Pre-Purchase feasibility
Vision Pack
Most buyers search for a property that already looks the way they want it to look. The properties with genuine potential are often the ones that look too complex, too constrained, or too far from the finished vision to consider seriously.
The Vision Pack changes that. It is a pre-purchase architectural and regulatory feasibility assessment for a specific property. We combine a reading of the planning framework, the legal status of the building, and the architectural possibilities to produce a clear answer to the question every serious buyer needs before they commit: what can this property actually become, and how do we get there?
The output is a written assessment covering the legal and planning status of the building, the specific transformation opportunity we have identified, an architectural proposal showing how to unlock that potential, and realistic cost benchmarks for delivery. It is not a survey and it is not a checklist. It is the intelligence that turns a property others have misread or rejected into a decision you can make with confidence.
What a Vision Pack has delivered for our clients:
A glazed link connecting a detached barn to the main farmhouse, making a Zone A conversion possible when every reading of the planning framework suggested it was not.
Research into the deeds of sale that revealed a building legally classified as a maison with its own address, unlocking a renovation that three previous architects had said was impossible.
A three-layer strategy for a chateau in Zone A: an immediate commercial model within the existing zoning, a PLU revision argument running in parallel, and a design approach that anticipates the future events use so that when the zoning changes, the transformation is a quick step rather than a rebuild.
Vision Pack from 3,000 euros. Pre-purchase only. Scope and complexity may require an uplift on the base fee. A Vision Session always comes first.
Property Assessment
Asset Insight
The mandatory diagnostics that accompany every French property sale cover a specific and legally defined set of issues. They do not assess the structural condition of the building. They say nothing about whether the roof has five years left or twenty-five, whether the foundations are sound, whether the drainage functions properly, or whether the plumbing and electrical systems would survive a significant renovation.
Asset Insight fills that gap. It is an independent architectural and structural assessment of a specific property, carried out before the compromis de vente is signed, at the stage when the findings can still influence the decision.
The assessment covers the structural condition of the building fabric, roof and charpente, walls, floors and foundations, the condition and compliance of key services including electrical, plumbing and drainage systems, the fosse septique where mains drainage is not available, outbuildings and external elements, and a measured survey of the existing floor area where required for planning purposes.
The output is a written report in plain English with a clear assessment of condition, the implications for any transformation programme, and a frank view of whether the property represents what the buyer understands it to be.
Asset Insight forms the foundation of the Purchase Intelligence bundle alongside Compliance Clarity and Financial Foresight. It can also be commissioned as a standalone service.
From 2,500 euros.
Planning & Compliance
Compliance Clarity
Every French property sits within a planning framework that determines what can be done with it, what has been done to it in the past, and what the regulatory consequences of any future change might be. That framework is local, specific, and often complex, and it is almost never fully explained to buyers during the purchase process.
Compliance Clarity is a pre-purchase regulatory assessment of a specific property. It addresses the questions the notaire cannot answer and the diagnostics do not cover.
The assessment establishes which planning framework applies to the property and the parcelle, whether PLU, Carte Communale or RNU, and what that framework permits. It examines the planning history of the building for evidence of historic unauthorised works, assesses any ABF oversight that applies to the site, reviews the relevant zoning designation and its implications for the buyer's intended use, and identifies any planning compliance issues that would need to be resolved before new permissions could be obtained.
Where a specific transformation project is in mind, a Certificat d'Urbanisme operationnel can be requested as part of the service to establish in-principle planning permission for the intended works before the compromis de vente is signed.
The output is a written report in plain English with a clear assessment of the property's regulatory position and the implications for the buyer's plans.
Compliance Clarity forms part of the Purchase Intelligence bundle alongside Asset Insight and Financial Foresight. It can also be commissioned as a standalone service.
From 2,000 euros.
Cost Intelligence
Financial foresight
Buying a significant French property almost always implies a transformation programme of some kind. The cost of that programme is one of the most important factors in whether the acquisition makes financial sense, and it is almost always the least well-understood element of the pre-purchase assessment.
Financial Foresight is a realistic transformation cost assessment for a specific property and a specific brief. It draws on the findings of Asset Insight and the regulatory picture established by Compliance Clarity to produce a costed view of what the transformation will actually require.
The assessment covers realistic cost benchmarks for the structural and fabric works indicated by the property survey, the mechanical and electrical works required to bring the building to a contemporary standard, any drainage or fosse septique works, the architectural and planning fees involved in the project, and where the buyer has a specific transformation brief, an indicative budget for delivering that brief to the appropriate standard.
The output is a written report in plain English with realistic cost ranges for each element of the programme, an honest assessment of any financial risks in the project, and a view on whether the overall budget is calibrated correctly for the acquisition price and the buyer's ambitions.
Financial Foresight is not a quantity surveyor's tender document and it does not replace the estimates that contractors will provide at the design stage. It is the pre-purchase intelligence that tells a buyer whether the numbers are in the right territory before they commit.
Financial Foresight forms part of the Purchase Intelligence bundle alongside Asset Insight and Compliance Clarity. It can also be commissioned as a standalone service.
From 2,500 euros.
Architectural Delivery
Full Transformation
For clients who want to take a property from acquisition through to completed transformation, Meridian Grey provides end-to-end architectural and project management services across the full programme.
This covers concept design and planning applications, detailed design and specification, contractor procurement and management, and site supervision through to practical completion and the DAACT filing. The service operates in French with all regulatory authorities, artisans and contractors, and in English with the client throughout.
Full Transformation clients typically engage Meridian Grey at the pre-purchase stage through the Purchase Intelligence bundle, which means the design process begins with a complete understanding of the building's condition, its regulatory position and a realistic cost landscape. The transformation programme is built on that foundation rather than discovering its constraints after commitment.
Fees for Full Transformation are typically 10 to 15 percent of the construction cost.
Contact us for more information
If you are considering a significant French property acquisition and would like to discuss your specific situation, tell us a little about your project and we will be in touch.