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PROPERTY

IN PICTURES: The five places in France with the highest percentage of second homes

France has more second homes than any other European country, and there are a lot of places where a majority of properties are only inhabited for part of the year. Here's a look at five spots with the highest percentage of maisons secondaires.

Published: 19 June 2019 16:53 CEST
IN PICTURES: The five places in France with the highest percentage of second homes
Do you dream of a second home somewhere sunny and French? Photo: wavebreak media/Depositphotos
France has 3.3 million second homes, representing 10 percent of the country's housing stock. 
 
That's four times more than Germany, and over the past five years, the buying of second homes in France has gone up 1.7 percent.
 
And it means that some of France's small, rural areas have far more temporary residents than permanent ones. 
 
Here's a look at five places in France with the highest percentage of second home owners in France, according to Le Telegramme. 
 
READ ALSO:
Uvernet-Fours
 
The tiny town of Uvernet-Fours in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department in southeastern France is so popular with second home owners that a whopping 92.3 percent of the properties there are owned by them. 
 
Photo:  Sébastien Thébault/Wikicommons
 
 
Orcières
 
Another small town in southeastern France, Orcières is located in the Hautes-Alpes department. A total of 90.5 percent of properties here are second homes. 
 
Photo: Nirv75/Wikicommons
 
La Fajolle
 
Still in the south of France but this time in the Aude department of the Occitanie region, La Fajolle is a beautiful spot to drink a cool glass of white wine during your summer holiday. But it's more than likely you'll be surrounded by others who have had the same idea, with 92 percent of the properties here owned by second home owners. 
 
 

Photo: CartesFrance.fr
 
La Faute-sur-Mer
 
It isn't only the south of France which is popular with second home owners, of course. The west of the country also has a high number of temporary residents during the summer season. 
 
A total of 85.2 percent of properties in La Faute-sur-Mer, a coastal town in the Vendée department in the Pays de la Loire region, are second homes.
 
Photo: Pantoine/Wikicommons
 
Vars
 
Nevertheless southern France does dominate, with Vars, a town in the Hautes-Alpes department in southeastern France dominated be second homes, which make up a total of 91.5 percent of the properties. 
 
Vars is famous for its ski resort and benefits from good weather in the summer. 
 
Photo: Gargantua/Wikicommons
 
However, not everywhere in France is in such high demand, which means there are bargains to be had. 
 
The Indre-et-Loire department in west-central France has next to no second homes and the nearby department of Loiret is similarly unpopular with second home owners. Who needs the sunshine when you can have peace and quiet?

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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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