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According to official records, the population of Paris is around 2.2 million people - making it a relatively small capital by global standards. But these figures only count Parisians living within the 20 arrondissements that make up the city proper - they don’t cover the dense web of suburbs that stretch out from the capital’s very compact heart.

In reality, of course, the city of Paris extends well beyond the ‘peripherique’, the wide ring road that has come to mark an unofficial border betwen the city centre and it’s suburbs. Indeed, in total some 12 million people live in the Paris region, making the city a similiar size to London, and revealing that a massive 80% of Parisians actually live outside the recognised city limits.

The French word for suburb is banlieue, a term which carries strong pejorative connotations to French speakers - indeed the Paris banlieues have become almost synonymous with images of social deprivation. While cities in the UK and USA tend to carry pockets of greatest poverty in city-centre and downtown areas (and in contrast, often boast quiet, leafy suburbs) the pattern of wealth in French cities is often reversed - immense wealth at the centre, offset by suburban regions of considerable social instability.

Certainly many of the Paris suburbs are incredibly desirable places to live: Versailles, St Cloud and Fontainebleu being particularly wealthy. And the city also has its fair share of middle class commuter towns, like any major conurbation. But in the tower blocks and social housing that sprawl between, and in the concrete Nouvelles Villes (’new towns’ planned and built as over-flow estates in the sixties) unemployment, poor education and crime remain serious concerns.

The suburban riots of 2005, which spread swiftly from an isolated incident in the eastern town of Clichy-Sur-Bois, illustrated yet again the volatile nature of Paris’ most deprived minorities, and the issues of immigration, policing and social ghettos in the banlieues remain political hot potatoes.

The Paris region is known administratively as the Ile De France. Alongside the 20 districts making up the central city (which together bear the postal code ‘75′), there are 7 recognised regions, listed here with their zip code and capital town:

Essonne (91, Evry); Hauts-de-Seine (92, Nanterre), Seine-St-Denis (93, Bobigny); Seine-Et-Marne (73, Melun); Val-De-Marne (94, Creteil); Val d’Oise (95, Pontoise); Yvelines (78, Versailles)

As a general rule, the smarter suburbs sit west of the central city; the most deprived banlieues are found out east. All the Paris banlieues can be relatively easily reached from the city centre on the RER overground rail system, whose seven lines, (named ABCD and E) depart from the main rail stations within the city limits - on the whole, even the most far flung outer suburbs can be reached within about 45 minutes on the RER.

The River Seine cuts straight through the centre of Paris, from east to west, dividing the city into two halves. While these halves lie to the north and south of the river, they’ve commonly come to be known as the Left bank and the Right Bank - the Left Bank to the South, the Right Bank to the North.

The Left Bank is traditionally associated with Paris’ intellectual, cafe culture. Comprising six of the city’s twenty arrondissements, it includes the famous Sorbonne University, and the Latin Quarter that surrounds it - several streets of cafes, bookshops and student hang outs. Perhaps because of the weighty student population, the Left Bank has a reputation for bohemian, political revolt: Boulevard St Michel and the surrounding streets were the focus for the famous student demonstrations of May 1968.

Many famous names are linked to the Left Bank. Existential philosophers Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir and their contemporaries hung out in the cafes of St Germain, debating their ideas over cigarettes and expresso. The Left Bank also became a focus for the large community of anglo-american writers who flooded to Paris during the 20s and 30s; Ernest Hemingway, George Orwell, F Scott Fitzgerald, James Joyce, Getrude Stein and Ford Madox Ford are just a few of the expat intellectuals who split their time between the cheap flats of the Latin Quarter and the expensive bars of Montparnasse.

By contrast the Right Bank, by far the larger half of the city, is traditionally considered the smarter, richer side of Paris, and certainly serves as its business centre. The Bourse, France’s national stock exchange, churns out money in the 2nd Arrondissement, and Paris’ shopping hotspots are all close nearby, from the legendary department stores on the Boulevard Hausman to the diamond merchants and jewellers that surround the Ritz in the glitzy Place Vendome.

Many of Paris most impressive monuments sit on the Right Bank - the Louvre, the Opera, and the Champs Elysees are all found here, as are many of Paris’ widest streets and greatest vistas. While much of the Left Bank retains the narrow streets that grew organically as the city developed, the Right Bank has been subject to centuries of redevelopment by Paris ruling elite, from Napoleon onwards, who have carved out the long, grand boulevards for which the city is particularly famous.

While traditions die hard, the economic realities of life in a city as pricy as Paris means that the cultural distinctions between left and righ banks have been diminishing for decades - both sides of the river are equally desirable to those with the money to buy. Much of the ‘bohemian’ atmosphere of the Left Bank has dissolved as the middle classes have poured in - and equally the Right Bank has always hosted pockets of poverty far in excess of anything found on the south side of the river.

Ultimately Paris’ most popular locations are distributed fairly evenly around the centre of the city, ensuring that tourists and short term residents will find much to entertain them on either side of the Seine.

Reckon you’ve worked out the perfect budget for your dream appartment in Paris? As you might expect, it’s not always that simple - read on for a list of the hidden costs that anyone looking to buy property in Paris should consider before taking the plunge…

Agency Fees

Agency fees are ususally included in the price quoted to you by the Estate Agent, though of course it’s always sensible to check exactly what’s been included. The agency cut will be taken out before any other charges based on the purchase price are calculated i.e. notaire’s fees. Click here for more on French Estate Agents…

Notaire’s Fees

The notaire is the government professional who will liaise between purchaser and vendor to ensure that any French property sale is completed in a swift, legal and financially sound manner - the equivalent of the solicitor’s role in the UK and elsewhere. Notaire’s fees are paid by the purchaser of a property, and set on a fixed scale by the French government - expect to pay between 6% and 10% of your chosen property’s purchase price, and if you’re buying with a mortgage the notaire may ask for a further 1.5% of your mortgage value. Click here for more on the Notaire…

Currency Exchange

If you’re fortunate enough to be buying in cash, or if you’re arranging a mortgage in your home country, you’ll need to buy euros to complete the purchase. Needless to say, it’s not buying holiday money - with such large sums in question you can save an enormous amount by finding the right deal, but there will always be some cost to incur.

Property Taxes

There are no extra taxes added to the purchase price of French property (these costs are all rolled into the notaire’s fees) but there are ongoing annual taxes imposed on both owners and residents. Taxe d’habitation is an annual charge levied on the residents of an apartment or house; taxe fonciere is an annual tax imposed on the owner. You’ll need to calculate these annual costs in advance and work them into your budget - click here for a more detailed explanation…

Syndicat Fees

Almost all appartments in Paris are housed in tall communal blocks; together the residents and owners form a syndicat (or syndic) responsible for communal areas of the building, and indeed any issue relating to the fabric of the block. Often independant managing agents are hired to perform this duty - either way, an annual contribution to costs is likely to be required from eachowner. Click here for more on syndics…

Once you’ve found your dream Paris appartment - and had your offer accepted by the vendor - you’ll need to hire a notaire to complete the purchase process on your behalf.

Notaires are independant professionals trained and qualified in the legal and financial aspects of french property sales. They are the only professionals qualified to oversee the sales of property in France, and are ultimately responsible to the French government, for whom they also collect applicable property taxes. They fulfill the role played in many countries by conveyancing solicitors, and are often recommended to the purchaser by the vendors agent.

The notaire works for both purchaser and vendor, liaising on surveys, legal guarantees, transfers of funds and all other obligations - and they will advise both parties on any subject relevant to the sale. Notaire’s fees are paid by the purchaser of a French appartment or house - on brand new property the fees can be as little as 2.5% of the purchase price, but the standard for older houses is between 6% and 10%.

If you’re looking to find out more about notaires in Paris, check out the official website of the Chambre des Notaires de Paris at www.paris.notaires.fr

If you’re about to buy property in Paris you might reasonably expect the purchase process to last a minimum two months from offer to completion. The whole process begins and ends with two contracts: the compromis, drawn up after you make an offer, and the acte de vente which completes the sale.

Once your offer is accepted by the vendor you’ll be required to sign the compromis, which confirms your verbal agreement and declares your intention to continue with the purchase. The estate agent will draw this up for you, and this process is often completed very quickly - sometimes as soon as you’ve viewed your chosen French property. This contract can be used to make any conditions of the sale clear at the outset - in particular, if you’ll need a mortgage approved you may want to ask for this to be a condition of your offer.

Expect to pay a deposit of around 10%, required with or shortly after the signature of the compromis. You’ll then have a seven day cooling off period, in which you can take any further advice you feel neccessary. At this point responsibility for the sale passes to the notaire - an independant professional, responsible to the French government, who handles the legal and financial obligations of the purchase process. Your agent will most likely be able to recommend a notaire, who will work for both vendor and purchaser to ensure the sale is legal and completed correctly.

Should all run smoothly, the final contract completing the sale is known as the acte de vente, and ideally you’ll be expected to attend the signing in person, which is normally hosted by the notaire. The contract is read out loud, the reports of all surveys confirmed, and all parties have a final chance to make minor ammendments before contracts are signed in triplicate. With your copy of the acte in hand, you become the proud owner of a Paris appartment!