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Buying a property with sitting tenant


Nangoat

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Hi,

A friend of mine would like some info regarding buying a house and allowing the seller to remain as a tenant.

The house is presently owned by his sister in law, his

brother died recently.The property is in her name.

Firstly if the sister in law hasn't got any living relatives can she at this point write a will with her

brother in law as the inheritor?

Secondly if this isn't possible, could my friend buy the property off her with the understanding that she has life interest in the place? Therefore she keeps her home.

I would be grateful for any info on this subject please.

Happy new Year everyone by the way

Nanny Goat
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I have asked Gilles and he says that she can will it to him.  I would imagine he will be wacked for tax.

There is all villegiature - he would buy the house, pay her a certain some each month and then inherit the house on her death.

Someone else may know more...or completely disagree.  You need to ask a Notaire really. 

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Yes, good advice is a must in these circumstances.

Unless the widow owned the property outright from the word Go, there would have been a notaire involved in connection with the late husband's death perhaps?  So probably this would be a good place to start.

Leaving property to anyone other than blood relations usually means that a substantial tax (60 per cent springs to mind, but don't quote me) has to be paid on the value of the property when it is inherited. Again, a notaire will spell this out.

I think Alexis is talking about the brother-in-law perhaps buying "en viager".  I have some friends who did this, and had to go on paying the old lady who stayed on in the house for as long as she lived.  (They had another house to live in, of course!)  In fact the old lady died within a year or two, so they turned out to have a bargain, but it is not unknown for robust elderly sellers to outlive the people who bought their house!

There's a bit about it on this website
http://www.sykesanderson.com/articles/french_en_viager.asp
and more (in French) on this one
http://www.pratique.fr/vieprat/log/prop/daf1902.htm
NB that the person selling must not have been diagnosed with a terminal illness, and also that if they die within 20 days of the sale then the sale is void.

Angela

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