7. Business Premises

1. 7.1 Running Your Business from Home
2. 7.2 Buying Property

7.1. Running Your Business from Home

As a general rule, you do not need to seek any change of use from the planning authority if you propose to run your business from home, provided the principal use of the property continues to be your home and you are not employing staff at the property.

Clearly, if you are making changes to the property, or constructing additional buildings that require prior approval, then you will need to make application for planning consent to the Mairie in the normal manner.

If you live in an urban area, and you intend to receive goods or clients at the property, then you are required to make application to the local Mairie/Préfecture for joint use of the property for professional and residential activity. This rule applies even though you may not be proposing to carry out building works requiring planning consent.

If you are granted authorisation, it will be personal only, so will not run with the property if and when you sell it.

Whether or not such an application is required, you would do no harm to consult your Mairie/Préfecture at the outset if you consider the activities may cause a potential problem with your neighbours.

If you propose to change totally to professional use, you will find that, within the urban areas, the law seeks to resist the loss of residential property.

In addition, if you live in a block of flats or other shared accommodation, you cannot exercise any professional activities if the regulations relating to the property do not permit you to do so. Some limited professional activity, such as writing or telephone work, may be permitted. You need to check on the règlement de copropriété.

Other than the need for planning consent, depending on the type of business you propose to start, you need to consider other regulatory requirements of your proposed business activity. In particular, those concerning health and safety and food hygeine.

France has its regulations in these areas like any other country.

You should contact your Chambre de Commerce or Préfecture to find out more.

7.2. Buying Business Property

If you are going to buy a separate business premises, then you should consider doing so through the legal structure of a property company, called a Société Civile Immobilière (SCI), as it is possible to create some fiscal advantages from this approach.

An SCI may be used in tandem with another business, where the business property is held by an SCI to whom the business then pays a rental.

If the business property is purchased using a mortgage, the mortgage payments can be offset against the rental payments, thereby reducing (or eliminating altogether) liability to income tax by the SCI.

In turn the rental payments to the SCI reduce the tax liability of the business, provided the business has not adopted 'micro' tax status.

This practice in not uncommon, but, beware that an unreasonable rent is unlikely to be accepted by the French tax authorities.

You can read more about an SCI by visiting our pages Property Management Company