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PROPERTY

French property of the week: Stunning stone house in the heart of Charente

If you want to live in an old stone house in one of the most picturesque and stunning parts of France and have enough money... then this property in the heart of Charente could be for you.

Published: 27 June 2018 17:18 CEST
French property of the week: Stunning stone house in the heart of Charente
Photo: Leggett Immobilier

Where is it?

The property is located between the villages of Jarnac and Chateauneauf-sur-Charente in between Cognac and Angouleme in the heart of the Charente, western France.

The house is set on a quiet country road in the heart of the Cognac producing area near the picturesque Charente river and approached along a lane.

The whole area is steeped in history and the property is just a few minutes from a 7th century Roman road and stunning partially ruined Chateau, rebuilt in the 16th century.

Cognac and the area offer a lot of services and entertainment. An Olympic sized pool is about to be completed. Sports centres, schools, conference facilities, bars and restaurants are all very high quality.

Transport links

There are train stations in Cognac, Jarnac and Chateauneuf, all of which connect to Angouleme and the TGV, which links to Paris in just over two hours.

La Rochelle and Bordeaux airports are just over 1h 15 minutes away. Ryanair fly to Stansted all year round from La Rochelle. Bordeaux is an international airport and an easyJet hub. 

The Atlantic coast is 1h 15 minutes away by car and the Pyrenees and Spanish border are 3.5 hours drive.

The Brittany port of St Malo is a 4.5 to – 5 hour drive with overnight and daytime ferries to the UK.

Describe the house

The main house is behind a large pair of handmade oak gates, for pedestrian and vehicle access.The house comes with a beautiful garden and pool along with a stone terrace from which you can enjoy the splendid sunsets and views (see photo below).

In all, there are six bedrooms and four bathrooms in the 295 m2 property which comes with two garages and outbuildings.

There are large, bright, tastefully decorated reception rooms plus a handcrafted, new, solid wood kitchen with granite worktops and an Aga. There is an attached guest apartment plus a separate two bedroom gite.

What does the estate agent say?

Louise King from Leggett Immobilier says: “It's a stunning, unique property with a secret courtyard, gardens and pool. This property holds many a long forgotten secret.

“The tower is reminiscent of childhood fairy stories and it offers outstanding views.”

How much does it cost?

On current exchange rates the property costs €408,000 or £359,693 or $472,987.

And the photos:

 

For more information about the property and to view others in the region visit Leggett Immobilier.

 

 

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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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