Bath-headquartered national law firm Stone King this week become the first in the city launch a French conveyancing service offering comprehensive support to clients buying or selling a home in France.
The firm has recently seen a growth in inquiries linked to property in France, especially from Brits worried about the impact of Brexit on their purchases or sales.
With the UK’s EU departure date of March 29, 2019, looming, Stone King decided to widen the services offered by its Bath-based international & cross-border team to include a complete French property package.
International & cross-border team head Dan Harris said most people looking to buy or sell in France hired a French lawyer and tried to understand French legal terms and procedures. However, the conveyancing process in France is very different from the UK.
Stone King, which also has offices in Birmingham, Cambridge, Leeds, and London, has particular expertise in navigating French law. Through its new service, the firm acts as a single point of contact for buyers and sellers while carrying out the leg work, managing the project and working closely with an experienced and trusted French notaire.
Dan, pictured, said: “For many years we have been helping clients and their families navigate foreign legal systems by drafting wills to cover their overseas property or supporting the families of those who have died owning assets abroad.
“We were receiving increasing levels of inquiries about buying and selling in France, particularly from clients wishing to complete their transaction to beat Brexit. We saw the demand for a firm to act as a single point of contact for anyone buying or selling a property in France, to guide them through what can be an extremely complicated process.
“With the expertise and contacts we have in France we can help people from the ‘bon de visit’ to the ‘compromis de vente’, through all the searches and surveys and all the way to the ‘acte de vente’.”
Although the firm’s specialist international & cross-border team is based in Bath, the service is available to anyone, wherever they are situated in the world.
As well as a comprehensive French conveyancing service, Stone King also provides advice on cross-border tax and succession. Unusually, this includes drafting wills to cover a person’s worldwide estate, including any French assets. The firm also specialises in helping people who are executors of wills, particularly where international assets are involved.
Stone King employs more than 240 people offering specialist legal advice in the areas of private client, education, charity & social enterprise, and business.
