France in Focus

As France have to do a pretty thorough DPE and diagnostic check for selling/purchasing a house, is it worth having a private survey done?

A house we are going to look at has a D energy rating, but there were areas that couldn't be inspected because of destroying plasterboard etc. It has a sous sol without access so that wasn't checked and a grenier again without access.

"Habitation / Sous-sol - Vide sanitaire Toutes Impossibilité d'entrer - Absence de trappe d'accès
Habitation / 1er étage - Comble sous toiture Toutes Impossibilité d'entrer - Absence de trappe d'accès"

Google translation says "Since the actual situation of the building could not be determined due to the presence of various obstacles. it is advisable to request a new visit from the diagnostician, after having removed the obstacles present to date and/or having made the areas concerned accessible. Warning: part of the property could not be examined due to the presence of linings (decorative coatings, insulation, etc.). Only destructive surveys (creation of access hatches, etc.) would make it possible to determine the actual condition of the property, which is located in a notoriously termite-ridden area.
Note: our firm undertakes to return to the site in order to complete the report on the parts of the building not visited, as soon as the arrangements allowing an inspection of the areas concerned have been made by the owner or his agent. This visit will be carried out at the express request of the client (amendment to this report, the costs of travel and drafting of documents remaining the responsibility of the client).


Also the electrics seemed to fail the diagnostics with plenty of pictures showing areas of the problems.

It sounds like a bag of worms but is the diagnostics enough?

From the description, you would need to be prepared to spend a lot of money on it - and that's without uncovering what could be a can of worms. Termites ?

I worked for a French estate agent friend some years ago and the number of properties we saw that had all kinds of nasties covered over with plasterboard/contre-cloison, wooden panelling etc.
Re-wiring will be very expensive and if the grenier is inaccessible, there will be no insulation and probably woodworm.
Personally, I wouldn't touch it even though we could do some of the work ourselves. If you are not in good health, the stress of dealing with such a property could be difficult to manage.

Sorry to be so blunt MOTM2 but perhaps that's because we've been there in the past and now we want to spend our old age doing things we enjoy.

Electrics always seem to fail the tests, unless done within the last 6 months.
As for inaccessibility, surely you'd have to get the owner's permission to break into those spaces???

MAD87 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 16, 2025 9:16 am Electrics always seem to fail the tests, unless done within the last 6 months.
As for inaccessibility, surely you'd have to get the owner's permission to break into those spaces???

Yes I would presume so. That's why the diagnostic person recommended returning after access is provided?

When my younger son bought his house 2 or 3 years ago, the combles were inaccessible. Because he was buying from an aikido acquaintaince, he didn't bother too much about the problems. Big mistake - the upstairs floors were resting on very thin 'beams', which he had to replace. Although he did the work himself, the cost of materials post-Covid was substantial.
When we moved to our current house, I asked the age of certain expensive things (like the boiler) and was given answers which turned out to be a load of bollocks. Caveat emptor sure, but there's very much a laissez-faire attitude in France which I don't like.
As Blaze said: Beware!

The DPE is pretty superficial. It won’t tell you of what could be major problems like subsidence, roof and roof timbers etc. It depends on the location, terrain and age. If a property is more than 20 years old I would invest in a survey.

I have, last week, had a DPE carried out at our place, so they put it down as 2 houses, gite and main house. The main house, I know nothing about the insulation in the limited roof space, the gite I done myself and the level of insulation is pretty thick, so the main house gets a "D", and the smaller gite gets an "E", no lead anywhere, but amiente in the barn roof. Then there is no earth at a socket at high level in the shower room in the gite.
The gite I now understand needs an "Audit" to recommend steps to bring it up to scratch.
OK so there is no socket at high level in the bathroom, what they were inspecting was a terminal box which feeds a low voltage fan and light fitting, which itself is all double insulated and doesn't require an earth, I am at a loss to understand how they come up with an "E" rating for the gite, they haven't taken the ceiling down or anything so how on earth do they know what thickness of insulation is behind there. I could not help myself with the agent, calling it the biggest load of B------s I had ever heard, no lead, yes there is because I used lead flashing on the bedroom windows, then the asbestos in the barn roof, but just a small patch above the door, all the slates are of the same size and design so just this little patch??? All in all a cost of €1500, and no inspection of the fosse, I thought they were going to do that as well, but no more shell out with SPANC. Not bad for 3 hrs work, just another French rip off.
As for a separate survey I had one carried out by a supposed reputable building surveyor when we bought 20 years ago, I think it was about £600 back then biggest waste of money I have ever spent, told me nothing that I couldn't see myself, Wellesly House or something.

€1500?? Daylight robbery!

Our Diagnostics cost 297€, and the rating was B.
He found termites, in our wood for the log burner

MAD87 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 16, 2025 5:26 pm €1500?? Daylight robbery!

Yes I think I will take it up with the estate agent, Leggett's, who arranged it all