The Lyon market and its financing · Guide
Silk-weaver’s apartment in Croix-Rousse: valuation and financing
High ceilings, mezzanine, period building: how a silk-weaver’s apartment affects the measured floor area, the valuation and the dossier presented to the lender.
A silk-weaver’s apartment is a residence adapted within a nineteenth-century building constructed for silk workshops, featuring high ceilings and often a mezzanine. For both the valuation and the bank, three aspects are significant: the actual measured Carrez floor area, the condition of the period structure and its required works, and the co-ownership, including its charges and property surveys.
By Sandy MASCART, mandataire d'intermédiaire en opérations de banque et en services de paiement ORIAS 26000541 sous le mandat de CDV PATRIMOINE & ASSURANCE (ORIAS 14005573)
Key points
- ‘Silk-weaver’s’ is not a legal category: the sale deed describes a co-ownership lot and its private floor area, never a style of apartment.
- The Carrez floor area sums up floor surfaces: a sufficiently high mezzanine is included, whereas the ceiling height adds no square metres.
- A price per square metre is meaningful only if one knows on which floor area it is calculated: the sales basis publishes two distinct floor areas.
- The energy performance diagnostic is annexed to the preliminary sale agreement; only its recommendations have an indicative value.
- The co-ownership documents are due at the latest by the preliminary sale agreement: they detail the charges, the works voted on and the upcoming works plan.
“Silk-weaver’s apartment, generous proportions, beams, mezzanine”: the word sells on the Croix-Rousse. The notary, the valuer and the lender read something else: a measured floor area, an old building, a co-ownership. See the market and financing in Lyon, prices by arrondissement and the property valuation.
What is a silk-weaver’s apartment?
A dwelling in a nineteenth-century building constructed for the looms of the silk weavers: very high ceilings, large windows, beams. The mezzanine recalls the attic of the workshop.
See the encyclopaedic article on the canuts. Frequent features, never certain: great height (and volume to heat), original or added mezzanine, old floors, old co-ownership. “Canut” is not a legal category: the deed describes a lot and its floor area.
Carrez floor area: the mezzanine may count, the height never
The Carrez floor area adds up the enclosed and covered floors. A mezzanine of sufficient height is included, and may cause the footprint to be exceeded. The ceiling height adds no square metres.
- The mezzanine counts where it is sufficiently high; if low, it may even remove the area it overlooks.
- Volume does not count.
- Small lots, cellars, garages and parking spaces are excluded from the calculation.
The habitable floor area also excludes cellars, loggias, balconies and conservatories. The “floor area” in property listings has no legal definition.
Area smaller than the deed: your remedies
- In the absence of a stated area, the nullity of the preliminary sale agreement may be invoked.
- If the actual area is smaller than the deed by more than a fixed fraction: you may request a proportional reduction in price, within a period calculated from the deed.
Request the detailed measurement, level by level, including the mezzanine.
Was the mezzanine authorised?
Anchored in the main structure, it affects the common areas and may require a vote by the general meeting. Ask the notary for the minutes of authorisation early on.
Estimating the fair price
Start with comparable sales, adjusted to the same area. Then correct for the works, the EPC and the service charges.
- Same calculated area: the land values publish the Carrez area and the actual built area, which are not comparable.
- Same type of property, same street, rather than an average.
- Do not pay twice for the volume.
A flat in the 4th arrondissement, slopes in the 1st (the neighbourhood): no median tells you what a particular canut is worth.
Works and EPC: to be quantified before the offer
The property surveys dossier annexed to the preliminary sale agreement includes lead, electricity, gas where applicable, and the EPC. Electricity, joinery, insulation, mezzanine refurbishment: quantified by quotes, they are included in the loan (works in the loan).
The EPC classifies the dwelling according to its consumption and emissions, with theoretical costs. Only its recommendations are indicative.
- The class is stated in the property listing, with the theoretical costs.
- The building survey is requested from the building manager: it describes the envelope.
- For rental, the class sets the ban schedule (the energy inefficient properties).
A file that answers the lender in advance
The lender reads what the valuer reads: surface area, condition, and the building regulations. An atypical property may trigger a survey.
| What the lender may examine | The document that addresses it |
|---|---|
| The surface area of the lot | The area clause in the preliminary sale agreement and the detailed measurement, including the mezzanine |
| The regularity of the mezzanine | The building regulations and, where applicable, the minutes of authorisation |
| The condition of the dwelling | The complete technical property surveys file, and the quotes for the planned works |
| The energy performance | The survey of the lot, and that of the building if it exists |
| The service charges and upcoming works | The building regulations documents provided at the preliminary sale agreement |
| The price relative to the market | Dated and located comparable sales of the same type of property |
A survey below the price? The typical error here is a surface area that has not been correctly restated: correct it, or see the other levers.
Old building regulations: what they will cost
The documents provided at the latest at the preliminary sale agreement state this (the works voted on in the building regulations):
- the regulations and the descriptive statement: common or private, including the mezzanine;
- the minutes of the general meetings: works voted on, authorisations;
- the maintenance log and the multi-annual plan: the upcoming calls for funds.
Seven checks before the loan offer
- The detailed Carrez surface area, level by level, and dated.
- The price compared on the same surface area, same type, same street.
- The mezzanine: original or added, authorised or not.
- The EPC of the lot and of the building.
- The minutes and the multi-annual plan: roof, façade, floors.
- Quotes for the works: a quote can be financed, an intention cannot.
- All these documents for the lender.
I am Sandy MASCART, a mandate holder for an intermediary in banking operations and payment services (ORIAS n° 26000541), a mandate holder of CDV PATRIMOINE & ASSURANCE: I prepare and present the file; I do not judge the value or the regularity of the property (fees). Have your project examined by telephone, with the property listing in hand.
Create your file: surface area, quotes and building regulations documents gathered once.
Sources
- Légifrance — /loda/article_lc/LEGIARTI000029946555
- Légifrance — /loda/article_lc/LEGIARTI000006488230
- Légifrance — /loda/article_lc/LEGIARTI000006488239
- Légifrance — /loda/article_lc/LEGIARTI000006488246
- Légifrance — /loda/article_lc/LEGIARTI000037671848
- Légifrance — /loda/article_lc/LEGIARTI000051749507
- Légifrance — Article R. 156-1 du code de la construction et de l’habitation
- Légifrance — Article L. 271-4 du code de la construction et de l’habitation
- Légifrance — Article L. 126-26 du code de la construction et de l’habitation
- Légifrance — Article L. 126-33 du code de la construction et de l’habitation
- Légifrance — Article L. 126-31 du code de la construction et de l’habitation
- Légifrance — Article L. 126-28-1 du code de la construction et de l’habitation
- Légifrance — Article L. 721-2 du code de la construction et de l’habitation
- Légifrance — Article L. 721-3 du code de la construction et de l’habitation
- data.gouv.fr — Demandes de valeurs foncières
- Wikipédia — Canut
- Wikipédia — La Croix-Rousse
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- Price per square metre by district in Lyon: where to read the medians, and what your budget buys Price per square metre in Lyon: where to read the median of actual sales in each district, the caveats involved, and the floor area your budget can purchase.
- Works voted on in a co-ownership before your purchase: who pays, and on what date Works voted on before the sale of an apartment: what the 1967 decree places on the seller or the buyer, and what the preliminary sale agreement can change.
- DPE F and G: how to finance an energy-inefficient property in Lyon, including renovation works A DPE F or G property can be financed: quotes before the offer, works in the loan, deferred repayment until completion. What the bank requires, in Lyon.
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