On 2/7/07 08:50, in article , "David
(Normandy)" wrote:


"Sacha" wrote in message
. uk...
On 1/7/07 21:29, in article ,
"David
(Normandy)" wrote:

snip

The strangest law we've come across here so far is regarding selling your
property - if you sell it within 2 years you have to share any profit you
make with the previous owners of the house!
snip

snip

This would explain why an English friend of ours, living in France, told
us
that it could take up to at least two years to sell a house! I wonder now
if she knew this at that time.

--

The French property market doesn't have the high inflation of the UK housing
market, which is perhaps a good thing. There are several reasons, but
basically the taxes and estate agent fees are very high. They are on a
sliding time scale which makes it punitive to sell within two years after
the initial purchase (especially with having to share any 'profit' with the
previous owners). But the seller is still heavily taxed if selling within
five years of purchase.
We looked at selling on our old stone barn with a bit of land for someone to
renovate, but the amount of tax and fees we would have to pay made selling a
none starter, so it looks like it will just continue to crumble into
dereliction, like most old stone barns in France.
People just don't generally climb a housing ladder here, they are too
heavily punished financially with each move, and it is not uncommon for
properties to simply pass down the generations.


At least it must make it easier for young people to buy a house of their
own, or at least to have the hope of doing so. Prices here are ridiculously
high. A two bedroomed stone cottage in this village, with a downstairs
bathroom, all of it in a terrible state of repair, went for £360,000 a while
ago. We reckon it will take at least £80k to make it into a comfortable and
damp free home. IIRC, the asking price had been under £300k.

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
(remove weeds from address)