[adl041164]

Hi can anyone advise?
Looking at buying some land in burgundy to build my own house.
Do you know of any pit falls etc?
What are the building reg's like in France?
Will I save money doing myself or are French builders cheap?
What is the average rate for a French builder?
Can I get any energy grants from the French government?
Any feed back will be great
Thanks for reading

 

[Guest]

Look further down the page for a thread entitled ' New Build or Renovation' its got a lot of info in it already

Self-build is far more common here than in UK.

One advantage of a new-build is that you can go to a firm specialising in 'turn-key' solutions for water and electricity. You give them a plan with where you want the water pipes, the boiler, the rads, the sockets, etc, and you get a van deliver it all ready-marked up and prepped for you or your fitter to install with complete instructions.

Pil-Top in Voiron is one such company.

French builders in my experience, are even less reliable than english ones wrt to turning up and actually doing what the C-L-I-E-N-T wants them to. However, if you import your own brand of layabout from the uk to do it, you'll foster bad-feeling that will earn payback further down the line.

You'll also run the risk of an inspector deciding that some aspect of the build is not up to code, which will cause greater costs.

 

[Bevdeforges]

When buying land anywhere in France, make very very sure that you check out its buildable status BEFORE you purchase. The building regulations are bizarre (by anglo-saxon standards anyhow) and include such things as precisely how the building can be situated on the lot (i.e. facing what direction and how far from the center of the road the walls must be, etc.). They may also specify what sort of roof tiles you can or can't use, the height of the building and where you can and can't place windows, to ensure the privacy of your actual or potential neighbors.

It's possible to buy a huge piece of land where only a small portion of the property is buildable. Depends a bit on the local mairie, as well as on the current POS (or whatever acronym they are using lately for what amounts to the zoning, or land use regulations).

Get a cadastre reference for any piece of land you're considering and go research for yourself at the local mairie. Ask them about water and electrical connections and the building regs for that piece of land. (It always helps to have a friend at the mairie who is willing to fill you in on these sorts of things.) Some mairies are pretty good about helping with derogations (exemptions from the regs) - other mairies won't hear of them and will do everything in their power to oppose them.
Cheers,
Bev

 

[Coton90]

When buying land anywhere in France, make very very sure that you check out its buildable status BEFORE you purchase. The building regulations are bizarre (by anglo-saxon standards anyhow) and include such things as precisely how the building can be situated on the lot (i.e. facing what direction and how far from the center of the road the walls must be, etc.). They may also specify what sort of roof tiles you can or can't use, the height of the building and where you can and can't place windows, to ensure the privacy of your actual or potential neighbors.

It's possible to buy a huge piece of land where only a small portion of the property is buildable. Depends a bit on the local mairie, as well as on the current POS (or whatever acronym they are using lately for what amounts to the zoning, or land use regulations).

Get a cadastre reference for any piece of land you're considering and go research for yourself at the local mairie. Ask them about water and electrical connections and the building regs for that piece of land. (It always helps to have a friend at the mairie who is willing to fill you in on these sorts of things.) Some mairies are pretty good about helping with derogations (exemptions from the regs) - other mairies won't hear of them and will do everything in their power to oppose them.
Cheers,
Bev

Before you buy land, check with the local modernization/planning committee to see if you will be expected to pay to build a road, install streetlamps, connect to the sewage system and anything else they can dream up. This can be a very expensive proposition.

There are some French builders who offer standard design packages, which may be a bit cheaper, if this works for you. Always check the reputation of your builder. We are having a local builder with an excellent reputation construct our home. My French in-laws found out about him. He guarantees his work and is close by if there are any problems. We also saw examples of his work before we hired him. We're in Herault and I don't think he would take commissions in Burgundy, plus he's booked up for some time.

 

[adl041164]

thank you

Thanks to everyone for the info.

 

[patterson]

you have to get the certificat d'urbanisme and then apply for building permission
the legislation is straight foward as long as you are not in a protected area (castle, church,.....)
you can do your self if you want but will be better by builders as if you d have to sell the house one day you d be able to provide the costs and you ll be taxed on profite made

french builders charge normally 30€ an hour

Any other doubt please ask


Looking at buying some land in burgundy to build my own house.
Do you know of any pit falls etc?
What are the building reg's like in France?
Will I save money doing myself or are French builders cheap?
What is the average rate for a French builder?
Can I get any energy grants from the French government?
Any feed back will be great
Thanks for reading[/QUOTE]

 

[Guest]

You'll get hammered by CGT if you sell within 5 years anyway.

 

[adl041164]

Hi are you saying I will get hit for tax if I sell within 5 years?
Is this based on profit?
If I buy an house for 100k and spend 50k on it and sell it for 170k what will I be tax on?
The 20k profit or 70k
Thanks again

 

[patterson]

The tax is called " plu value" it is 17.4% on profit so if you can't justify work done by builders you will be taxed a huge amount.

better dealing with trade


If it is a permanent house not so bad

 

[Guest]

Its complicated.

Google, Search on 'Capital Gains Tax in France'

 

[patterson]

No worry

It is not complicate
Just easier if you nowthing from beginning

Basicaly : better to get builders in
you can have them to do a part of the work and do the finishings yourself if you like

 

[Guest]

Sorry, I strongly disagree....

The situation surrounding CGT in France can be extremely complicated for a foreigner, although I agree that in 'simple' cases it can indeed be straightforward.

Any individual in a 'greenfield' house building project has to do a lot of careful sums up front about how to avoid getting hammered further down the line. It is fairly certain that a hammering will occur, its just a question of minimising it.

 

[patterson]

CGT is a workers union. Nothing to do with tax!!!!!

Things are straight foward if you know what you are doing and what are the regumlations


Sorry, I strongly disagree....

The situation surrounding CGT in France can be extremely complicated for a foreigner, although I agree that in 'simple' cases it can indeed be straightforward.

Any individual in a 'greenfield' house building project has to do a lot of careful sums up front about how to avoid getting hammered further down the line. It is fairly certain that a hammering will occur, its just a question of minimising it.[/QUOTE]

 

[Bevdeforges]

CGT is a workers union. Nothing to do with tax!!!!!

Things are straight foward if you know what you are doing and what are the regumlations

CGT (to the anglophone mind at least) stands for Capital Gains Tax. And just about anything related to taxes can be considered "complicated" to a foreigner because foreign tax systems can treat the same issue very, very differently.

Each person here on the board tends to think of taxes and other financial matters in terms of their home country, as it's the system each is most familiar with.

I think the US tax system is pretty straight forward, but that's because I'm a CPA (expert comptable) in the US and know pretty much what "variations" I'm most likely to be able to get away with. I'm still struggling to understand some of what you no doubt consider "basic" with the French tax system.
Cheers,
Bev

 

[adl041164]

Hi we intend to live in France so this will be our only house.
Also if we keep receipts for all the building materials will this not reduce any tax bills?
If I use a builder from outside France will this affect the Tax bill too?
Thanks again

 

[Bevdeforges]

Hi we intend to live in France so this will be our only house.
Also if we keep receipts for all the building materials will this not reduce any tax bills?
If I use a builder from outside France will this affect the Tax bill too?
Thanks again

One thing you need to keep in mind - the French government is very active in trying to encourage employment and the payment of VAT (because VAT provides more income for the government than income tax does).

Many tax policies are directed at either or both of those goals. Certain tax credits (such as those for energy efficient renovations) are only available to those who have the work done by contractors, not if you do the work yourself. Contracting work used to be notorious for "under the table" payments to avoid VAT - so now they require invoices with the VAT listed for many tax advantaged kinds of work.

I don't know all the ins and outs of the French tax system - but I do know that construction work is usually best done by contractors who will produce the appropriate invoice for VAT purposes. The government has little incentive to reward DIY folks. As far as using builders from outside France, I would look to their VAT status for work done in France for the answer to that question.
Cheers,
Bev

 

[Claire la richarde]

Hi we intend to live in France so this will be our only house.
Also if we keep receipts for all the building materials will this not reduce any tax bills?
If I use a builder from outside France will this affect the Tax bill too?
Thanks again

There's what looks to me like a useful article on French capital gains tax on property on the French Entree website

I can't post a link, but if you go to French Entree homepage, then hover over Resources on the right hand side and click on Free Newsletters. The second item on that page is Tax and Law Update, with a link to the Tax and Law newsletter archive - click on this limk and choose April 2008. The headline for the relevant article reads "French Capital Gains Tax - how it works" and you can read the whole thing by clicking on the words "Full story".