

It is worth thinking carefully about the location of the swimming pool before the bulldozers arrive - before you submit plans to the planning department in fact.

Many people have their pools immediately adjacent to the house, separated only by a terrace. In the summer we are very envious. Then autumn arrives and all the swimming pool covers go on. The view of a pool in the winter, with a dirty cover on it, is not very elegant. The alternative is to leave the pool uncovered, and keep up the cleaning and filtration all year round. This rapidly loses interest when you can’t actually swim in the pool.

The size of pool you want will depend in part on your budget and partly on whether it is for ’serious’ swimming or just for splashing around in. Pools are typically 8*4 metres, 9*5 metres or 12*6 metres. Apart from initial installation costs, most subsequent costs are also dependent on the size and volume of the pool, from the amount of chemicals required to the amount of water you need to add every week or two to keep it filled up.

Various Other Considerations when Buying a Pool

Pools themselves are usually similar - it is often the terracing around them that varies.

Most pools in France are ‘liner’ pools - that is, after the concrete shell is built a strong vinyl layer is fitted to provide the watertightness and colour required. Liners are guaranteed for up to 10 years use, and come in a variety of colours - off-white, light blue and sky blue are the most popular. In principle a liner can be torn - in practice this is quite unusual with a well fitted liner.

Tiled pools are also available - these last longer than liners but cost more at the time of initial installation.

Some pools have ‘roman steps’ at one end - these large, wide steps allow people to enter and leave the pool without having to go down a ladder and are often popular with children and people with limited mobility. They are also a nice place to sit with a glass of wine, I understand, and may enable your family pet to escape if he falls in the pool.

Chlorine based filtration systems are still the most common way to keep your pool safe to swim in. Contrary to swimming pools of 20 years ago, it is normal and adequate to have levels of chlorine that don’t make your eyes sting or bleach your swimming costume. However many people opt for a ’softer’ salt-water based system to avoid this. The initial cost is higher but the ongoing chemical costs are lower.

Various other filter baskets and traps remove insects and the like from the pool, but the pool will still need cleaning regularly - at least twice a week, and possibly every day. An automatic ‘robot’ can be fitted that continually drags itself around the bottom and sides of the pool cleaning it. These are expensive (perhaps 1000 euros) but save a lot of the manual effort.

Safety Considerations and Regulations

Your pool installer must explain the safety options to you, and will probably insist that he supplies the necessary equipment. Since 1st January 2006 in France all pools must comply with these safety regulations, even those in private property. If you buy a property that already has a pool then that must also comply at the time of sale. In outline there are various options:

• a swimming pool alarm that detects a person falling in the pool or approaching the pool
• an un-climbable fence around the pool area
• a rigid cover that is placed across the pool whenever it is not in use

Be aware that each of these is defined in the regulations. You or I can not declare that our fence is un-climbable, even if it clearly the case. It must be officially certified in advance as complying with the appropriate standards. There is a fixed penalty of 45,000 euros for non-compliance.

I am not an expert on planning rules and you will need to seek advice for cirumstances particular to your particular property. Nonetheless there are some guidelines you should be aware of - the basic rule is always ask at the local mairie before making any change:

At the time of buying a property you can specify that the purchase is conditional on receiving the appropriate CDU or planning permissions. This needs to be written into the contract (ie not a verbal agreement outside the contract). Your notaire will then be able to help submit the appropriate applications, and the mairie will respond within two months. Secifically, ask for a ‘clause suspensive’ to be inserted to this effect.

• A CDU (Certificat d’urbanisme) shows whether the building or land has, in principle, the right to be developed as habitation(s), and what development is acceptable. The local mairie holds a plan of the commune, which shows which areas are likely to be permitted development.
• A CDU lasts for one year, but can be extended for a further year. Application to extend the life of a CDU must be made at least two months before the original date of expiry.
• Planning permission - permis de construire - is not the same as a CDU. With a CDU you can apply for planning permission. This approves the actual buildings or development that can take place. The planning application will need to be for a building or development that falls within the scope of the original CDU.
• Projects including significant additions, extensions, renovations or change of use will usually need full planning permission. Any project with a floor area greater than 170 square metres requires official plans to be drawn up or approved by a architect qualified to practice in France.
• Almost all changes that affect the appearance of a building, its use or its internal layout require a declaration to your local mairie. They will supply you with the appropriate forms. These include new windows, new roof windows, loft conversions, terraces and many other things
• Extensions to a property that add less than 20 square metres of floor area do not usually require planning permission but again they do need a declaration to your maire.
• External changes are very restricted if your property is within a certain distance of a national monument or castle in France. That dream house in the shadow of a grand castle may be very impressive but replacing the roof tiles may be both difficult and expensive.

One curious situation can arise with the 20 square metre rule - generally buildings of less than this size can be erected with only a declaration to the mairie rather than full planning permission. I have seen a property which consisted of a series of small buildings very close to each other - one the lounge, one the bedroom and so on. And I have received publicity from a ‘Holiday Chalet’ company offering lodges that measured 19.99 square metres and suggesting they were only sold in packs of five. Would you actually get away with five 20 square metre chalets in your garden? I don’t know.

Lime comes in various categories and types. Not all are commonly used in the DIY environment.

The lime used by ‘amateurs’ is the lime called (in France) ‘chaux aérienne eteinte pour le batiment’ (CAEB). It is prepared from very pure limestone, and is an extremely fine powder. It is sometimes also known as ‘fleur de chaux’.

‘Chaux hydraulique naturelle’ is also sometimes used, but is less pure and has a slight grey tint.

Stand well back after emptying lime into a cement mixer. It tends to come back out in a fine cloud, coating you head to foot ‘Laurel and Hardy’ style, and making you choke at the same time. (Read on …)

Below I have listed the approximate order in which tasks will occur during your renovation project.
I have not attempted to estimate the time required for each part of the project because it will vary too much between projects. Few projects should take more than six months to a year in total.

You may have additional tasks such as an internal heat circulation system, geothermal heating, air conditioning, built in sound system etc that you will need to factor in to the project plan as necessary.

Even before the project starts you will have a moving-in date in mind. You should therefore also have a reasonable understanding of how that target date will be achieved, and which jobs should be finished by which date. Some degree of delay might be unavoidable, due to weather conditions, injury, etc. You need to be in a position to follow these delays, so a plan based initially on the list of tasks below should provide you with a starting point.

Approximate Chronological Order

Site Clearance

Masonry: structural walls, new openings for doors and windows, concrete floor, outflow pipes from sinks and toilets etc, some buried conduits for the later addition of electricity and water systems, installation of septic tank system

Roof: Should be completed as soon as possible after the walls, so the property has a dry interior. Chimney exits to be considered. Timber treatment.

Plumbing and Electrics: making channels in the walls for buried pipes and wires, putting most conduits in place for carrying the electrics and water

Heating: Some heating systems will require work, especially those with underfloor heating systems or concealed pipework

Doors and Windows and Shutters: As with the roof, useful for keeping the interior dry

Internal walls: Start construction, usually before the screed/chape is laid on the internal floors. Plasterboard one side only.

Electrics and plumbing: placed in the internal walls

Internal walls and Ceilings: Can now be completed - plastered, pointed and so on

Flooring: screed for tiling can be laid

Heating and Plumbing and Electrics: Can all largely be finalised. Certain elements e.g. radiators or sinks may need to wait until floor tiling is completed.

Kitchen and Bathrooms and Internal doors

Tiling: one of the last jobs, in part because you want to avoid the risk that the floor is damaged by building works

Heating and Plumbing and Electrics and Kitchen and Bathroom: any final work required after tiling

Painting and decorating

It will frequently happen that your ruin or barn will have a shell but no internal ‘upstairs’ - so it will need a whole new first floor adding (or replacing).

To add a new floor using exposed beams is practical and attractive, but it is quite a large job. In principle you are simply going to build the new floor with your (hopefully reclaimed) beams, and leave the beams visible rather than plasterboard the underside. If you are starting from nothing you can put plasterboard on top of the beams, so that from below you have a ‘proper’ ceiling on top of the beams. Go the whole way, and paint the plasterboard first - much quicker than painting it in situ.
Before you start you will need a structural engineer or similarly qualified prefessional to tell you what size of beams (cross-section for what length of beam) to use for your particular floor size, and the spacing between them - 60 centimetres is usual. (Read on …)

Important: Please read also the comments that follow this post, which mention the changes in the regulations since this post was made - it is now harder to get reduced rate VAT on conversions and renovations than at the time of the original post (note added 3/5/07)

VAT on building renovations is usually charged at 5.5% instead of 19.6 %.

This reduced rate applies only to the ‘improvement, transformation and making habitable’ of buildings more than 2 years old.

Will VAT (TVA) at a reduced rate apply to your renovation project? (Read on …)