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Old as the hills
 Buying en viager in France might be an ideal investment, as long as you have patience and a penchant for a ghoulish gamble.
Published in Square Foot Magazine on 15 April 2006
Purchasing a French property en viager is a legal if tastefully questionable practice whereby the buyer essentially takes a punt on how long the owner is likely to live. In most cases, the buyer agrees to pay a lump sum, typically 10 to 20 per cent of the value of the property, followed by monthly installments. The owner continues to occupy the property, and when they go to meet their maker, ownership transfers to the buyer.
Monthly payments are calculated on the basis of the property's value and how much longer the owner is likely to live, although no agency would openly admit to being that crass. If the homeowner does not live as long as statistically expected, the buyer gets a bargain, but if the owner just keeps ticking on, the buyer may pay far more than market value for the property.
Why?
 There are many advantages to the purchaser:
- The price is agreed
- The property is occupied by reliable tenants who are very likely to take care of it
- Down payments are typically much less than those of regular property transactions. They are never more than 30 per cent of the sale price and can sometimes even be zero
How?
- Contact a viager specialist agency. Good sources include classified ads in national broadsheets such as Le Figaro, French property magazine De Particulier a Particulier (www.pap.fr) and the Yellow Pages (www.pagesjaunes.fr)
- Hire a local expert to assess the property and an independent legal expert before making any commitments. Make sure that your solicitor is fluent in French and familiar with French property law
- Read the small print as there may be clauses stipulating that failure to pay a monthly installment will result in you forfeiting the property and all funds already paid out
Anything else?
Buying en viager is essentially gambling on someone's death, but this can go horribly wrong. In 1965, notaire Andre-Francois Raffy contracted a viager purchase on 90-year-old Jeanne Calment's apartment in the south of France. After a 30-year wait, Mr Raffy finally succumbed first to the Grim Reaper at the age of 74 and having paid twice the market value for the property. His estate continued to pay out to Mrs Calment until her death in 1997 at the ripe old age of 122, making her the oldest living person according to the Guiness Book of World Records.
Who?
Legal advice
Guellec-Digby
+44 1604 878 961
Riddell Croft and Co
+44 1473 384 870
www.riddellcroft.com
Sykes Anderson
+44 20 7398 4700
www.sykesanderson.com
John Howell & Co
+44 20 7420 0400
www.europelaw.com
Specialist viager agencies
Alliance Immobilier
+ 33 5 57 85 90 72
www.alliance-viager.com
Etude Lodel
+33 1 43 55 00 44
www.viagerlodelparis.com
Legasse Viager
+33 1 45 55 86 18
www.viager.fr
Viagers Lapous
+33 1 45 54 28 66
www.viager-lapous.com
Viagers Prevoyance
+33 1 45 05 56 56
www.viagers.net
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