It was being sold under a leaseback deal, which until now had seemed ideal for us.
The scheme meant we would have an income from lettings while we weren’t using our holiday home. And when we did go, there would be other children on site for the princesses to play with.
But not long after the preliminary contracts had been signed and returned to France, we began to change our minds, although we’d already put down a hefty deposit.
From the outset, any purchase was always going to be based on a 10-year plan. The idea was that we’d run with it until the princesses were old enough to do their own thing. We would then sell our leaseback property and buy something that catered entirely for our own needs.
Leaseback is a government-backed incentive scheme whereby owners get guaranteed rent in return for agreeing to let their property out, largely to tourists, for most of the year.
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One of the big problems, however, is the fact that you’ll always have difficulties selling up if you want to move on during the contract period agreed with the management company. Because you are bound to that company, you need to find a buyer willing to take over your leaseback arrangement.
Another problem is the fact that you have to return the discount that the French government allows under the scheme. This is because the government doesn’t levy TVA (French Vat or sales tax) on the purchase. You must repay some or all of the 19.6% tax if you sell within 20 years of buying.
The penalty works on a decreasing scale — the longer you hold onto the property, the less you have to pay back. But 20 years is a long time in anybody’s scheme of things.
Some buyers will bite the bullet either way — they argue that as the property appreciates in value, the profit you make on a sale will soon counteract the penalty clause.
On top of all this, there is another hitch. If for some reason the complex stops being used as a résidence de tourisme during your leaseback period you will again have to repay a proportionate part of the TVA discount. This could happen if your leaseback scheme was in an area that no longer attracted tourists or if the management company didn’t provide good on-site facilities.
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In addition, it made no sense for us to enter into a lengthy commitment on a property that was as far removed from our ideal home as it was possible to get. There was no way that when our princesses did decide to go their merry way, we could see ourselves wanting to pass our time in a compound, constantly surrounded by holiday-makers on short-term lets.
Finally, there was the fact that we’d actually have to pay rent ourselves if we wanted to stay in our own home during peak season — the very time the princesses would be off school. Nor would there be opportunities for last-minute trips and spontaneous weekend flits.
Throwing all these elements together, we felt that a leaseback wasn’t for us.
We realised that if we were honest, at the end of the day, we wanted space, a garden and privacy.
Now we had to face up to the fact that we had handed over several thousand euros as a holding deposit to the leaseback company. We desperately hoped we’d understood all the small print! But we needn’t have worried. They were entirely honourable and returned our money promptly.
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Anyway, onwards and upwards. Let the search continue. We still had our holiday in Fréjus to look forward to, three weeks to soak up the sun and further explore the region in search of the perfect spot.