Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

PROPERTY

The story of France’s thriving ‘world’s first’ swingers only campsite

A campsite in deepest rural France, described as the 'world's first 100 percent swingers camping ground' is booming and is now on the market for a cool €2 million. No surprise given France's and northern Europe's booming libertine community.

Published: 8 March 2018 16:48 CET
The story of France's thriving 'world's first' swingers only campsite

Where is it?

The campsite is located near the village of Brugheas in the Allier department of central France's Auvergne region. It is just 5km from the spa resort of Vichy.

How much is it?

Only €2,070,000 or £1,852 919 or $2.5 million, depending on exchange rates.

Describe the property

The estate agent's advert reads: “First 100 percent libertine campsite in the world for sale. Incredible opportunity with over 20 million libertines identified in northern Europe and 6.5 million in France.” Does that sound like a huge number of free lovers to you?

The campsite used to be an ordinary camping group until it was bought by libertine Francoise Vetter and her husband four years ago and converted into a swingers only getaway.

According to the ad on estate agent Leggett Immobilier the campsite is “situated on almost 5 hectares there are 80 bays of which 21 are mobile homes, 2 bengali tents and a caravan. A big sanitary block, 4 habitable chalets, a licence IV bar, professional restaurant with over 60 seats under a big tent.”

The campsite includes an outdoor swimming pool with “cuddle corners” around it and even a “naughty wood” where libertines can go for a stroll under the trees or partake in any other physical activity they fancy.

Why buy it?

Whether you are a libertine or not, if you have a spare two million it sounds like the purchase of the “Camping Libertin la Roseraie” would be a very wise business opportunity.

Current owner Francoise Vetter told The Local that in the first year as a themed campsite she saw a 118 percent increase in turnover.

“We have guests from all over Europe, Holland, Belgium, Britain, Germany and we also get Australians and Americans here. There is enormous potential for the campsite,” Vetter said .

She said that the world's second libertines campsite which opened in Dordogne last year was sold out last summer demonstrating the demand.

“We are selling it because we have hit retirement age and we are tired,” she said.

She believes the campsite, tucked away in the countryside, has an advantage over the famous naturist turned libertine resort Cap d'Agde in the south coast.

“It's not friendly enough at Cap d'Agde but here you can get to know everyone in a couple of days.”

And of course when she says “get to know everyone” she uses the term in the loosest possible sense.

“We do what we want, when we want and with whom we want,” said one online reviewer, while others describe “the delirious ambiance” at post-dinner sex parties (soirées coquins).

Reviews of the campsite are mixed with some describing it as a paradise where you can “forget your daily problems” while others complain of the fearsome pitbull dog who roams the campsite to keep “security”.

Others complain of the strict rules, not so much the one that demands women are respected but the rule that there can only be a certain number of single men allowed at any one time. While others have complained that the ban on sex in the swimming pool is routinely ignored.

Whoever buys the world's fist libertine campsite can of course do what they like with it, but estate agent Lynn Chaulieu from Leggett Immobilier says any buyer would be foolish not to run it as a libertine site given the business potential.

“It has just totally boomed since it became a swingers campsite,” she told The Local. “There's two hectares that can be developed that would double the capacity of the site.”

READ ALSO: So where are all these swinging sex clubs in Paris?

And the photos:

For more information on the property visit Leggett Immobilier.

 

For members

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.

Published: 25 March 2024 11:17 CET
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 members – One 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.

SHOW COMMENTS