The developer must notify a French off-plan buyer of the draft sale deed at least one month before signature, according to Service Public. That gives you a defined opportunity to read the contract. It does not mean the building site will wait while you decide where the dishwasher goes.
For a non-resident buying a ski apartment, the chance to change a few details before completion can be one of the strongest attractions of buying new. A better kitchen connection, a useful socket or a different internal arrangement may save a tiresome job after handover. The difficulty is turning an agreeable conversation into something the construction team has actually been instructed to build.
The French term is travaux modificatifs acquéreur, usually shortened to TMA: buyer-requested modifications. Here is a practical way to manage them from abroad, using official contract guidance and a developer’s published explanation checked on 9 October 2026. This concerns new-build purchases; a resale renovation needs its own permissions, quotations and timetable.
Start with the apartment you are already buying
Before asking for extras, identify the baseline. Download the current plan, the specification and the list of included equipment. Give each file a date and keep the originals. A sales image is useful for atmosphere; it is a poor place to establish whether the kitchen, fitted cupboards or particular flooring form part of the price.
Service Public’s guidance on the VEFA sale deed identifies plans and the notice descriptive, describing works, materials and equipment, among the documents annexed to the sale. It also lists the delivery deadline and payment conditions as required contents. Ask your notaire how any accepted modification will be reflected in the contractual documents relevant to your purchase.
Make a plain comparison sheet: included item, desired change, reason, written response. The reason matters. “Move socket” is an instruction with several possible interpretations. “Provide power beside the cupboard intended for the vacuum cleaner” explains the problem for the technical team to solve. They can then confirm a compliant position rather than guess what your pencil mark means.
Keep finishes separate from alterations to services. A tile colour selected from the included range and a relocated water connection may involve very different decisions. Ask which choices are included, which carry a supplement and which require a technical study. Your spreadsheet should make those distinctions visible before anybody sends a bill.
Find the deadline that belongs to your building
Nexity’s published TMA guide advises submitting requests within one month of reservation and describes technical approval followed by a quotation and revised plan. Treat that as developer guidance, not a universal statutory deadline for every Alpine programme. Ask the seller of your chosen apartment for its own dated process.
In particular, ask whether the deadline means submitting a request, accepting a quotation or returning an approved drawing. Those are different milestones. Sending an email on the last afternoon may achieve the first while leaving no time for the other two. Get the contact responsible for the decision, the expected response time and the required format in writing.
Work backwards from the earliest technical cutoff. Kitchen layouts can take several exchanges with a supplier. A partner travelling for work may need time to review costs. A document sent in French may need a careful explanation. Put these ordinary delays into your diary; do not assume they disappear because the apartment is abroad.
Once the programme team has answered, calendar your own earlier decision date. This is an organisational buffer, not a claim to extra rights. If the deadline is already past, ask what remains possible before commissioning drawings or ordering equipment. An enthusiastic kitchen designer cannot reopen the developer’s construction schedule.
Ask for changes that earn their place
Run through a normal arrival evening. Bags come in, wet clothing needs somewhere to go, phones need charging and someone wants to cook. Then think about departure: cleaning, emptying the fridge and locking away personal belongings. Small practical improvements may prove more useful than a dramatic alteration that consumes the budget.
Write your priorities under three headings: essential to how you will use the apartment, useful if affordable, and purely decorative. This is a suggested decision tool, not an industry classification. It makes it easier to approve a sensible compromise when a technical answer or quotation arrives.
For an apartment intended for both owner use and holiday letting, ask the proposed manager to review the practical brief. Where would guests put luggage? Can cleaners reach the areas that need regular attention? Would the proposed fitting be easy to replace? These are questions about operation; they are not evidence that an upgrade will raise rent or occupancy.
Avoid ordering features simply because they look good in a showroom. A distinctive tap may be enjoyable for your own home, but ask about replacement parts and servicing locally. Decide openly which spending is for your pleasure. It need not earn an investment return to be worthwhile, provided you do not count an unproven return in the purchase budget.
Let the technical team say what is possible
Nexity’s guide gives examples such as electrical changes, partitions and equipment positions, while making acceptance dependent on technical and regulatory constraints. It also distinguishes TMA from travaux réservés, work the buyer undertakes or commissions separately. Neither route should be assumed available merely because the apartment is unfinished.
Send a coherent brief instead of a succession of disconnected messages. Mark each requested change on a copy of the plan, number it and add a short explanation. Ask the developer to identify anything refused, any alternative offered and any further information needed. A refusal is useful information when it arrives before you have designed the rest of the room around that change.
Keep proposed appliance locations provisional until the relevant connections are confirmed. If you commission a kitchen supplier, ask who checks its technical drawing against the developer’s version and who signs off the final interface. You want an agreed answer about responsibility, not two firms holding different drawings on installation day.
Do not arrange independent contractor access to an active site on the assumption that ownership permits it. Request the developer’s procedure for visits, measurements and later installation. For changes affecting the sale documents or your obligations, bring the notaire into the conversation before acceptance rather than asking them to reconstruct events afterwards.
Price the decision, including the rejected version
Request a written, itemised quotation that identifies tax treatment, study costs, drawing charges and payment dates. Nexity warns that some developers charge for studies or revised plans even when a request is refused. Establish that exposure before authorising the study; “we will see if it works” should have a known financial meaning.
Use the total VAT-inclusive amount for your cash budget, with the verified VAT-exclusive amount alongside in the quotation. Do not infer a tax rate or assume VAT recovery from the fact that the apartment may be rented. Ask the supplier and your adviser to confirm the treatment that applies to the actual works and ownership arrangements.
Here is fictional arithmetic, not a quotation or a market price. Suppose your agreed upgrade allowance is €6,000, measured as total cash payable. Accepted changes totalling €4,800 leave €1,200. If a further study charge is payable, deduct it too, even if the alteration never proceeds. Keep furniture and post-delivery installation outside that allowance unless you deliberately included them.
Ask when each amount becomes payable and what happens if you withdraw the request. If borrowing is involved, check with the lender before assuming an optional extra is covered by the mortgage. An affordable project total can still create an awkward cash shortage when an invoice falls before the expected loan drawdown.
Keep one approved version everyone can find
For buyers managing the process from another country, document control is a practical service to everyone involved. Maintain one folder containing the original specification, requests, accepted quotations and approved drawings. Preserve superseded files in a clearly separate archive so an old attachment cannot accidentally become the working instruction.
For every alteration, record its reference, room, agreed description, cost, approval date and corresponding plan revision. Ask the developer to confirm which document governs the work if an email and drawing appear inconsistent. Do not resolve a technical ambiguity yourself by choosing whichever version you prefer.
After a call, send a concise written recap and request corrections. A recap is a useful record; it is not a substitute for the developer’s required acceptance procedure. Where two buyers are involved, nominate one person to consolidate instructions, while ensuring both understand the spending and any documents they must sign.
Translations deserve similar care. Keep the French original next to the explanation you use for discussion. If a word affects scope, price or responsibility, get it clarified by the appropriate professional. The aim is a shared instruction that survives staff changes and a busy construction season, not an impressive collection of emails.
Carry the agreement through to handover
Build a simple handover checklist from the accepted changes while the decisions are fresh. Include each item’s reference and the approved drawing. This gives you, or the professional attending with you, a practical record to compare with the apartment at delivery. Ask your notaire about the proper procedure for recording any discrepancy.
Keep the distinction between an agreed modification and a later preference. A fitting installed in the approved position should not become a contractual complaint because you have since chosen a different sofa. Conversely, a missing paid-for change should be documented clearly, with the relevant acceptance and photographs, rather than buried in a general message about disappointment.
If personalisation is central to your purchase, assess that opportunity before selecting a programme. An apartment further through construction may offer useful certainty about what you can see, while leaving fewer choices. Compare the actual specification and remaining options for each property; the label “new build” alone tells you little about how much you can still change.
You can browse DOMOSNO’s new-build ski properties or ask us to help establish the specification and remaining choices for a shortlisted apartment. A short, well-timed list of changes is often the best starting point for making the finished home work for you.
