As an owner, you are obliged to provide several essential documents to your buyer when selling your property. These constitute a Technical Diagnosis File (DDT), where you can collect all the technical diagnoses required for your sale. Imposed by law, this procedure guarantees the conformity of the property to your buyer. In France, 12 real estate diagnoses are mandatory and each has a period of validity. Planet lists them for you below with the advice and details of the steps taken by two real estate experts.
As told Planet Lysiane Harbulot, manager of a real estate firm for 20 years in the Grand Est, “one of the big mistakes is not to make the mandatory diagnoses to sell your property.” She specifies that the “DPE is compulsory” and that “when you sell by yourself, saving money is one of the pitfalls to avoid”. Jean-Guy de Bazelaire, real estate expert, also insists on the importance of this document: “from 2025, it will be forbidden to rent accommodation classified G. Then, apartments classified F will be concerned, then those classified E in 2034.” He states that “according to figures from the Ministry of Ecological Transition, there are between 4.9 and 7 million energy strainers among the 29 million homes in France.
Lysiane Harbulot describes the legislation governing asbestos diagnosis “from the perspective of property prior to July 1, 1997”. It is essential since it makes it possible to “prove the presence or absence of asbestos” in the construction of a house or an apartment.
“As part of a construction carried out before January 1, 1949, the risk of exposure to lead is real”, as explained by Lysiane Harbulot, real estate agent. If you are concerned, the diagnosis is mandatory, as is a notice that traces the effects of lead on health. If the presence of lead is proven, you will also need to provide an information note on the precautions to be observed.
Jean-Guy de Bazelaire, real estate expert, mentions the importance of the gas diagnosis, which “is compulsory every three years”. This diagnosis is necessary if your gas installation is more than 15 years old.
Like the gas diagnosis, the electricity diagnosis must be carried out if your electrical installation was installed more than 15 years ago. In the case of an upgrade less than this date, this diagnosis is not expected in the composition of your sales file.
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Lysiane Harbulot, manager of a real estate agency, provides details on this diagnosis which is “to be carried out according to the municipalities”. It details that it can “be compliant, in the private part and on the public domain” before adding that “if it is non-compliant in the private part, the seller must attach an estimate made by a company to quantify the cost of the works.” On the public domain, “there is no obligation if it is non-compliant.”
This real estate diagnosis concerns you if your municipality is subject to a prefectural decree relating to the state of risks and pollution. In this list, you can find natural, mining or technological causes, seismic risk or polluted soils. You must be vigilant because, in the event of a non-compliant diagnosis, your future buyer may request a reduction in the sale price.
If your house is in an area where air pollution is observed, you will need to present a noise diagnosis in order to specify the exact location, but also the plan of exposure to noise pollution and the means of consulting it.
Jean-Guy de Bazelaire, real estate expert, takes stock of this little-known diagnosis: “we must bear in mind the dry rot diagnosis which informs the buyer of the risk of fungi in the construction of a house.” However, he indicates that this diagnosis is often subject to specific locations, “regions that require this dry rot diagnosis.”
Like dry rot diagnosis, termite diagnosis is limited to places governed by a prefectural decree relating to termite risk. It is essential to warn the buyer of the presence of termites in your construction.
This diagnosis, mandatory in the context of a co-ownership, allows the co-owners to assess the work to come and to report on the condition of the building. It must be provided to the buyer with the other diagnoses when the building is more than 10 years old.
Jean-Guy de Bazelaire, real estate agent, returns to the importance of these diagnoses: “there are always mandatory diagnoses and they must be considered as an opportunity for owners.” He advises every seller to see them “as a transfer of responsibilities, where the buyer acquires a good knowingly.” Thus, the Carrez Law metering diagnosis takes into account the private surface of a property after the deduction of the surfaces occupied by the walls and other partitions. It is also mandatory for all sales of goods.
