Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

PROPERTY

French Property of the Week: Charming stone house with outbuildings in the Brittany countryside

Can you see yourself settling in a historical home with its own mill surrounded by beautiful woods and fields in Brittany? If so, read on to find out more about this week's property of the week.

Published: 3 October 2018 15:52 CEST
French Property of the Week: Charming stone house with outbuildings in the Brittany countryside
Photo: Leggett Immobilier
Where is it?
 
The property is located in the town of Plougras in the Côtes-d'Armor in Brittany.
 
The nearby village of Guerlesquin (3 km away) has been named a Petit Cité de Caractère, meaning it is of particular interest to tourists, thanks to its historical traditions and picturesque charm. The village hosts regular markets and cultural community events such a “world championship” stone throwing competition every August.
 
Surrounded by beautiful countryside, there is also access to the beach with the stunning Plestin-les-Grèves only 20 km away. 
 
Brest airport, with daily flights to Birmingham and Southampton, and Roscoff ferry port, with boats to Portsmouth, Plymouth and Poole, are both under one hour away by car.
 
Google maps. 
 
How much does it cost?
 
The property costs €393,750 (£350,317 or $455,631) depending on exchange rates.
 
Describe the property
 
The property has 136m2 of livable space on a plot of 30,137m2 (3 hectares). 
 
Set just off a country lane, a sweeping drive passes through the property’s beautiful fields and woodland before reaching the country garden surrounding the main house. 
 
In total, the property has six character-filled buildings, housing nine bedrooms and seven bathrooms. The grounds of the property also contain a stream and a 1000 m2 lake.
 
The entrance to the ground floor of the main house leads into a spacious living/dining area and a kitchen, both with original features including stone walls, exposed beams and fireplaces. The ground floor also contains a bathroom with separate toilet and a sunny, south facing patio with a BBQ. 
 
A double en-suite bedroom is accessible at the side of the house, and four further double bedrooms with two shower rooms can be found on the first floor. 
 
The basement, which also features original stone walls, has a storage room and a large games room with access out to the garden.
 
Outbuildings include a sauna with two showers, a log cabin with two bedrooms and a shower, a large barn/workshop and a log shed. 
 
Finally, there is a mill house with the original mill and workings still in place. The rest of this historical building has been converted into a gîte with a living area and corner kitchen, two bedrooms and a bathroom.
 
This property has great business potential. Already well established as a group holiday destination, it could also be used as a small farm or equestrian property. 
 
Alternatively, it could make a spacious but cosy private home with plenty of room to welcome guests.
 
Why buy it
 
Estate agent Leggett Immobilier says: “This is a delightful collection of stone buildings providing accommodation for 16 people plus owner. Tucked away in 7 acres of land yet only minutes from the pretty village of Gurelesquin, it’s an ideal business opportunity, equestrian property, small holding or just a beautiful family home.”
 
And the photos
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.
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