Questions frequently asked by our clients...

Which areas of the Languedoc do you cover?

French regions are divided into administrative areas called departements and we cover the departements of the Aude, the Herault in the heart of the region and the Pyrenees-Orientales in the South. In the Aude, we have local agents in Carcassonne and Limoux and also North of Narbonne in the East of the Minervois area... in the Hérault we have two agents inland of Béziers... and in the Pyrénées-Orientales, an agent covering the coastal area near Perpignan. We may be able to arrange a small itinerary of appointments for your visit, depending on your requirements.

Which are the main airports in the region?

The four main Languedoc airports most convenient for our areas are Beziers, Carcassonne, Montpellier and Perpignan, although one can also use Nimes. There are good services from the UK and Ireland and Ryanair operates services into all these airports.

Visitors also arrive via Toulouse, just to the West of the region, and Girona which is not far over the border in Spain.

What about access to beaches and skiing?

The Languedoc has a long Mediterranean coast line with many beautiful beaches; the coastal areas and skiing in the Pyrenees are all easily accessible from the areas we cover.

What is the weather like?

The Languedoc is known as the hottest and sunniest region of France! It has a Mediterranean climate with hot summers and mild winters, with the colder period tending to be mainly in January and February. In fact it is not unusual to have beautiful, warm sunny weather at Christmas and New Year!

What are the advantages of asking for your help?

You will have one point of contact for making a number of appointments, depending on your preferred areas, but as we are not tied to one local French agency you will have access to a variety of agents and areas, as well as a huge selection of properties. When you find your house we can also provide you with on-going general support that might not be available via an individual local agency, including recommending independent, English speaking professional contacts to advise you on your purchase - this support is provided in an informal way, really based on our experiences and the contacts we have built up over the years.

Do you charge us extra fees?

No! Property prices include the normal local agents' commissions and we never charge additional fees at any stage of the process of finding and buying your property. So, you pay the same as a local French person. This is quite normal in overseas property these days and it should not be necessary for agents to charge you extra fees.

What additional costs are involved in buying in France?

The main additional cost is the related legal fees. These vary according the value of the property and if you use an independent solicitor in addition to the French notaire, but for an average house you should probably allow about 6 - 8% on top of house prices for basic notaire fees; if helpful, on request we can indicate likely legal costs for a given budget and you can ask the local agent for the amount of the notaire's fees on a specific property when viewing.

How do you work? Are viewing appointments in English?

When clients plan to visit for house hunting, we can arrange a small itinerary of appointments for them with our local agents to see properties available at the time of the visit. Viewings are usually conducted by an English speaker or, occasionally, by an agent with enough English to make an initial viewing of a property. Because houses are selling all the time, and good properties can go quickly, although we hope that houses of interest will remain available for a visit, we never recommend basing a visit on specific properties; of course, appointments have to be arranged on the basis of seeing what the agents have available at the time.

Are viewings possible on weekends and bank holidays?

Do note that not all agents here work on Saturdays, and hardly any on Sundays, so we advise planning a visit to include some normal weekdays to make the most of opportunities for appointments. Public holidays are observed in France and it would be rare for agents to work on these days. One needs to be aware of French public holidays where different to those in other countries.

We are not ready to buy but we are making an exploratory visit and would like to view some houses. Can you help?

In general, if you are planning a visit to familiarise yourself with the region and areas before you are ready to buy most agents would not recommend using this time to view houses. Prices and exchange rates could easily be very different when you are ready to buy and, as it is so easy now to research property prices on the internet, we recommend using your time on such a visit to explore areas, investigate amenities and experience a little of local life; this process will help you to narrow down your preferred areas, ready for your focussed house hunting.

Can you give us the exact locations of properties?

Our property descriptions indicate the general areas of the properties but the local agents do not these days give the exact locations in advance of a visit; this is for various reasons but mainly for the privacy and security of the owners and the properties themselves, many of which can be holiday homes unattended for long periods. However, at the time of your appointment you can select the properties you would like the agent to take you to view.

Why do you ask for full client contact details?

Buying property in the international market is a serious matter and these days there are all sorts of requirements arising from recent money laundering regulations, etc., and the onus is on agents to take reasonable steps to identify the people they are dealing with and to keep good client records. We believe in maintaining high standards and ask our clients to support this by providing their full contact details which remain confidential and are not passed on to other parties.

How do you provide property details?

We show a huge selection of Languedoc property on our listings site (see Links on this site) and we recommend looking through the properties there to get a good idea of what can be available; the site has an easy-to-use, quick viewing system. If you enquire from the site about any particular houses, we can send you the available details as a document attachment to an email (usually as a 'Pdf' document which will open on most computers). If you need any help with the format of property details we will always be pleased to see how we can help.


If you have any additional questions, please contact us directly via the Questionnaire Form or Email links on this site.

GENERAL CONDITIONS: The property details we send are those supplied to us by the local agents. We provide these details to you in good faith and cannot accept responsibility for any errors in the descriptions although experience shows that errors are very rare. The property details are provided as examples of what can be available and do not form part of any contract. Because any property can be sold at any time we cannot guarantee the availability of any particular properties when you visit. We strongly recommend that you regard all property details seen in advance of a visit purely as examples of what can be available and to visit on the basis of seeing what the agents have available at the time. Please note that we do not act as estate agents ourselves or charge you fees and do not enter into any contract with you and we also therefore reserve the right to change or withdraw the services offered at any time. We are always pleased to arrange appointments for you with local French agents whom we believe may be able to help with your search but these local agencies are separate businesses and ALR Associates is not responsible for the services or advice provided by the agencies concerned. We believe that these agencies are extremely reputable and will offer good services but we do not enter into any form of contract with you when asking these agencies for appointments for you.