Foncier Solidaire France
Foncier Solidaire France (FSF) is the association of the OFS, from both mainland France and overseas territories.
Created in 2021, it is growing up since then. Over 80 OFS are actually members of FSF.
The main goals of FSF are :
- To be a representative of all the OFS. We discuss and negotiate with the State, to change laws and to develop the BRS.
- To promote home buying through BRS. We organise an event every year.
- To help the OFS to work together and to learn from each other. We organise working groups for instance.
- To produce data on the production of BRS. We created an observatory. You can find the figures on this website, the tab is called « Observatoire de FSF« .
Organisme de Foncier Solidaire
Introduced in the French law in March 2014, an OFS (Organisme de Foncier Solidaire) is a non lucrative structure or a social housing organisation approved and controlled by the Prefect (representative of the State in each région of France).
The law didn’t set any legal status or any mandatory member among the governance of an OFS.
The concept comes from the CLT, but it has been adjusted for the French individual property laws.
Its main purpose is to acquire land properties or buildings, then to sell the property of the « substantive law » to low income families, through a contratct called the Bail Réel Solidaire (BRS).
Bail Réel Solidaire
The BRS is a new legal contract created in 2016.
Every buyers benefit from privileged conditions:
- If it is a new building, there is reduced VAT rate.
- The purchase price is capped.
- This same price is generally reduced from 15% to 30%, corresponding to the land property portion.
- When decided by the local authorities, the buyer can benefit from a reduction from 30% to 100% of the property tax.
In return for these advantages, the buyer must follows some rules:
- They must respect income caps.
- They must occupy the housing as their main home.
- They can’t already be owners.
- They must pay, in addition to their loan monthly payment, an « usage fee ». Otherwise the household is « acting » like every owners (pays taxes, takes care of the building, etc.).
- Those same conditions are also requiered for each new families, after a resale.
The main innovation is that after every resale, the contract will get back to its initial duration (from 18 to 99 years). It guaratees the long-term economic and social accessibility of the housing.
Why is the BRS interesting for the local authorities and the people ?
Since real estate prices are often driven by the high price of land properties, an economic separation of the value of the land from the value of the construction allow to reduce the housing price.
Thus, local authorities can maintain some social diversity among their inhabitants.
What are the main common points between CLT and OFS ?
Both CLT and OFS have been created for :
- Creating affordable housing.
- Being non lucrative organisations.
- Being some « forever » owners of the land and building properties.
- Helping household’s residential mobilities.
What are the main differences between CLT and OFS ?
To respect the French laws, OFS are quite different from CLT, even if they both have the same goals.
The differences are especially these ones:
- The trust composition.
- The treatment of capital gain when the property is transfered to another family.
- The use of a contract: a BRS that determines relationships between OFS/developer/households.
- The reproducibility: an OFS can work on different territories and régions and the BRS is made for a greater « productivity ».
- The contract of BRS is not truly a dissociation between the land and the building properties (only economically, but not juridically).
- The relationship with the State.