The vast majority of property sales are made using a loan granted by a bank. Although the buyer is supposed to have approached the banks before signing the preliminary sales agreement, he or she can never be entirely sure that a bank will grant the expected loan. That's why, with the Scrivener Act of 1979, the legislator introduced a system to protect non-professional buyers of residential property when they take out a bank loan.
As soon as a non-professional signs an agreement to purchase a building intended for residential use or a plot of land on which to build a building intended for residential use, the agreement is automatically subject to the suspensive condition of obtaining a loan, even if nothing is specified on this subject in the deed. This is a legal condition precedent.
For this legal condition precedent not to apply, the purchaser must state in writing that he or she is not taking out a loan and that he or she acknowledges that if he or she nevertheless needs a loan, he or she will no longer be able to rely on this legal condition precedent.
In this way, there is a presumption that a loan has been taken out and an accompanying protective mechanism.
In practice, when the buyer takes out a loan, it is always important to set out the legal suspensive condition, specifying the amount to be borrowed, the term, the interest rate, the maximum time limit for submitting the loan application to a bank, the maximum time limit for obtaining the bank's response, etc.
With regard to the deadline for obtaining the bank's response, the legislator has stipulated that it may not be less than one month from the date of signing the compromis.
This legal condition precedent only applies to non-professional buyers of residential property. In all other cases, this clause must be included in the agreement. This will be the case, for example, if the purchaser wishes to buy commercial premises.