- In the French leaseback scheme the buyer purchases a property within a “résidence de tourisme” (a holiday resort) and then leases it back to a management company which will rent it as a holiday letting. The property can be a small villa, a chalet or an apartment. The development itself is a holiday resort with hotel-like facilities, such as a swimming pool, communal gardens, sometimes close to a golf course or generally in coastal locations. The property has to be new build or have been fully refurbished.
- The unit is in general bought off-plan to the developer and leased back to the developer’s appointed management company for a fix term of 9 years at least. The property is delivered fully fitted and furnished. The resort management company is usually different from the developer which has built the leaseback development.
- The management company is responsible for all maintenance on the resort and for renting the residence to holiday makers to serve you an agreed and guaranteed rental income of between 4 to 7% of the property value. The leaseback owner can use personally the property for several weeks a year but of course the rental income decreases as the personal use increases. Typically the personal use ranges from 2 to 6 weeks per year. Some management companies offer discounts on the extra weeks you would take on top of the agreed period of time. Some other larger companies who manage a wide selection of resorts offer a swap possibility in other resorts than your own. Therefore there is some flexibility in the scheme that might appear too rigid otherwise.
