thewoodz

hi all
i am wondering if any one can give me some advice. we have a plot of land in Brittany and have just had it divided in order to self build 2 houses on it. we then want to sell them in order to finance refurbishing an older house on the rest of the plot. we have seen a french architect and planning permission has been granted in principle depending on the plans we submit.
However a friend who lives in France and knows a friend.....etc....reckons that the houses have to be built by a french registered builder only, we told the architect that we were building them (OH in the trade and is taking several mates over) and he didn't say anything about French registered builders. However this may have been a misunderstanding on my part as my french is about enough to get by and i may have misunderstood him.
Any one out there how knows better?

Thanks

priscilia

We have built our own house all by ourselves and then completely renovated another one and we are not registered builders.

if the house is less than 170 m² you don't even need an architect to draw your plans.

You should know before you start though, that unless you take out the proper insurance, you will be responsible for the work carried out for 10 years. you need someone qualified and registered for a gas installation but not for the plumbing or the electricity but they will check that the electric has been done to the proper regulations before they give you any electricity.

Good luck with your plans

thewoodz

thanks for your reply.
i will look into the insurance side.
kind regards
N x

neil morgan

Thanks
Very helpful
We plant to build a 160m2 cottage near Limoges
Any extra help would be most gratefully received, particularly what sort of insurance where to get it and approximate cost
Happy Christmas
Neil

priscilia

It's called "assurance decennale" but I don't know how much it cost we didn't get one

skiaway

Unfortunately this is true if you wish to sell a property in France you will require a 10 year construction guarentee called a desenage which you can only get from a French builder:curse: I do believe that you can however circumnavigate this by selling to a Brit on a bought as seen option or by arranging your own desenage assurance but this is very costly approx 10% of total build price.

Adam

thewoodz

thanks for that Adam - but at the mo' we have been waiting since Oct for the plans so as we have planning permission on the land - i think we are just going to sell the land for someone else who has more knowledge and keep the old building and do that up.

Ka Ora!

One thing i know is that you can build you own house my mother and new husband have been doing this for a number of years. once all permissions granted you have two years to start work then you can take as long as you like.

However if you are building new houses to sell the tax man will be moving in for a while. dont expect to much profit this is why you dont see many property devolopers in france because the tax man hammers you if you sell before 8 years after completion.

thewoodz

oh - thanks for that! we knew that we would have to pay tax but didn't realise it was so "bad"

Ka Ora!

Very bad for new builds i think its a bad as 30 percent if not more i will make some calls and let you know. have a nice notaire that selling a house for us.

thewoodz

thanks.

are you selling to get nearer to spain? or are u there now?

Ka Ora!

We are selling two house`s one in st lizier nr st girons and on about 15 km from there which is as close to spain as you can get but in france. were we live we are currently weighing up all the options as our 5 year old son is fluent in french and english as he has been in school for 2 and half years spain is were i would like to go but my wife is a little worried about changing his country again which is understandable and our daughter has just been born here so very little change for her.

priscilia

You will be charged 19.6% tax on your profit if you sell your house within 5 years of building. Make sure you keep all bills, invoices and receipts. It's best if you always ask for a proper invoice with all details of taxes paid no matter what you buy for your house.

thewoodz

i understand her concerns but he is still young and at the best age for picking up languages! he will be a great little multi linguist

thank you for the advice, its something that we prob wouldn't have done, and yet it seems such a sensible thing to do.

priscilia

you would need them to prove how much the house actually cost you, so that you only pay tax on the difference