Back in 2009, apparently without much fanfare, a law was passed here in France: “Selon l’article L. 324-1-1 et D. 324-1-1 du code du tourisme, toute personne qui offre à la location un meublé de tourisme doit en avoir préalablement fait la déclaration auprès du maire de la commune où est situé le meublé.”
Loosely translated, it means that anyone who offers to rent furnished accommodation must have previously made the statement to the mayor of the municipality/commune in which it is located.
Whilst many of you may have already completed this registration, some may not be aware. To do this you must complete Formulaire Cerfa n°14004*01′ from vosdroits.service-public.fr/R14321.xhtm
Have you completed this process? Was it relatively easy or did you run into problems?
A bit of a translation here, so you can see they set up in 2012 so are gaining ground so although you may not have had a visit it could be on the cards.
You need to find out if they declared the pool. 99% of people do as it has to go through the mairie normally for permission on that size. If they did then it should be included already and no further tax paid. If they didn't then an amount will be added to your house/land tax but i don't know how much this is. This is the only tax you pay on the pool. When looking for house insurance although a totally different subject ensure they know your renting to get the correct level of cover for the pool.
Details of the existence of a pool are with the mairie who has to give permission (unless it is an above ground pool) and with the department for taxe d'habitation (I think it is)
Details of rental income from tourism are with the tax authorities.
2 + 2 means that it will be known.
AHSE (or something like that) have access to both and, while they check the quality of the water, they could be very awkward over other matters too - if they wish Too many to enumerate here. Suggest anyone interested looks at:-
Thanks John. I see. Is that the case if the house has not been rented before? We are buying from a couple that have used the property only during the Summer and not let it while back in England.
The pool has an alarm, but is 5x8m so will attract the tax you mention. Was not aware that the pool would be taxed additionally. How naive of me. It is not a salt water pool though so that is a plus by the sounds of things.
I will also look at the tax a sejour for Lot et Garonne mentioned by John.
A compliant pool cover is also allowable but obviously it must be covering the pool in order to work so if you nip off to top up your glass etc.
I would agree that the number of inspections is low but they do happen and of course could happen should the authorities decide to have a purge so best to stay inside the regulations which are actually good regulations. The DDASS used to look after this area but apparently now taken over by another agancy. Maybe with all the registrations of gites the authorities may decide to carry out a few more as they pocket €60 a visit!
There is also the rule about salt pools being not acceptable for gites. The other regulations are a nightmare as they treat any pool that is not solely for the use of the property owners is a "public" pool which is daft. However, as John says - I have yet to hear from anyone who has been inspected to ensure that the water is acceptable.
For the pool it's not too bad. You either need a fence with gate (child lock a requirement) and the bars must be no more than 10cm apart which is babies head width or an alarm which is triggered when it is entered without consent. A good pool shop will know what needs to be done although we have never been assessed even though we have been registered 2.5 years. Also you don't pay any tax on your pool if it is 50cm above ground level or less than 15m2 i believe.
For the taxe a sejour i believe it is different depending on your area but in the Minervois there are 2 ways. Either pay all tax up front for how many people you accommodate and how long your business is open for which is €1900 for us and a no go or pay to join gites de France and get registered. Which means we only pay for the people we have in. As Chris says the pressure cooker is not a requirement but the less stars you have the less tax you pay and only the French take note of this grading so if your clientele are from abroad it's a good option.
That sounds reasonably straight forward. I must say I thought the “red tape” was going to be a nightmare. Would one still register with the Marie even though we would be renting for less than 4 months? Is it better to tell them exactly what you intend to do and let the Marie tell you what is required? Are there complicated regulations to adhere to when offering your home for rental?
As I was told (and understand it) John Coates has got it right as, if your income is below €23,000 a year you stay as a micro and only pay tax on 29% of your income but you cannot "charge" any expenses or costs as a deduction against tax. Very simple. If you are renting out as holiday lets registration with the Maire is the law.
Good morning All,
This is very interesting to me as we intend to rent our house in July and August and would like to be “legal” as it were. However I do not know whether Auto Entrepreneur, Micro Enterprise or this system of registration at the Marie is the right way to go. The rest of the year we will be resident so the simplest strategy is what we are after.