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MY FRANCE - LIMOUSIN

FRANCE

Limousin – France’s ‘best-kept secret’

The central region of Limousin is not usually top of the list for tourists who often drive straight through to reach more well-trodden destinations. But for this week's My France, Brit Taunya Smith, tells us why more should stop by.

Limousin - France's 'best-kept secret'
Taunya with her husband. Photo: Taunya Smith and Limoges cathedral. Photo: Aratar

What brought you to Limousin?

My husband Brian and I used to run a farm in the Pennines, west Yorkshire, which we decided to sell when he was offered early retirement. We wanted to move somewhere with better weather and decided on France. Our only preferences were that we live near a lake because my husband fishes and within a reasonable drive of Calais. Limousin seemed to tick all the boxes so we searched on the internet till we found a house in the Haute-Vienne department, about 40 minutes from the capital Limoges. We had already been to France on holiday but like many tourists had only ever driven through the region. Although we originally planned on retiring we started a gite-renting business here.

Tell us more about Limousin?

Limousin has three very different departments all with stunning scenery: Creuse, Corrèze and Haute-Vienne – where we live. Situated in the north of the region, Creuse has rolling fields and is not as populated as Haute-Vienne. Haute-Vienne on the other hand is dominated by hills, oak and chestnut forests and lakes. Finally, there’s Corrèze which is very mountainous.

You can find just about any type of countryside here not to mention friendly people and plenty of things to do and places to visit. It really is one of France's best-kept secrets.

Was it difficult to settle in?

Not really. Although I had studied French at school a little longer back than I would care to remember I picked up the language quickly enough and it was easy to make friends here. My husband always jokes that it has cost thousands of euros for me to learn French because I learnt it through shopping trips to Limoges with my French friends.

What’s the very first place you would take a visitor?

I would take them to Oradour-sur-Glane in the Haute-Vienne department. It’s a unique martyr village from World War II. On June 10, 1944, the inhabitants of the village were gathered together in the town square by the Nazis. The women and children were then taken to the church where they were shot and the men to various barns where they too were killed. Then the whole village was burned to the ground. The town was rebuilt nearby, but under the orders of Charles de Gaulle the old town was left exactly as it was as a memorial to the 642 people who died. It’s free to visit and open virtually all year round. It’s probably not top of a list of places to see for most people but it is an important part of the history of Limousin.

Anywhere else in the region?

Of course, the regional capital Limoges is a must, famous the world over for its porcelain. At its heart is a medieval district called the Quartier de la Boucherie, literally ‘The Butcher’s Quarter’. It’s a lively area full of charming timber-framed shops, narrow streets and superb restaurants.

I would also recommend visiting the old city walls and Saint-Étienne de Limoges cathedral. Also not to be missed is the Art Déco railway station with its stunning interior, garden and fountains, which all miraculously survived the war. You may recognize it from various television ads.

For a complete change you could visit Vassivière lake situated between Creuse and Haute-Vienne. The lake is so big that you can take a two-hour dining cruise, which I highly recommend. There are also water sports available and it’s a great place to walk and cycle.

Where’s a good place to take children?

A great place to take kids is the nearby medieval town of Chauvigny where there’s a ruined castle called the Château des Evêques. In the castle’s amphitheatre you can see the ‘Géants du Ciel’, a display of all manners of birds of prey including vultures, bald eagles, falcons, owls and parrots. There are shows twice a day in the summer and you can even watch fruit bats being fed in the cellar. Last year a young family member asked us to take him there every day and leave him there!  

Where can you get the best food?

If you want to go somewhere special try the Manoir Henri IV in Bessines-sur-Gartempe, a small manor and hunting lodge where Henry IV found out he would become king of France in the 16th century. The surroundings are beautiful, the food excellent and the staff helpful. It’s also a hotel so, if you don't want to drive after your meal, you can book a room. 

For the world-famous Limousin beef, you can’t go wrong at the Hall West restaurant in Limoges.

What advice would you give someone hoping to move to Limoges?

Limoges is a very rural area with attractive house prices. But employment is limited, especially if you don’t speak French. Most of the English people we know here are either fluent with a job, self-employed, or, like my son, go back to the UK on a regular basis for work. My best tips are: learn the language and get involved in things as much as you can in your town or village. Incidentally, I’m the only English woman on my village fete committee!  

Tanuya and Brian own a gite rental business Gites de la Prade.

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PROPERTY

French property: What is buying ‘en tontine’?

If you're buying property in France, you might be thinking about buying 'en tontine' - this has advantages especially when it comes to France's strict inheritance laws, but can also have tax implications.

French property: What is buying 'en tontine'?

What is it?

The ‘clause de tontine’ sometimes also known as a ‘clause d’accroissement’ is a clause that is inserted into the property deeds when you are buying a house or apartment.

It can only be inserted during the purchase, and cannot be added later.

It’s basically a ‘group purchase’. It’s most commonly used by unmarried couples who are buying together but it can be used by larger groups too – for example a group of friends buying a holiday home together.

You will have to ask a notaire to draw up the tontine clause during the property purchase and it can only be used if 

  • the parties are equally involved in the financing of the purchase
  • the parties involved have a roughly equal life expectancy (for this reason tontine clauses may be rejected if there is a significant difference in age between the purchasers)

What’s the point of it?

The main reason that people use it is to sidestep France’s strict inheritance laws, which assign that a certain portion of every estate must go to children, at the expense of a partner. 

READ ALSO How France’s strict inheritance laws work

For this reason it is particularly used by couples who have children from previous relationships.

On a property with a tontine clause in effect, when one owner dies their share of the property passes in its entirely to the other member/members of the tontine.

This cuts out children from inheritance, but means that a surviving partner is not evicted from their home in favour of the children of the deceased. 

It also has the advantage of making the intentions of the deceased clear, to avoid arguments among heirs after their death.

It should be noted, however, that the tontine clause only takes in the property that it covers – other assets may be subject to French inheritance law so it’s therefore probably wise to arrange a will, to ensure your wishes for your estate are met.

The surviving party can ask a notaire to update the property deeds to show that they are the sole owner, if they want. Be aware there will be a fee, which could reach four figures for the privilege – and it doesn’t actually involve any change to the property title.

Drawbacks

The advantages of the system are clear, especially for blended families, but there are some potential drawbacks too, which mean that anyone considering buying in this way would be well advised to take proper legal advice before they start.

Inheritance tax – while a tontine will help you to avoid restrictions on inheritance, it does not exempt you from inheritance tax. French inheritance tax is structured according to your relationship to the deceased, and people who are neither married nor related to the deceased pay an eye-watering inheritance tax rate of 60 percent.

The only exception to this top rate of inheritance tax is if the property is your main residence and it is valued at under €76,000 – in that case, tax is paid at a rate of 5.8 percent.

Married couples and family members pay a much lower rate or not tax, but if you’re not married to your tontine co-purchaser, be careful that you’re not lining yourself up for a massive tax bill in future years.

Wealth tax – depending on the value of the property, it could tip you over into the ‘wealth tax’ category when you inherit. France’s wealth tax is a real estate based tax and is levied on anyone who has real estate assets (property and land) worth €1.3 million or more.

The calculation includes property held en tontine.

Tax savings – you might hear tontines being advised as a way to limit your French tax liability.

While this used to be true, changes to tax laws means there are no no significant tax advantages to buying this way – the same is true for buying a property via an SCI, which used to represent a tax saving until the law was tightened up.

Disinheriting family membersOne side effect of the tontine clause on mixed families is to effectively disinherit any children of the first person to die.

Because the property passed to the survivor, under French law, only their direct descendants – rather than any family by marriage – are entitled to automatic inheritance.

That means that the children of the surviving partner will be entitled to the statutory share of the entire asset (between 25 and 30 percent depending on the number of children), but the children of the first person to die will be entitled to nothing. Obviously you can choose to leave them something in your will, but you can only leave them some or all of the estate which is not automatically given to the children on the survivor.

Divorce/dispute – if the members of the tontine split up or (in the case of friends) fall out, then they can either sell the whole property or agree to buy each other out.

However, if one party refuses to sell, then you have very limited legal options – unlike a standard property purchase a tontine is not regarded as joint ownership, so one partner cannot be forced to sell as part of a divorce procedings, for example.

Basically the tontine can only be ended or changed with the agreement of all parties – so if you can’t agree between yourselves then you may be stuck with it.

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