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Residents hit - as Languedoc-Roussillon records France’s highest rise in taxe foncière over last five years
Home owners in the Languedoc-Roussillon region in the south of France have good reason to feel sore: property tax (taxe foncière, applicable to owners of French property or land) in the region increased by a whopping 80.77 per cent over the five year period 2002-2007.
According to figures announced by the UNPI (Union Nationale de la Propriété Immobilière), property tax rose by an average of 30 per cent over the last five years, making Languedoc-Roussillon France’s the worst culprit.
Regions with the most modest rises were Corsica (which remained constant) and Haute-Normandie (9.95 per cent); second to Languedoc was the Auvergne (62.72 per cent).
As the owner of a French home or a plot of land, you are liable for property tax, although owners of new-build homes are exempt from this tax for two years from January 1 following the completion date.
Taxe foncière is not to be confused with residential tax (taxe d’habitation), which is payable by anyone who lives in a property (as the owner, the tenant or even rent-free) with a rental value of over €4,600.
Yet another tax applicable to French property is capital gains tax (CGT, or in French, impôt sur les plus-values), which is payable on the profit made on the sale of a second home in France, up to 15 years after purchase; non-resident EU citizens are taxed at 16 per cent.
For more information about French property taxes and other financial issue, see our French Property Advice pages.
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