Millions of French homes face higher property tax over bathrooms and heating

France’s newly-elected municipal councils have been given the power to raise property tax bills on the assumption that millions of homes have had undeclared ‘comfort features’, such as baths.

Around seven million homes – around a quarter of all houses and 15% of flats – are estimated to be affected if mairies give the go-ahead, as expected.

The rise will be to the annual property owners’ tax – taxe foncière – and will relate to the addition of features such as running water, electricity, central heating and baths.

The average rise is estimated to be €63 a year and would apply from 2027 bills. The average tax bill for a house is currently around €1,100.

'Money for the state'

The president of the UNPI property owners’ federation, Sylvain Grataloup, said: “It’s wrong that the tax office can impose an increase based on changes that it has no knowledge of. 

"They have never visited all the properties and do not know which have a shower, bath, heating etc. It’s not good enough.

“The objective is clear: it is to bring in money for the state, even though the amount it will raise will be modest compared to the state’s needs. 

"Once again, they are going to make property owners pay when they should be helping them.”

The information was revealed in an economy ministry briefing note. 

A similar across-the-board rise was proposed, and then shelved, last year.

Local property taxes are based on a home’s valeur locative cadastrale (VLC), a theoretical annual rental value.

Calculations are complex and include many elements, but a key one is a property’s floorspace in square metres as well as ‘comfort features’, which are assigned an additional notional area.

These include, for example, running water (+4m²), gas installations (+2m²), electricity (+2m²), a bath (+5m²), a shower cubicle(+4m²), a toilet (+3m²), a wash basin (+3m²), connection to mains drainage (+3m²) and central heating (+2m² per room).

The features in question, though once seen as luxuries when the VLC system was last overhauled in the early 1970s, are now considered standard.

Who is affected?

In theory, homeowners must declare significant renovations affecting comfort to the tax authorities. In practice, many such upgrades appear to have gone unreported over the years. 

As a result, officials could assume these features are present, which would increase VLC assessments.

You will not be affected if you live in a property that was built recently (whose ‘comfort features’ would have existed from the start and been declared on completion). 

However, many older properties that have had undeclared amenities added over the years risk higher bills in all of the local taxes based on VLCs.

Mr Grataloup said: “This measure is not ideal because it assumes that owners have effectively been trying to cheat the system, and the tax service will be imposing an increase based on criteria that should be left to owners to declare.

“In France, we declare our own properties and their characteristics for tax purposes. However, in this case there won’t be any need to, as the tax service will decide there are ‘comfort elements’ everywhere without the owner having to declare anything. It’s a radical change in our understanding of taxation.”

Owners whose bills are subject to rises will be able to apply for a reduction – une demande de dégrèvement – if they have proof the property lacks certain ‘comforts’. 

However, Mr Grataloup said it is normally down to the tax office to carry out checks, whereas “here they’re reversing the principles”.

Councils – newly re-elected in March – are understood to have until the end of September to notify their intention to take this up for next year’s taxes. 

Local councils

It is estimated that the department of Haute-Corse will be most affected by the change (around 60% of homes) and Haute-Garonne the least affected. Estimates of 25% in Paris and 10% in Pays-de-la-Loire and Isère have also been made, further highlighting geographical disparities. 

Mr Grataloup fears post-election complacency will also see many councils vote for increases in their own rates applied to work out 2026 bills, which are being finalised this spring. 

“Taxe foncière has increased by 40% over 10 years. We’ll see in September what the real increase is this year,” he said.

Another reform will impact taxation of so-called ‘vacant’ properties (left unused and unfurnished) as of 2027. 

The plan is for two current taxes – one a local tax and one fixed and collected by central government – to be combined and simplified into a new taxe sur la vacance des locaux d’habitation (TVLH).

As it will be a local tax, mairies will be free to fix rates. This will affect areas deemed to be under housing pressure (zones tendues), where at present the central government’s taxe sur les logements vacants (TLV) applies. 

It will not affect (furnished, used) second-homes, which attract taxe d’habitation instead.

A full reform of the VLC system, which has long been promised but repeatedly put off, is still being worked on.

From 2027, landlords are expected to be obliged to provide details of the rents they charge in their online Biens immobiliers property declaration form to feed into this. Currently, declaring this information is optional.

It is not yet known exactly when the reform will take effect, though it is expected early next decade.