NEWS DIY IS NO EXCUSE
CASHLESS ECONOMY The European Parliament and member states agreed in January to work from a ‘single rulebook’ and limit cash payments within the European Union to €10,000. Crypto-asset providers and traders of luxury goods, among others, will also be required to perform due diligence and report potentially suspicious transactions. The measures are
A
seller who has carries out DIY work in their property, whether
or not he or she is an expert in the trade, is bound by the same responsibilities as the professionals should defects subsequently appear, Le Figaro has reported, citing a recent decision by the Cour de Cassation, the higher court for civil and criminal cases in France. Based on the French Civil
Code, the court refused to allow the homeowner who had carried out the works before selling the house to claim ‘amateur’ status or ignorance
of the defects as a release from liability. The report notes that although notaires customarily stipulate in the deeds of sale that the buyer waives all claims in the event of a subsequent discovery of a hidden defect, the seller had carried out the defective work that had caused the damage, which on this occasion referred to serious leaks. In this case, the court
confirmed prior rulings establishing that the seller, just like a professional builder or project manager, is presumed to have knowledge of the defects and can therefore not benefit from the buyer’s waiver
NEWS IN BRIEF
n British citizens living in France are now eligible to register to vote in UK general elections, regardless of how long they’ve been living outside the UK. A new law, which came into effect in January, removed the previous 15-year time limit.
nProperty developers building the athletes’ village for this year’s Paris Olympics are struggling to find buyers for their apartments once the Games have finished, due to the downturn in the French property market. The vast complex in the deprived St-Ouen suburb has become one of Europe’s largest construction sites. The residential towers will host
Paris Olympics Athletes’ Village
10,500 Olympics athletes before being converted into private homes, social housing and student accommodation. Of 88 apartments put up for sale by the Icade group in July, around 10 have sold, according to an executive at the company, with prices now being reduced by around 9% to €6,900/m2
. 14 FRENCH PROPERTY NEWS: March/April 2024
n Where in their native country do French people living overseas want to invest in property? The barometer of non-resident real estate investment from Immoneos. fr has revealed that the cities of Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Nice, Lille, Mulhouse and Montpellier are the most popular locations for a property investment.
n Moving to France could lead to significant weight loss. Ski Vertigo analysed all 50 European countries to curate a list of the lowest BMI hotspots, and then used this information to calculate the weight loss impact on the average female and male in the UK if they were
to reach the average BMI of the listed countries. The result was that France offered a weight loss potential of 17.9lb for women and 10.8lb for men.
nData from TripAdvisor, analysed by women-only tour company Solo Female Travelers, ranked Paris as the best city in Europe for foodies. It was followed by Italy’s Florence and Rome.
n A study by INSEE, the French national statististics agency, has shown the regressive nature of the taxe foncière property tax. The tax, paid by homeowners, appears to disproportionately affect those on lower incomes.
of this clause in the deed of sale. The seller in question was a legal entity, a société civile immobilière (SCI), which had carried out the defective work, according to the report. Even though the partners of the SCI had changed, the entity itself remained liable for the hidden defects because it was “presumed to have been aware of them”, unless it could provide proof of the contrary. In a previous case in 2016
the court had already ruled that knowledge of defects could not vary according to the competence of the person who carried out the work, Le Figaro added.
designed to provide uniformity in the fight against money laundering, and member states will be free to set a lower maximum limit if desired The deal needs to
be formally adopted by Parliament and the European Council before it can come into force. The European Parliament
and member states had already approved the creation of an EU agency to combat money laundering, known as the anti-money laundering authority (AMLA), which will be responsible for supervising and coordinating national authorities to better detect and combat suspicious cross-border activity.
©SHUTTERSTOCK
©NICK YOUNGSON /PIX4FREE
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