Warning when viewing property in France

Viewing property in France

The attraction of buying a property in France is about buying a little bit of the French lifestyle. Invariable this means the wonderful French wines. Many of our buyers discover a property on the internet and arrange with an agent viewing's in France. Those who are tempted to partake in a few glasses of French wine between viewing's need to know some hard facts.

France was once seen as having  a laissez faire attitude concerning drink drive but has seen a complete change of attitude to the offence. Frances driving code the Code de la route has now resulted in very stiff driving laws. These laws are stricter than in the UK and other parts of Europe.

What's your limit

The French driving law states that 0.5 grams of alcohol per litre of blood. Depending on body type and condition this is about  2.5 units . One unit is 125cl glass of wine,25cl of beer or 3cl of spirits.

What's the punishment

'Un Contravention'

Drivers in France caught with between 0.5g/l and 0.8 g/l commit a civil offence. This carries a fine up to 750Euros 6 points and your vehicle impounded on the side of the road.    

'Un delit'

Driving with above 0.8g/l is classed as a criminal offence. This can attract up to 4500 Euros your licence can be taken from you for up to 5 years. You may get the equivalent to community service order and you risk a 2 year jail term. Your car may be permanently confiscated.

Drink drive and have an accident what to expect

Fines up to 30,000 Euros. The jail terms increases up to 10 years if you injure somebody and you will be liable of up to 150,000 compensation if you kill someone.

France is clearly determined to reduce the death toll bought on by drink driving so when viewing your dream home in France do not sample a glass between viewings