Financing

In the purchase of a property, or in obtaining a mortgage, the intervention of a solicitor can be essential. He should be selected by you, and not recommended by your banker or the seller: one of the solicitor's missions is to defend his client. 

The government has arranged a number of tax breaks aimed at encouraging families to buy their own home. To benefit from these breaks, however, a number of conditions must be met.

The life insurance premium that you have taken out is taken into account for the deduction for your own and only home if the following conditions are met:

If you protect your personal residence against burglary and fire, you have been able to benefit from a tax reduction since the 2008 tax year. 

Any landlord letting one or more dwellings through a social letting office can benefit from a tax reduction for each dwelling if he has them renovated.

Certain bodies have been set up to help people with modest incomes purchase a property. These bodies are the Housing Funds or Regional Housing Corporations. There are two main ways in which these bodies can help: with mortgage loans and allowances.

A mortgage is a loan relating to a property. The creditor (bank, insurance company etc.) lends a sum of money to the buyer who gives the building as security. The buyer can keep the building so long as repayment of the loan is guaranteed.

When a credit account is opened, the lender places a certain sum of money at the disposal of the purchaser, who can use this as and when the need arises, e.g. during the building of a new dwelling or during renovation work.

You may wish to renovate your home, put in a new kitchen or bathroom suite, convert the loft etc. The banks have a specific type of loan for this kind of project: the loan for works (or conversion or renovation loan, etc).

You are a homeowner and you want to sell your property in order to buy a new one. Between purchasing the latter and selling the former you can apply for a bridging loan.