Property exchanges: How to save thousands on French property sale taxes
Swapping your property rather than selling it can result in lower notaire fees
Notaire's fees can be costly
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Property exchanges, especially for properties of equal value, can lead to significant savings on notaire’s fees in France. When purchasing property, it is usually the buyer who pays the notaire’s fees, made up mainly of various taxes.
For new-builds, these fees are normally between 3% and 4% of the sale price. For older properties, they are usually between 7% and 8% of the sale price, of which 5.8% are taxes. However, if properties of equal value are exchanged and not sold, government taxes are just 5% of the price of one of the properties – and are shared between the two parties involved.
The fee charged for the transaction by the notaire is usually the same as for a sale, between 15% and 20% of the taxes to be paid on the deal. This, too, is shared between the two parties. It is even possible to exchange properties of different values.
Read more: French notaire fees on worldwide
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Soulte value
In this case it is the lower-priced property which is taxed at 5%, and it is only the difference in value between the two properties – known as the soulte – which is taxed at 5.8%, the rate for a sale. Once again the fees are shared between the two parties.
The owner of the lower-priced property pays the difference to the owner of the more expensive property. Property exchanges are not very common in France. When they do happen, they usually involve professionals in the property industry.
There does not seem to be a web platform where people wanting to exchange can advertise. However, if you know people who are interested in an exchange, using the mechanism can lead to savings of thousands of euros in fees.
