When you buy a new-build ski property in the French Alps, there is a step before the notaire gets involved — one that most buyers sign under time pressure, in a developer's sales office, without fully understanding what they are committing to.
The contrat de réservation is the first legally binding document in a VEFA (Vente en l'État Futur d'Achèvement) purchase. It locks in your unit, fixes the price, and triggers a deposit transfer. Get it right and you have a well-protected position. Miss the detail and you may find yourself tied in on unfavourable terms — or forfeiting money that the law would have returned you automatically.
This guide covers every element of the reservation contract that matters to an international buyer: what it must legally contain, how the deposit rules work, your statutory right to walk away, and the clauses worth negotiating before you sign.
What Is the Contrat de Réservation?
The contrat de réservation — also called the contrat préliminaire — is the preliminary agreement signed between the buyer and the developer (promoteur). Unlike the compromis de vente used in resale transactions, the reservation contract does not pass through a notaire. It is a private deed, governed by the Code de la Construction et de l'Habitation (CCH), and it can be signed at the developer's sales office, at a broker's premises, or remotely.
It is technically optional under French law — but in practice, every French Alps new-build sale begins with one. It takes your chosen unit off the market, fixes the agreed price, and establishes the terms that will form the basis of the eventual acte de vente VEFA — the notarised deed of sale signed typically three to nine months later, once planning permissions are final and the developer's bank guarantee is in place.
Understanding this contract is particularly important in the French Alps, where the most sought-after units in active programmes — new-build ski apartments in top-tier resorts — can sell within days of a programme launch. Buyers are often asked to commit quickly. That pressure makes it all the more important to know exactly what you are signing.
What the Reservation Contract Must Legally Contain
Article R261-25 of the CCH sets out the mandatory content. Any reservation contract missing these elements is legally defective and gives you additional grounds to withdraw:
- Full property description: surface area (Carrez measurement for apartments), number of rooms, floor level, building phase reference, and the notice descriptive — the technical specification sheet defining materials, finishes, and fittings.
- The sale price and the index formula for any price revision. Most French Alps VEFA contracts use the BT01 construction cost index, which tracks building material and labour costs nationally.
- Expected date for the acte de vente — when the notarised deed of sale will be presented to you for signature.
- Expected delivery date, or at minimum an estimated delivery quarter. 90% of new-build contracts mention the quarter and the year.
- Details of any existing mortgage or charges on the land that the developer must discharge before completing the sale.
- The GFA (Garantie Financière d'Achèvement) — the bank-issued completion guarantee. The GFA is the cornerstone of VEFA buyer protection: if the developer fails, a named partner bank guarantees completion or full refund. Always verify the GFA is referenced in the reservation contract and that a guarantor bank is identified before you sign. However, sometimes, the GFA is not obtained yet but needs to be in place for the exchange of contracts.
The notice descriptive is the element most buyers skim past. It is the document that defines exactly what you are purchasing — kitchen specification, bathroom fittings, flooring, glazing, insulation standard. Vague notices give developers legal latitude to substitute cheaper materials without breaching the contract. Push for specificity on every material point before signature. According to Notaires de France, the notice descriptive is a legally required attachment — a reservation contract without it is non-compliant.
The Deposit: Caps, Escrow, and the Rules Developers Cannot Override
The deposit (dépôt de garantie) is one of the most precisely regulated aspects of the reservation contract. Articles R261-28 and R261-29 of the CCH cap the amount a developer can legally request, based on the expected timeline to the acte de vente:
- Maximum 5% of the sale price if the acte de vente is expected within 12 months of the reservation contract.
- Maximum 2% if the acte de vente is expected between 12 and 24 months after reservation.
- Zero — no deposit can legally be required — if the timeline exceeds 24 months.
A developer who requests more than these caps is acting in breach of the CCH. And critically, the deposit cannot be paid into the developer's own operating account. French law requires it to be held in an escrow account (compte séquestre) opened specifically in the buyer's name — at a notaire's office or at a bank authorised for this purpose. This ring-fences the money entirely in the event of developer default between reservation and completion.
In concrete terms: on a €450,000 apartment with an 18-month build timeline, the legally capped deposit is €9,000 (2%). If the developer's team requests €22,500, citing a "5% standard," that figure does not comply with the timeline. The true acquisition cost guide sets out all buyer-side charges in full; the reservation deposit is the first cash outlay and the only one before notarial involvement.
Your 10-Day Right to Walk Away
Article L271-1 of the CCH — introduced by the Loi SRU in December 2000 — gives every VEFA buyer a 10-day cooling-off period (délai de rétractation) after receiving the signed reservation contract by recorded delivery. The clock starts the day after receipt of the letter — not the day you signed in the sales office.
These are 10 calendar days, not working days. If the 10th day falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or public holiday, it automatically extends to the next working day. You can cancel for any reason — or no reason at all. Your full deposit must be returned within 21 days of your cancellation notice, with no deductions and no penalties. The official Service-Public.fr guidance confirms both the 10-day right and the 21-day refund obligation.
Sign the reservation contract in the developer's office or online through electronic signing on Monday. The contract arrives by recorded post or mail on Wednesday. Your 10-day cooling-off deadline is the Saturday of the following week — automatically extended to Monday if it falls on a weekend. That is your window to review, verify, and if necessary, withdraw without cost.
Use this window for independent legal review, verification of the GFA, and due diligence on the developer's delivery track record. Most established programmes in the French Alps have clean compliance histories — but the 10-day right exists precisely for situations where that is not the case.
Grounds for Refund Beyond the Cooling-Off Period
Missing the 10-day window does not leave you without recourse. The CCH provides for deposit refund under specific conditions even after the cooling-off period has expired:
Mortgage refusal. If the purchase is conditional on a French mortgage and the lender declines, the deposit is refunded in full — provided the condition suspensive de prêt (loan contingency clause) was included in the reservation contract. Always insist this clause is present. A reservation contract without it leaves you exposed to deposit forfeiture if financing falls through.
Material change in specification or price. If the developer modifies the property description, increases the price beyond the agreed indexation formula, or pushes back the delivery date significantly, you may rescind and recover your deposit.
Developer fails to present the acte de vente within the stated period. If the notarised deed is not ready within the timeline specified in the reservation contract, you are entitled to withdraw and be refunded.
Planning permission lapses or is revoked. If the programme cannot legally proceed, the contract falls away and the deposit is returned in full.
In all these cases, the refund must be made within three months. Keep every piece of correspondence with the developer in writing, and send any formal notices by recorded post.
What to Negotiate Before You Sign
The reservation contract is a private document and — within the legal framework of the CCH — its commercial terms are open to negotiation. Three areas merit attention before you commit.
The Notice Descriptive
Push for specificity in the technical specification sheet. Kitchen finish, bathroom fittings, flooring grade, glazing specification, insulation standard, and any personalisation options (TMA — travaux modificatifs acquéreurs) should all be defined precisely. Broad language like "equivalent quality" or "subject to availability" gives the developer latitude to substitute materials without triggering a contractual breach. Some developers in well-established French Alps programmes will append a detailed finish schedule to the reservation contract — request this as standard.
Parking and Storage
If a parking space or cave (cellar storage unit) or a ski locker is included in the purchase, confirm that both are described in the reservation contract with their own identifying lot numbers and surface areas. These must appear in the eventual acte de vente and on your cadastral title. Informal assurances from a sales agent are not legally binding — the detail must be in the contract itself.
Red Flags to Watch For
Most developers operating in established French Alps ski resorts run compliant, well-documented processes. Still, the following points should prompt questions before you sign:
- A delivery date stated only as a calendar year, with no quarterly reference.
- A price revision formula with no stated cap.
- Missing or vague GFA references — the guarantee should name a specific banking institution (unless the GFA is not obtained yet).
- No condition suspensive de prêt, particularly where the purchase is mortgage-dependent.
- A request to pay the deposit directly to the developer rather than to a named escrow account. Often our clients pay the deposit into an escrow account at the English-speaking notaire chosen to represent them (escrow deposit bank used by French notaires, Caisse des depots et consignations). With national developers like Bouygues, Vinci, etc, they have their own escrow accounts opened under the purchasing client's name(s).
A reputable developer will accommodate reasonable requests before signature. Resistance to adding a loan contingency clause or clarifying the escrow account arrangements is worth weighing carefully.
After the Reservation: What Comes Next
Once the 10-day cooling-off period has expired and your deposit is held in escrow, the developer's programme moves through its permit consolidation and financing phase. The acte de vente VEFA — the notarised deed that triggers the staged payment schedule — is typically presented three to nine months after the reservation contract, once planning permission is final and non-challengeable and the GFA is formally in place.
From the acte de vente, payments are released in tranches tied to construction milestones. The staged payment guide covers how mortgage drawdowns align with each milestone and how intercalary interest is calculated during the build period. At the other end of the process, the keys-day handover guide explains the legal procedure at livraison, including the 5% final payment retention and the snagging process.
The reservation contract is the one step in this sequence that sits entirely outside notarial supervision. It is privately negotiated, privately signed, and held without independent oversight. That is precisely why understanding it in detail — before you sit down in the developer's office — is the most practical preparation any off-plan buyer in the French Alps can make.
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