Social Housing
This branch of the notarial profession, also known as “affordable housing,” has evolved over time and we are familiar with its key players, including private and public low-income housing companies (société d’habitat à loyer modéré – SHLM), local authorities and solidarity-based housing organisations (organismes fonciers solidaires), as well as the individual end-users of these housing units.
Assisting Social Housing Professionals
Numerous incentives are designed to promote social housing, primarily to meet the need for new social housing units as part of the social housing stock’s development, and secondarily to enable individuals who fulfil specific criteria to become homeowners.
We assist social housing professionals with the operational legal structuring necessary for the development of social housing, whether for inclusion in the landlords’ social rental portfolios or for the creation of housing intended for lease-purchase agreements.
We also assist the end users of these homes – namely individual buyers seeking to purchase existing or new homes from the social housing stock.
Lease-purchase for Individuals
Individuals have access to traditional homeownership options, such as purchasing existing homes, as well as other options like lease-purchase arrangements (a lease-purchase agreement followed by an option exercise agreement that allows individuals to rent the property for up to two years before purchasing it).
These specific social housing agreements include provisions designed to protect the individual (guarantees of buyback and rehousing). In return, they must use the housing as their primary residence to qualify for these benefits.
This branch of law, which deals specifically with social housing, is quite technical and complex. The regulations governing it are constantly evolving, and the tax rules specific to this sector are addressed in nearly every finance bill; as a result, our notaries and teams undergo ongoing training to provide informed advice to both business and individual clients.
We also offer our expertise in the development of more innovative legal frameworks, particularly for transactions involving a “bail réel solidaire” (BRS) – a lease-purchase agreement enabling the buyer to become the owner of a home (structure and roof) while leasing the plot. This is a new mechanism designed to help control real estate prices and to facilitate social homeownership for individuals.
The social housing department of La Wantzenau’s Notary’s Office has broad expertise in the real estate sector and is composed of a team of specialized professionals.
