The Times recently published an article about the French governments' proposal for a major tax break for permanent residents by abolishing the french equivalent of council tax for owner-occupiers across France. As you can imagine, if Mrs May were to suggest such an initiative here in the UK, it’s a popular suggestion with many of those resident in France.
President Macron has suggested that the resulting shortfall in income to government coffers will be made up by allowing local councils to apply a surcharge on second homes and rental properties in highly populated areas. The policy is already in place in Paris where an ‘Air BnB revolution’ saw the number of properties being let out to tourists soar to 80,000 across the city. The result was an increase in rental prices to such a level that Parisian citizens and families were being priced out of their homes.
However, second homes and investment properties in sparsely populated and rural areas such as the Dordogne, Brittany and Normandy countryside are not being included in the policy change and will not be affected.
It is estimated that the 200,000 permanent British residents in France will benefit from the policy change, and of the 100,000 second home owners, only 15% of those have rental property in urban areas and therefore stand to be affected by the tax increases. The Mayor of Saint-Jean-de-Luz in the south of France was keen to stress that they did not want to distress second home owners in the town. He said they planned to increase taxes by an average of €140 per year for second home owners and that money would be directed to providing new affordable homes in the area.
Our properties for sale in France are largely in rural areas, but we are also increasing our portfolio of property for sale in Bordeaux, Marseille and Toulouse. To see our french property listings click here
