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French property of the week: Stunning stone house at heart of historic French village

This stunning stone house lies in the heart of one of southern France's most picturesque and historic villages. And it offers stunning views over one of the most scenic areas of southern France.

Published: 4 June 2018 17:15 CEST
French property of the week: Stunning stone house at heart of historic French village
Fancy owning a house in the historic heart of Roquebrun. Photo: Roger Davies
Where is it?
 
This property is built on a hillside in Roquebrun (see below), the most sought-after village in the Hérault department in the Occitanie region in southern France.
 
It's just a short walk away from all amenities including restaurants, bars, and a small grocery shop.
 
 
(Roquebrun – Photo:Isabelle Blanchemain)
 
The surrounding area is beautiful and offers a wide range of outdoor sports from canoeing and kayaking to fishing, walking, climbing, golfing, horse riding.
 
And for wine lovers, there's the opportunity to do a spot of tasting in the area. 
 
The beaches of the Mediterranean are just 30 minutes away, and the city of Béziers is only 25 minutes away by car or bus.
 
There’s also the thriving market town of St Chinian just 15 minutes away with a larger supermarket, cafés, banks, and a twice weekly market selling local produce and crafts.
 
Traveling is also made easy with the Béziers-Cap d'Agde airport just 50 km away.
 
The airport has an average of two or three flights per week to eight destinations. That includes Düsseldorf, Bristol, London Luton, London Stansted, Manchester, Edinburgh, Paris Beauvais, and Stockholm.
 
It is also just two hours from Toulouse-Blagnac airport by car which offers a bigger choice of flights around Europe.
 
Map: Google maps
 
How much does it cost?
 
The property costs €249,000 (reduced from €299,600) or $292,000 or £218,000 depending on exchange rates. 
 
Describe the property
 
The two bedroom property has three landings with a bathroom on each floor, and one fully equipped kitchen. That’s a total of 80m2 on a 108m2 plot.
 
Although the house has been fully renovated – double glazing everywhere, oak doors and chestnut wooden flooring – many original features remain, including the well maintained old tiles.
 
The property also has a private parking for two cars, and, save the best for last, a decently sized terrace with a stunning view of the River Orb and the countryside.
 
Why buy it?
 
Estate agent Leggett Immobilier says: “The property has huge letting potential but is also a great holiday home just for you.
 
“It is on this gorgeous terrace when you open your bottle of local wine in the evening and look down over the valley, you will feel at home in one of the most scenic areas of southern France. That’s when you know you have finally realised your French dream!”
 
And the pictures
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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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.

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.

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