“Note that for those owning plots of land other than ordinary gardens, separate taxe foncière sur les propriétés non-bâties may be payable. In some areas this has been steeply increased this year for building land”.
We have always been charged a non-bâtie amount ever since we bought the house. I assumed (unafair charge) that it applied to the garden around the house. Our house is in the middle of a 4740 sq.m plot and is all down to vegetables, fruit and flowers. We are surrounded by agricultural land and the house was once part of it all.
Does anyone know if we should be paying this charge every year? If not, would there be any recourse for reimbursement.
No way is it suitable for a building plot. The man next door wanted to build a house on his bit of the land and was told no as it was in a protected agricultural area.
I bought the field next to my house about 10 years ago.
I was told that the owner probably paid some form of tax but was never told how much…no mention of an increase in fonciere has ever been made.
I’ve never seen it marked on any bill I’ve received.
Funny you should mention this.
When we purchased our land for building a house the total land mass was split into separate parcels all connected totalling over 1½ ha. 1700 m² was permitted for construction (it contained an old ruin), the rest was outside the commune building envelope.
When we first starting getting Tf bills the amount paid for the larger parcel (non building portion) was quite low and probably represented it’s old purpose as farm land.
However…
We then built out house, filled in the forms to say the project was complete and we were told the land needed to be resurveyed for amendments to the cadastre. This was indeed done and the cadastre amended to show the outline of the new house replacing the old ruin which we had demolished.
The new cadastre then showed one complete parcel rather than the original 2 parcels (which we didn’t really express any concern about at the time) because it merely regularised what now existed.
Then came the next Tf bill.
I don’t now remember all the detail but our Tf is now in the region of 1k€/annum which I am sure is considerably more than the sum of the older ‘parts’ (given that only an uninhabitable ruin existed in the time we bought the land and paid our first Tfs until the house was completed).
To be fair, 1k€ for the 1½ ha of land we have including the house is probably not excessive; we paid c£1000/month in the UK for a 6 bed house and barn (used for business) on the same plot with 2 acres so now considerably less than we paid before.
We expected to pay more once the house had been completed (over the cost of the ruin) and the first year was free anyway so the increase in cost was not directly comparable.
Your post does make me wonder whether the non-bâtie charges have been imposed as a result of the re-designation of the parcels (although, like your neighbour I doubt whether now I could build on it) because the attached land is now considered a “park” (garden) with all that entails as opposed merely to a scrap of old cow grass which it previously was (until we cut it and got rid of the all the ronce).
Thanks for replying Bob. It seems as though we should not be paying non bâtie charges especially as the property was bought with the land shown in its full extent as belonging the house.
The charge isn’t much but we have been paying it since 1995.
Our land hasn’t changed. It was sold as one complete ownership but made up of 3 separate parts and a shared access part. It is as you say, probably due to the different ‘bits’ that this charge has been levied. However, the land is not used for agricultural purposes except for our own food supply.
I will have to look into this a bit more deeply and see if I can get some clarity on it.
and there lies the difference in my view.
In one case the land was already attached and in the other it was a completely different parcel but if the fisc get round to it and “attach” his field to his house, it will be redesignated IMHO.
After reading this post I looked at my bill for this year, & in fact, I pay 12 whole new euros in TF for the field.
There’s been no increase in the 10 years I’ve owned it, as far as I can see.
The house is one parcelle, & the field is two…I’m not going to try to understand how this works, but there we are.
The field is outside of the urban zone, so can’t be built on …which is exactly why I bought it in the first place.
In fact, it was the only part of the original property that hadn’t been sold off.
It seems that you get charged for land that could be used as agricultural land, so maybe, as all the land around the house was farming land at one time, it hasn’t been changed.
Our charge is quite small also, just €21 this year.
I have friends who have several fields around their house. They were sent a form, asking what they used the fields for and they put the equivalent of “private garden” and I understand their charge is minimal.
Perhaps they would be charged more if they had put “agricultural” and let the local farmer put his animals on it, or take the hay as a crop… that sort of thing.
Anyone who feels they are being overcharged (possibly) can always discuss this at their Mairie initially, if they wish to. At least the charge would be explained to them.
I have just pulled my bill out of the pile and checked the non bâtie part and it says “Bases terres agricoles”. Therefore, it seems as the garden is being charged as agricultural land.
Next question to find an answer for is whether a garden is charged at the same rate as agricultural land. Looking at the bill the various tax rates are 55.63% for the bâties part (does this inlclude gardens) and 147.13% for the non-bâties part. Admittedly the base for charging is very much smaller for the garden portion than for the house section.
So do you think Bob will pay more or less when the field is included with the house on his TF bill.
Thanks Stella. I had thought about going to the Marie and asking them if there was a mistake. Now that you have suggested it, that’s what I will do next time they are open.
simply ask them why the Tax is Agricultural, since you only use it as a garden…