Why's our house sale going slow?

Q - WE FOUND ourselves very short of money and decided to put our house on the market for €125,000 – half its valued price. The agent produced a buyer within days, an offer was made and we signed the compromis de vente almost immediately.
We were always led to believe that the signature on a compromis was binding unless the offer of a mortgage was not forthcoming in the first month. We were also told that an acte de vente would typically be signed on or around the three-month mark.
The three-month deadline approached and we were informed that the bank had told the buyer he needed to sell his car before they would pass the mortgage. Then, two weeks after the deadline, we were informed that he would instead be applying for a bridging loan on his other property.
It has now been nearly five months. Can we sue for damages to cover the extra bank charges we have had to pay? A.H.

A - BY LAW, the compromis de vente includes a clause suspensive stating that the agreement is cancelled if the buyer is unable to get the necessary loan to fund the purchase.

This does not necessarily have to appear in the document – it automatically applies as it is enshrined in the Code de la Consommation since 1979. However the law does not fix a default deadline for this condition to be met, so it depends on the wording of your compromis.

The contract you signed was very vague. There was no mention of a deadline by which the buyer needed to have obtained a loan, and there was no scheduled completion date.

It is essential that the compromis is as clear as possible about the size of the loan required, the deadline for obtaining it, the maximum interest rate and how much the buyer is expected to contribute to the purchase cost.

Since you wrote to us, the acte de vente has finally been signed and the house transferred to its new owner.