!css
 

Extension to the main residence

Early redemption in case of extension to the main residence

According to French law

Deadline: 6 months

Eligible schemes: PEE (company savings plan) / PEG (group savings plan) / PEI (inter-company savings plan)

Supporting documents to accompany the redemption request

Trigger event date: date of signature of contract for services

  • Contract for the supply of work services

And

  • Planning permission
    • Or If implied (tacit) acceptance by the local authority, implied planning permission issued by the local authority
    • Or Advance notice of work exempt from planning permission, along with acknowledgement of the filing of the application issued by the local council.

And

And

  • If a loan is taken out:
    • Date, signature and credit institution stamp on the declaration on honeur (attestation sur l’honneur)
    • Or  Dated and signed finance plan, issued by the credit institution, and showing the personal contribution made (e.g. loan offer accepted by the employee and signed by the credit institution)

Trigger event date: date of the last accepted quote for structural work, dated and signed

  • Quote accepted, dated and signed by the account holder, on which the firm engaged confirms receipt of a deposit or payment on account

And

  • Planning permission,
    • Or If implied (tacit) acceptance by the local authority, implied planning permission issued by the local authority
    • Or Advance notice of work exempt from planning permission, along with acknowledgement of the filing of the application issued by the local council.

And

And

  • If a loan is taken out:
    • Date, signature and credit institution stamp on the declaration on honour (attestation sur l’honneur)
    • Or Dated and signed finance plan, issued by the credit institution, and showing the personal contribution made (e.g. loan offer accepted by the employee and signed by the credit institution)

Trigger event date: date of the last settled invoice for structural work

  • Settled invoices for the purchase of materials necessary for structural work 

And

  • Planning permission
    • Or If implied (tacit) acceptance by the local authority, implied planning permission issued by the local authority
    • Or Advance notice of work exempt from planning permission, along with acknowledgement of the filing of the application issued by the local council.

And 

And

  • If a loan is taken out:
    • Date, signature and credit institution stamp on the declaration on honour (attestation sur l’honneur)
    • Or Dated and signed finance plan, issued by the credit institution, and showing the personal contribution made (e.g. loan offer accepted by the employee and signed by the credit institution)

Additional information

Regarding the PEE (Company Savings Plans), your request must be received within 6 month (on the PEE) from the signature of the individual home construction contract (CCMI). However, beyond 6 months, if the construction contract indicate one or more suspensive conditions, the starting point of the period fits with the last suspensive condition raising date. The early repayment request could then be formulated in the coming 6 month from the achievement of the last suspensive condition in support of all the suspensive conditions achievement receipts.

Conditions 

Extension of the residence must entail the creation of new habitable surface area within the meaning of Article R.111-2 of the French Construction and Housing Code.

The planning permission or notice of building work must without fail show a floor area > 0 and stipulate that the work is on the main residence.

Release, whether in full or in part, of holdings of assets takes the form of a single payment; it cannot therefore be phased or paid in instalments.

The monies released must be used only and entirely for financing the extension of the residence.

The amount released is capped at the amount of the personal contribution.

Excluded events

  • Extension to a second home
  • Extension by building undeveloped roof voids, cellars, basements, storage areas, garages, terraces, loggias, recessed balconies, drying or curing barns or sheds separate from the house, verandas, etc.
  • Maintenance, upkeep, repairs, home improvements, refurbishment or renovation, or energy saving work
  • Furniture, fixtures and fittings (kitchen, bathroom sink, etc.)
  • Home owned by an SCI property holding company

Questions / Answers

According to Article R.111-26 of the French Construction and Housing Code, structural work (structural components) means:

a)      Load bearing elements contributing to the stability or soundness of the building, and any other element inseparable from or forming an integral part of such elements;

b)      Elements forming the walls, roof and sealing the construction, excluding any moving or mobile parts thereof.

These elements thus include in particular:

  • Wall coatings but excluding paint and wallpaper 
  • Staircases and floors, together with any coating in a hard material 
  • Fixed ceilings and fixed partitions 
  • Those parts of pipes, conduits and ducts of any kind that are housed inside the walls, ceiling or floor, or embedded in the mass of a coating, but excluding those merely sealed or affixed 
  • Frames for goods and passenger lifts 
  • Frames and housing for doors, windows and glazing

The extension must result in the creation of new habitable surface area within the meaning of Article R.111-2 sub-sections 2 and 3 of the French Construction and Housing Code. 

Pursuant to this Article,

“The habitable surface area of a dwelling is the built floor space, minus the area taken up by walls, partitions, steps and staircases, ducts, pipes and conduits, and door and window frames; the habitable volume equals the habitable surface area thus determined multiplied by the height to ceiling.
This area does not include undeveloped roof voids, cellars, basements, storage areas, garages, terraces, loggias, recessed balconies, drying or curing barns or sheds separate from the house, verandas, glazed spaces described under Article R.111-10, communal areas and other outbuildings, or premises with a ceiling height of less than 1.80 metres”. 

New habitable surface area can therefore result from an extension at ground level, adding a new storey, or from fitting out a roof void (subject to presentation of planning permission or advance notice of building work).

Fitting out a roof void, or a loft conversion, entails the creation of new habitable surface area.

 As such, the redemption request is therefore admissible provided the conditions are met, despite the fact that advance notice of building work would show no new floor area created (in fact, in such cases, the surface area fitted out is already included in the existing construction).

For example, the acquisition of an apartment next door or above the apartment currently occupied as a residence. 

Yes, this situation is admissible if the property physically adjoins the main residence, and provided direct access is created between the two properties. To this end, it is advisable to produce, in addition to the usual supporting documents, the accepted quote for work on building the direct access and the floor plan for the access between the two properties. 

The amount of holdings to be released is the cost of the work on building the direct access between the two properties and the cost of acquiring the adjoining property.

No, maintenance, repair and improvement work are excluded, unless new habitable surface area is created.

Examples of excluded work include repairs to the roof, facade, pipes, electrical cables or electrical installations, boiler replacement, renovating the walls of the property, installation of a kitchen, bathroom or lift, work intended to improve heat or sound insulation, replacement windows or shutters, new carpets, tiling, parquet flooring, etc.