Could a get/use a SIPP pension for a hotel/Gite in Brittany?

hippyphoenix

I only have a small pension pot  with a little over £50,000 and with only 7 years of work officially left in me. But I am blessed with good health and have no problem as long as my health holds up to continue working well past 66, I would actually prefer  it that way even if I had plenty of money to retire on. I also have a good bit of savings tucked away as I fell out of love with saving for a pension years ago(for another post). My plan for the last couple of years and my dream for many years was to get a smallholding in France with a Gite to rent out and for an income in retirement and maybe even add a couple of rental pods in the next few years.
So my question is could I use my pension fund and get some kind of Sipp for the commercial side of buying property in France, would get a far better income from renting a Gite than I would a an annuity.

Marcon

hippyphoenix said:

I only have a small pension pot  with a little over £50,000 and with only 7 years of work officially left in me. But I am blessed with good health and have no problem as long as my health holds up to continue working well past 66, I would actually prefer  it that way even if I had plenty of money to retire on. I also have a good bit of savings tucked away as I fell out of love with saving for a pension years ago(for another post). My plan for the last couple of years and my dream for many years was to get a smallholding in France with a Gite to rent out and for an income in retirement and maybe even add a couple of rental pods in the next few years.
So my question is could I use my pension fund and get some kind of Sipp for the commercial side of buying property in France, would get a far better income from renting a Gite than I would a an annuity.

A very limited number of SIPP providers will permit investments in commercial property overseas, but there are a huge range of considerations to take into account. Do some googling to find SIPP providers who accept such investments and discuss with them.

zagfles

You can't have a residential property in a SIPP, you can only have commercial properties (eg offices, shops).

I think the reason is because it'd be too easy to use it as a tax dodge to buy a property for personal use, or partly for personal use, eg stay in it for free without paying the SIPP market rent during void periods, which would obviously be tax evasion.

hippyphoenix

zagfles said:

You can't have a residential property in a SIPP, you can only have commercial properties (eg offices, shops).

I think the reason is because it'd be too easy to use it as a tax dodge to buy a property for personal use, or partly for personal use, eg stay in it for free without paying the SIPP market rent during void periods, which would obviously be tax evasion.

I am buying two properties on the same land, one for residential and one for Gite, only need one house to live in and seeing as the other one is a business then to me that comes under commercial 

zagfles

hippyphoenix said:

zagfles said:

You can't have a residential property in a SIPP, you can only have commercial properties (eg offices, shops).

I think the reason is because it'd be too easy to use it as a tax dodge to buy a property for personal use, or partly for personal use, eg stay in it for free without paying the SIPP market rent during void periods, which would obviously be tax evasion.

I am buying two properties on the same land, one for residential and one for Gite, only need one house to live in and seeing as the other one is a business then to me that comes under commercial 

Doesn't matter what you think it is, it matters what HMRC think. If you're renting it out like an AirBnb etc as holiday accomodation then AIUI it would be classed as residential. See https://www.barnett-waddingham.co.uk/comment-insight/blog/tax-residential-property-ssas-sipp/ loads of other web sites say similar.

nigelbb

Have you considered that post-BREXIT that it's now going to be much more difficult for a Brit to become resident in France & run a business?

hippyphoenix

nigelbb said:

Have you considered that post-BREXIT that it's now going to be much more difficult for a Brit to become resident in France & run a business?

Have Irish passport