Coronavirus: Cooling-off period and time period for getting a mortgage

Cooling-off period 

When buying a house in France the purchaser has a 10-day cooling-off period which starts to run the day after receiving a formal notification with a copy of the preliminary contract. The current emergency lockdown due to the Coronavirus disturbs the correct functioning of notification systems so the law has been changed (link to text below) to take this into account and extend the deadline. If the preliminary contract is notified after the start of the lockdown (12th March), the cooling-off period will only start to run from the date the lockdown ends. The purchaser will then have 1 month + 10 days from the end of the lockdown to change their mind about the purchase.

Time period for getting a mortgage

If a purchaser needs a mortgage to finance their property purchase, the preliminary contract includes a clause making the purchase subject to the mortgage being granted. The law gives a minimum time period of 30 days to get the mortgage. The processing of mortgage applications has been heavily impacted by the current crisis. To allow for this, the deadline will only start to run from one month after the end of the lockdown. The purchaser will have 2 months from then to get their mortgage.

https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexte.do?cidTexte=JORFTEXT000041755644