Property Resources
At Ascendant we have established a number of reliable and trustworthy partnerships to help our clients with all their alpine property needs. Whether you need advice and help with financing your French property purchase, transferring funds to France, insuring your ski property for private or business use, finding suitable alpine letting agents or property management companies, we have local English-speaking contacts that can help.
To find out more please complete the form below with your details and click “send”. We will be in touch to discuss your property requirements in more detail.
For more information on the various resources available through Ascendant, please click on the links below.
Mortgages | Legal assistance | Currency transfers | Insurance
Letting agents | Property management
Mortgages
Many of our clients are seeking to fund their ski or lakeside property purchase with a French mortgage. We would always recommend dealing with a local contact that has good knowledge of the alpine property market and understands property prices in this part of the French Alps. Your mortgage partner will play a key role in your French property purchase; they will be responsible for ensuring that your application is received and approved within contractually agreed timeframes and they will also be required to liaise closely with the notaire and estate agent handling your sale to confirm your loan approval and the release of funds in time for completion.
You need to be able to feel confident when talking to your mortgage contact - you will have to provide them with confidential information about your finances and be able to trust them to be professional and efficient. Our French mortgage contacts in the region work for large national mortgage lenders, such as Credit Immobilier de France and UCB (previously known as Abbey National France). They speak fluent English and are able to provide you with paperwork in English. They are happy to meet you face-to-face when you are in the area, or liaise with you by telephone or email if you have returned to the UK. Having successfully handled a large number of mortgages for our clients over the years we have no hesitation in recommending their services.
A French bank will typically require a 20% deposit for your mortgage, although some are still offering 100% mortgages. Some banks do offer interest-only mortgages and the interest rates are generally slightly lower than those of UK banks. If you plan to let out your ski or lakeside property to holiday makers, this income can be taken into account in your French mortgage calculations and a tailored package offered for your purchase.
Whether or not you are considering buying a ski or lakeside property through us please let us know if you would like our French mortgage partners to get in touch. You can either complete the contact form at the top of the page to submit to us or alternatively our details are available via the Contact us page of the website.
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Legal assistance
Buying property in France may appear to be a complex and daunting task, particularly if you do not speak the language and do not understand how the legal system operates. We understand that this can add to the stress of your purchase and our aim is to alleviate your concerns by ensuring that you are fully informed every step of the way.
Every time a property is sold in France the sale must be handled by a notaire. A notaire is a public official acting on the behalf of the French government. He or she is tasked with drawing up contracts, checking documents and ensuring that the sale proceeds legally and without error. The notaire is also responsible for ensuring that all relevant taxes are paid to the French government. They act entirely impartially and represent the interests of both the buyer and the vendor. They are there to ensure that no costly mistakes are made and the buyer and vendor complete the purchase or sale without personal and financial risk. During our time working in the region we have handled sales with a number of highly professional and trustworthy notaires who speak fluent English. If you buy a property through Ascendant we would always suggest that one of our known bilingual contacts handles the sale.
He or she will be available for you to discuss your purchase and provide advice on how best to proceed with paperwork related to French inheritance laws. There are many British buyers in the French Alps and the local notaires have excellent experience in handling purchases for non-French speakers.
If you would prefer to also have a contact based in the UK to assist you with your purchase we are able to recommend solicitors who specialise in French property law. If you would like us to recommend a notaire or solicitor please contact us
Full details of the buying process can be found in the Buying guide section of the website.
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Currency transfers
When you are buying a property in France you may need to arrange a transfer of funds between countries, whether you are transferring a smaller sum to cover your initial deposit or sending the full property sale price because you are proceeding with a cash purchase. If you are in a non-euro country there are a number of currency transfer specialists that we work with to ensure that you get the best exchange rate and service for a hassle-free completion.
Once you have completed the purchase of your property you
may need to make regular payments to France, for example
to cover the repayments on a euro mortgage, pay for utilities
and management company bills or transfer a pension to France.
Our currency partners are able to assist you with regular,
automated transfers at a competitive fixed exchange rate.
For more information on our currency specialist associates,
please contact us.
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Insurance
When you purchase your ski or lakeside property in the French Alps you must have home insurance from the day you become the owner. We are able to provide you with a competitive quote for property insurance from our insurance partners.
If you decide that the quote is acceptable to you, we will arrange for the contract paperwork to come out to you for signature. If you are buying a property in the French Alps through Ascendant we will help to arrange the start date of your policy and request a certificate from the providers, which we will present to the notaire handling your purchase as proof that you have cover. Without the certificate the notaire may refuse to transfer the property ownership until a policy is arranged.
To organise an insurance quote for your alpine property you should consider the likely value of the contents and whether or not you plan to let it out. If you have bought a ski property you may wish to let it out during the winter and the summer seasons and if you have a lakeside property you may let it out during the summer months. If you do decide to rent out your alpine property you should ensure that you are covered for personal liability. If your property has a fireplace or a wood burner you must remember to have the chimney swept once a year without fail – failure to do so may invalidate your policy in the event of a fire.
If you would like to arrange an insurance quote for your alpine property you can either complete and submit the form at the top of this page or contact us at the Ascendant offices.
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Letting agents
If you buy a ski or lakeside property with the intention of letting it out you will have a number of options available to you. You could choose to manage the lettings yourself through family and friends or with your own website, alternatively there are ski and alpine property rental websites that can handle the marketing for you. You will need to consider how you will arrange for the keys to be held and cleaning and fresh linens between rentals. The advantage to doing it yourself is that you will save money on agency fees; however you will need to be able to dedicate time and marketing costs to the property. We are usually able to recommend people who hold keys and clean properties for those buyers that choose to manage their own alpine property rentals.
Many ski property owners find that they don’t have the time to manage their own holiday lettings; at Ascendant we know a number of different letting agents across this part of the French Alps who speak English and who are able to help you manage your alpine property for seasonal or annual lets. Our contacts are all local and are based in resorts across the Haute-Savoie region.
You should be able to achieve a good return on your ski property if you let it out across the winter and summer holiday seasons. The winter rental season in the French Alps is generally from the end of December through to mid-April and the summer season spans July and August. You may also be able to achieve some rentals across other weeks of the year, for example half term and early and late summer. Property around Lake Annecy is in demand for rentals throughout the summer, peaking in July and August. Letting your lakeside property at other times of the year may also be possible.
A French letting agent will typically charge you 25-30% commission for managing your rentals and cleaning / changeover days for you. We are happy to recommend agencies in the area that provide this service for our clients.
If you would like to know more about agencies that can help you manage your ski property for rentals please either complete the form at the top of this page or contact us.
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Property management
Once you have started to use your ski or lakeside property you may find that there are things that you would like to have checked or maintained in your absence. For example, if you own an alpine chalet, you may wish the lawns to be mowed in the summer, or if you are planning to come out during the winter you may like to have the snow cleared, heating fired up and some essential items put in your fridge for a late-night arrival. There is also the ongoing maintenance of your alpine property over the years – for example guttering to be repaired, roof times to be replaced and external wood to be treated etc. Even if you have a low-maintenance ski apartment or chalet you may also need to locate a builder local to the French Alps, to implement any planned renovations you have in mind or to replace old kitchens and bathrooms and so on. It could be useful to find someone to help you decorate, furnish and dress your ski or lakeside property – if you don’t have time to come to the Alps to tour the shops or you feel that you lack the language skills to be able to order all the items that you require then you could engage the services of an interior designer to kit out your new home.
There are a number of English-speaking companies in this part of the French Alps that can provide this type of service for our clients. They are able to arrange for collection and drop off at the airport, repairs and ongoing maintenance of properties, renovations, refurbishments and decoration and making sure that your property is secure and welcoming for your arrival.
The location of your property will govern which company is best-placed to look after your needs. Whether or not you have bought a property through us, if you would like to know more about these services please either fill out the form at the top of the page or feel free to contact us.
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