Clé France

The government in France tries to keep down the price of housing so that it is affordable for everyone. One of the ways this is achieved is by having a limit on the profit to be made through speculation. So should a property be bought and then sold on, purely for speculative purposes, the maximum profit that can be made is seven-twelfths of the buying price. If a larger sum is made then the authorities have the right to confiscate the difference and return it to the original owner.

This may seem like a restriction of trade etc., but at least people can afford to buy a house which is more than can be said for many people in Britain! The government also runs a scheme for French first-time buyers by which a youngster who has rented a house for two years, and can prove he has not defaulted on the rent then the government will give him a 100% mortgage at 0% interest.

Profits on the sale of a second home are also quite highly-taxed; in the case of a resident in France the tax is 26% of the profit, and 16% for a non-resident. This is the case for the first five years of ownership and then on a reducing scale over the next ten at which point it drops to zero.

There is also a sanction in so far that the mayors of towns and villages, should they want, have the right to pre-empt any house purchase in their area. So should an outsider come along and wants to buy a house, puts in an offer and it is accepted, then the deal has first to go before the mayor and if he thinks too many houses are being sold as second homes, then he has the right to buy it for the price accepted, and it can be sold on to a local.

This means that villages can ensure they never become second home or dormitory settlements where inevitably trade and most other activities disappear.  This is called looking after your constituents.

Fraser Blake, 70, author of 'Dear Chips' and 'A Rant Too Far?' grew up in Africa, was at school in Scotland, and worked for the British South Africa Police in Southern Rhodesia. He has taught English in Saudi Arabia and sold and renovated hundreds of properties in Northern France.

In 1998 Fraser was selling houses in the Mayenne department of the Pays de la Loire region and so was the obvious choice, when Cle France was started, to be their first agent on the ground in France. In retirement he writes, blogs, cooks, drinks wine, and hosts to dinner unlimited numbers of ex-pats.

Always on hand with a viewpoint, Fraser is going to share his views on France, the French and the British, and other people who buy in France. Sometimes informative, sometimes funny, painfully true, outrageously opinionated but always entertaining so we hope it adds a slightly different dimension to the usual normality of searching through the fantastic properties for sale on the Cle France website.

If you want more? then follow the links above where you can buy Fraser's published books.