Selling a French property

Francophile

Hi, haven't been on here for a while but was hoping someone could give me some advice. We have had a property in France for over 12 years now and the original plan was to retire to France but realise now we would never be able to live there full time and costs of keeping the property are now outweighing our use of it so we want to sell. I know there will be tax implications but does anyone know of a way of minimising them e.g. If we were to become resident for a time. Thanks in advance for any advice.

zygurat789

Any UK tax that you pay (and there may well be French taxes) Will be paid in GBP and all calculations will be done in GBP.
So the purchase price and all associated costs, legal, surveyor etc will have been incurred 12 years ago and should be converted at the then rate of exchange, somewhere between €1.54 to €1.38 to £1. Todays rate is €1.30 to £1 so you are , at these values, already sitting on an exchage rate element of profit before the value of the proceeds of the property is determined. The further the exchange rate goes up from €1.30 to £1 towards €1.54 the lower this exchange element will be and could eventually reduce the gain taxed in the UK.
You will be taxed under CGT legislation, if you are joint owners then you will both receive an annual exempt amount of £11,000 this tax year which will probably be increased for next tax year.
The rate of CGT you pay at will be determined by your incomeif you are not paying income tax at the 40% rate then you will pay 18% CGT on the taxable gain and if you are paying income tax at 40% then you will pay CGT at the rate of 28%
To be able to claim Principle Private Residence relief I would imagine you would have to sell your house in the UK and move to France and then there are other quetions on residence which have changed recently.
If you ask this question on the Cutting Tax board you may get a better answer.

Francophile

Sorry, I didn't make it clear, it's the French tax implications I'm concerned about. We plan to sell our house in the UK and reside in the French house till it's sold. It will therefore be our main residence at the time of selling and wondered if that would reduce our taxes in France.

zygurat789

Francophile wrote: »

Sorry, I didn't make it clear, it's the French tax implications I'm concerned about. We plan to sell our house in the UK and reside in the French house till it's sold. It will therefore be our main residence at the time of selling and wondered if that would reduce our taxes in France.

You would probably have to ask on a French tax website

missile

As you probably know houses particularly in rural France can be very difficult to sell. Good luck.

pineapple123

missile wrote: »

As you probably know houses particularly in rural France can be very difficult to sell. Good luck.

I agree they can take ages to sell, with property prices remaining stagnent for many years. New builds still going up and not the supply/demand fuelling the UK price rises you could be there for sometime.

pjala

As a matter of interest, what makes a house in France expensive to maintain? Is that more so than a house in the UK?
Thanks.

DCFC79

pjala wrote: »

As a matter of interest, what makes a house in France expensive to maintain? Is that more so than a house in the UK?
Thanks.

This might help
http://www.frenchpropertylinks.com/thefees.htm

slopemaster

There is no French tax on sale of main residence, BUT If I recall correctly (and it's possible I don't) then you will be hit with UK tax if you return within a certain time - 3yrs? 5? 6? Can't remember, But this could make a big difference and it's probably worth taking professional advice.