The French tax authorities have recently placed on-line the land registry plans, providing yet another useful source of property information for international French property buyers.

The French land registry plans are known as the cadastre.

If used in tandem with the aerial photos provided through the site of Geoportail, you can now get a hatful of information about a property, all from the armchair of your sitting room.

As well as being able to view land and building plots, and measure their surface area, it is also possible to order hard-copy versions of the plans, or to print off from the site.

Not all of the country has yet been placed on-line, but there should be 100% coverage within a few months.

No doubt with a commercial opportunity in mind the authorities have created an English-speaking version of the site, which explains how it works, and the terms on which it can be used.

However, those of you who may be familiar with the UK land registry on-line plans are going to be a little disappointed with its French brother. Not only are the Ordnance Survey plans in the UK of a higher quality, with more topographical information, but the French plans do not show title boundaries, as is the case with the UK plans.

Accordingly, if you type in the address of a property, you may be lucky enough that the plots offered up correspond to the title of the property, but to not bank on it. You may get more or less than all the plots in the current ownership of the owner. To get accurate information you also need the plot numbers that correspond with the title.

Neither do the plans provide personal information on the owner, nor the price paid by the present owner, as is the case with UK Land Registry site.

The sparcity of information reflects the origins of the plans, which were created in the Napoleonic era for the purposes of calculating land tax.

Nevertheless, be grateful for small mercies, for the French public authorities are not renowned for sharing official information with members of the public, and the laws on privacy in France are stronger than those in the UK.

As we have previously stated in connection with the Geoportail site, to get a precise fix on ownership, you are going to need to get the cooperation of the seller or the estate agent. Agents, in particular, are probably going to insist that you sign a visit form, before they will supply you with the co-ordinates on Geoportail, or the plot numbers from the plans.

We have spoken to some of our own listed agents on this point, most of whom indicated a willingness to assist, subject to a bon de visite being signed (even via fax), which confirms you have been introduced to the property by the agent, and secures their commission in the event of a sale.

You can view the site at French Cadastre.

You can also read more about the cadastre in our guide to Land Registration in France.

It is also worth noting that hard copy plans of the cadastre are always available at the local mairie.