Obligations of the purchaser

Following the signature of the compromise of sale, you are held to respect as a purchaser certain obligations.

The taking possession

The taking possession of the places generally means the handing-over of the keys to the purchaser. It normally takes place at the date of the signature of the notarial act. As of the date of entry in possession of the places envisaged in the contract, the purchaser must discharge taxes and taxes concerning housing. It is held to regulate neither the tax of dwelling nor the real estate tax of January 1 in progress.

The payment of the price

The purchaser has an essential obligation which consists in obviously regulating the payment of the price stipulated in the contract. This obligation of payment also relates to the “expenses of act and other accessories to the sale”, which are the responsibility of the purchaser, according to article 1593 of the Civil code.

The parts concerned can consider another distribution of this kind of expenses. Jointly, the purchaser and the salesman are responsible interdependent of the expenses and the fees generated by the notary as well as the taxes and taxes associated with the sale.

As specified higher, the purchaser is not indebted real estate tax and tax of dwelling which remain with the load of the owner and the occupant at January 1 of the current year. According to the date of acquisition, the contracts frequently envisage a distribution prorata temporis these taxes. The purchaser will not pay post maturity interest for the period passed between the date of the sale and the payment of the price, if it is not in the three cases stipulated by article 1652 of the Civil code:

• when these interests were envisaged in the contract,
• when the good produces incomes,
• when the purchaser was summoned to pay.

In this last case, the interest runs only since the summation.

If the salesman did not fulfill his obligations, the purchaser can put forward the concept "of exception of inexecution" to suspend a part only or all the transaction.

Modes of payment

The obligation to discharge price of the transaction is allocated obviously to the purchaser, but can also be transferred to a under-purchaser, with the agreement of the salesman. If the purchaser dies before the payment of the price, the obligation is also transmitted to its heirs. Normally, the payment of the price is carried out in the presence of the notary. Indeed, the possible creditors of the salesman can profit from valuable securities on good (mortgage, etc). In this case, the notary is held to pay them by levy on the product of the sale, before paying the balance as of the salesman.

The purchaser must regulate the price “at the day and the place regulated by the sale (Article 1650 of the Civil code). He thus returns from there to the parts to lay down the modes of payment during the signature of the preliminary contract. If not, article 1651 stipulates that the payment is carried out “with the place and in time when must be made the delivery”, during the handing-over of the keys.

The salesman has several recourse in the event of nonpayment of by purchaser. In fact, two recourse diametrically opposite are offered to him. It is of the distraint or about the cancellation of the sale.

Distraint

The salesman can use all the tools of the creditors to force the purchaser to fulfill his financial obligations. Article 1612 of the Civil code: “the salesman is not held to deliver the thing if the purchaser does not pay the price of them” also allows the salesman to exert his right of lien on the good.

The cancellation of the sale

Article 1654 of the Civil code: “if the purchaser does not pay the price, the salesman can ask for the resolution of the sale” grants the salesman the possibility of taking an action of resolution of the sale. This action is not realizable in the case of an auction, one then gives the good in adjudication, on the other hand it is possible in the event of partial payment. The judge can then consider that unpaid weak amount does not justify the cancellation of the sale. As long as the legal procedure and that the judgement are not finished, the purchaser can settle the debt and can be in the same way to prevent the resolution. The judge is not obliged to accept this payment on the other hand if he considers it too late, it can just as easily grant terms of payment.

Obligations of the salesman

Transfer of property
Article 1583 of the Civil code stipulates that the sale famous is concluded as soon as agreement is reached between the purchaser and the salesman and that they “were appropriate of the thing and the price”. Generally, the transfer of property is carried out before the good “is delivered” to the purchaser and that it paid the price of them. The transfer of property is opposable with the thirds only after publication of the sale contract at the Office of the mortgages. Concerning the transfer of the risks, it is carried out at the same time as that of the property (Article 1138). When a damage affects the good sold between the contract signature and the handing-over of the keys, it falls about it normally on the purchaser. The good must be in conformity under the compromise or commitment to sell.

Obligation of information

The salesman must communicate to the purchaser all information which it has before concluding the sale. They inform about the situation of the building, of possible procedures in progress, the existence of a lease or constraints, etc If not, the purchaser can be provided in justice and ask damages, and even require the cancellation of the sale. He as well has sure the obligation to provide the real diagnoses.
Obligation of delivery

Delivery

The principal obligation of the salesman is to transfer the property from the real estate by its delivery to the purchaser, thus making it possible the purchaser to take possession of the places, or to perceive the rents if it is about a rented good. This delivery relates to housing as well as all its “accessories”, which are essential to its use (documents of title, certificates various, etc). If the salesman does not fulfill his obligation of delivery, the purchaser can ask in justice for the cancellation of the sale or his distraint. The purchaser with the possibility of asking in addition to the damages to make good the damage.

If the salesman notes that the purchaser is close to the suspension of payment, it can push back the delivery of the good. The salesman can also call upon a case of major force which can suspend or cancel its obligation of delivery.

Conformity

During the delivery, the good must be in conformity with the specifications of the contract. Article 1614 of the Civil code stipulates that the good must be delivered in the state where it is at the time of the sale. Therefore, between the moment of the signature and that of the handing-over of the keys, the salesman with the obligation to preserve his good in the state, therefore to supervise it. Since the Law Square, the contracts relating to batches of joint ownership must mention exact surface. When real surface is lower of more than 5% than the surface stipulated in the act, the purchaser can request a reduction of the price from the proportion in the year which follows.

Obligation of guarantee

Obligations particular to the load it salesman are used to protect the interests or health from the purchaser.

• the law Carrez which force to indicate in the promise and the sale contract exact surface of the batch of joint ownership the purchaser will have
• the presence of the termites and insects xylophagous
• the presence of lead in paintings, the buildings built before 1948
• the presence of asbestos, in the buildings whose permit building was delivered before July 1, 1997
• the diagnosis for the installations of natural gas carried out since more than fifteen years, a diagnosis on the state of the natural and technological risks, an energy diagnosis of performance, a state of interior electrical installation if it dates of more than fifteen years.

The absence of these certificates does not involve the nullity of the sale. But if the purchaser discovers thereafter the presence of termites, lead or asbestos, it can ask a reduction in price, and even the cancellation of the sale.

Guarantee against the ousting

Does the guarantee of ousting make it possible to ensure? the purchaser peaceful pleasure of the bought good, that neither the salesman, nor the thirds must disturb. Does the salesman have in particular to reveal? the purchaser the existence of constraints supported by the good sold like a right-of-way or a right of drawing up. The salesman is responsible for the possible disputes emitted by thirds against the rights of the purchaser. This responsibility can be blamed only at two conditions. At the time of the sale, the salesman, based on his bona fide, was not to know about a possible litigation, or then the litigation must be caused by a fault of the salesman and not by an external event.

Guarantee against the latent defects

The salesman of the real estate is held towards the purchaser of an imperative legal guarantee, that of the latent defects. Article 1641 of the Civil code stipulates that a latent defect is a defect which makes the good unsuitable with use for which it is intended or which reduces this use so much that the purchaser would not have carried out the transaction or would have poured a price less raised. The latent defect must affect the structure or the nature even of the building and should not limit to any defect of approval. The application of the guarantee for hidden defect requires two conditions. The purchaser was not to know the defect at the time of the sale and the defect must be former to the sale.

The purchaser who discovers a latent defect has two possibilities. He can, either to keep housing and to take action known as “estimatoire” by requiring a restitution partial of the price, or to return housing and to take action known as “crippling” which involves the undoing of the sale and the restitution of the marked up price of the expenses. If the salesman is insincerely, the purchaser can ask damages. He will have to rather quickly take this action after having invested the places for one period generally going from six months to one year.