The tax you have read about is at this stage merely a proposal and for most people buyiung in rural France it does not concern you anyway, but if you are looking to buy in an urban area there are some things to note.
According to a report in a French daily newspaper Les Echos, second homes that are located in areas where there is a housing shortage could face an increase of 20% on their Taxe d'Habitation.
This measure is being considered by the government and could apply in 28 urban agglomerations in France, known as zones tendues, where a tax on vacant homes is already in place.
These areas are: Ajaccio, Annecy, Arles, Bastia, Bayonne, Beauvais, Bordeaux, Draguignan, Fréjus, Genève – Annemasse, Grenoble, La Rochelle, La Teste-de-Buch – Arcachon, Lille, Lyon, Marseille – Aix-en-Provence, Meaux, Menton – Monaco, Montpellier, Nantes, Nice, Paris, Saint-Nazaire, Sète, Strasbourg, Thonon-les-Bains, Toulon, and Toulouse.
Most international home owners with country / rural properties in France will not therefore be affected, although holiday homes in some popular coastal resorts will face a tax hike. But unless you are buying in one of these areas you will be unaffected.
That said it is difficult to give you a 'typical' scenario because taxes vary from commune to commune, and of course utilities vary so much according to usage.
Other charges by comparison: Electric and water etc. are about the same as the UK, and people generally find annual Taxe Fonçière and Taxe d'Habitation compare very favourably indeed, these are in general 5,6,7+ times less than in the UK.
Blog submitted by: Sharon at The French Property Network - Cle France.
