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PROPERTY

Private mansions: The lodging of choice for celebs in Paris

The likes of Kim Kardashian opt for exclusive and secluded "hotels particuliers" or mansion houses when they come to Paris rather than Airbnb or a traditional hotel. And you can see why.

Private mansions: The lodging of choice for celebs in Paris
Photo: AFP

When news broke that Kim Kardashian had been robbed at gunpoint in a plush hotel in Paris, the first question everyone asked was “which hotel”?

Then it was “how did they get past security?” or “How did they know what room she was in?”

It later became clear the attack did not take place in Le Bristol or the Ritz or any other traditional exclusive hotels in Paris, but in a “hotel particulier”.

Paris is full of hotel particuliers, which are exclusive urban private mansion houses often complete with gardens and courtyards, where huge aristocratic families used to call home.

There are believed to be around 500 in Paris today, but there was some 2,000 back in the 17th century.

One architect in 1688 defined them as “less beautiful than palaces but more beautiful than simple lodgings”.

Many have been converted into numerous apartments which are often rented out the extremely rich and famous.

The one that Kardashian rented out – known as Le Pourtales – has been used by many celebs in the past during their stay in the French capital.

Leonardo DiCaprio, Madonna, Prince, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Jay-Z and of course the Kardashians have all made Le Pourtales their homes in recent stays in the French capital.

(The big red door hiding Les Pourtales. AFP)

It stands in the eighth arrondissement on Rue Tronchet, not far from the famous Madeleine church.

It is popular because, as Le Figaro newspaper writes, you would “hardly even notice it” and as a result offers its guests “maximum discretion”.

Hidden behind a mammoth red door it contains nine separate apartments that can be rented out for several nights or weeks.

The apartments range from 95 square metres to 350 square metres. Each one has access to a team of 20 staff including a chef.

Classed as a “historic monument” in 2002 it is apparently not advertised anywhere, it doesn't even have its own website, with the owners preferring to depend on word of mouth to target foreign celebs.

Apartment prices are reportedly around €2,000 a night and can go up to €15,000 for the Sky Penthouse, located on the sixth and seventh floors.

One website described Le Pourtales as one of the best-kept secrets in Paris since it opened in 2010. Even after Kardashian’s robbery, several neighbours said had no idea celebs had been staying in their street.

There’s no plaque on the wall to ring the buzzer and no security staff standing outside on the street, a point that has been made after Kardashian was robbed.

But as Yves Abitol from the company My Concierge points out, most celebs bring with them their own security staff.

Les Pourtales is of course not the only Paris mansion that caters for celebs looking for an exclusive home.

The Reserve Paris near the Trocadero and Royal Monceau are just two others that cater to the rich and famous.

(The Hotel Lambert in the Île Saint-Louis, one of Paris's most famous hotel particuliers. AFP) 

Not all hotel particuliers are rented out to celebs hoping to hide out in the City of Light.

Many hotel particuliers have been transformed into museums which are open for visitors, such as the Musée Eugene Delacroix, and the Maison de Victor Hugo.

Others like the Hotel de Beauvais have been converted into a court of appeal.

(AFP)

Some hotel particuliers have been owned by some of Paris's most famous residents like Gerard Depardieu.

In 2012, the actor decided to put his Hotel de Chambon, (see photo above) a listed property in the heart of the Saint-Germain-des-Pres quarter up for sale for a price tag of €50 million.

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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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