Société Civile Immobilière (SCI)

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Broadly speaking, there are three different legal structures that can be used for the joint or multiple ownership of French property.

You can own French property in one of three ways:

1. i. 'Indivision'
2. ii. 'En tontine'
3. iii. 'Société Civile Immobilière (SCI)'

We provide a detailed consideration of the first two forms of ownership at ownership indivision and ownership en tontine.

An SCI (Société Civile Immobilière) is a rather specialist type of French company (société) that is constituted for the ownership and management of property (immobilière).

The company will have a distinct legal identity from that of its shareholders, although except in very particular circumstances, it has no separate fiscal identity. For this reason it is said to be 'fiscally transparent'.

Many French and international buyers choose to buy a French property through an SCI because of the advantages it offers over the other two forms of ownership.

The main reasons are:

• To allow purchase of the property by multiple persons;
• To provide stability and continuity in the ownership and management of family property;
• To facilitate the transfer and ownership of property;
• To avoid the constraints of French inheritance laws;
• To create tax advantages;
• To protect the family home from business creditors.

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Next: Conclusion - Ownership Structures for Buying Property in France

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