III: Exemption

Subject to article 691 bis, the following are exempt from land registration tax or registration fees:

A. I. - Acquisitions of real estate made by a taxable person within the meaning of article 256 A, where the deed of acquisition contains an undertaking by the purchaser to carry out, within four years, work leading to the production of a new building within the meaning of 2° of 2 of I of Article 257, or necessary to complete an unfinished building.

II. - This exemption is subject to the condition that the purchaser provides proof at the end of the four-year period, unless IV applies, that the work provided for in I has been carried out.

In the event of successive acquisitions by the persons mentioned in I, the undertaking given by the transferor may be taken over by the purchaser, who must then comply with the deadline set by the transferor. The person to whom the undertaking referred to in I is binding may, up to a maximum of five years from the date on which it was given by the first purchaser, substitute the undertaking to resell provided for in article 1115 which is deemed to have taken effect from that same date.

The purchaser of a property who has entered into an undertaking to resell as provided for in article 1115 may replace it, before it expires, with an undertaking to build as provided for in I. This commitment takes effect from the date on which it is signed with the administration and is equivalent to the fulfilment of the commitment to resell.

III. - This exemption only applies to land intended for the construction of single-family homes up to a surface area of 2,500 square metres per home, or the minimum surface area required by the regulations on planning permission if this is greater.

It is available without limitation of surface area to land intended for the construction of apartment blocks, provided that the buildings to be erected cover, with their courtyards and gardens, the entirety of the land acquired.

For land intended for the construction of buildings not used for residential purposes for at least three-quarters of their total surface area, it is applicable within the limit of the surface areas occupied by the buildings to be erected and by the outbuildings necessary for the operation of these buildings.

IV. - At the request of the purchaser, a renewable annual extension of the four-year period set out in I may be granted by the competent authority of the State in which the buildings are located under conditions set by decree. The absence of notification of a reasoned refusal from the administration within two months of receipt of the application shall be deemed to constitute acceptance.

IV bis. - A renewable annual extension of the period mentioned in the first paragraph of article 1115 may be granted, under conditions set by decree, by the competent authority of the State of the location of properties situated within the perimeter of a concerted development zone defined in article L. 311-1 of the town planning code and acquired by the person responsible for the development or facilities of this zone.

V. - In the event of the acquisition of a plot of land included within the perimeter of an association syndicale de remembrement, the four-year period only begins to run from the date of the decision to close the remembrement operations.

VI. - For the application of the provisions of this A, buildings or parts of buildings intended for commercial or professional use are not considered to be used for residential purposes.

VII. - The terms and conditions for the application of I to V are laid down by decree.

B. The following operations:

a. Acquisitions of real estate made with a view to the development of areas to be urbanised by priority, by local authorities and by bodies holding concessions for such development;

b. Acquisitions of real estate located in deferred development zones, made under the conditions provided for in articles L. 212-2 and L. 212-3 of the town planning code in their wording prior to the loi n° 85-729 du 18 juillet 1985 by the local authorities and bodies benefiting from the right of pre-emption;

c. Retrocessions and restitutions granted pursuant to articles L. 212-7 and L. 213-1 of the town planning code in the version prior to law no. 85-729 of 18 July 1985;

d. Acquisitions of property or property rights relating to property located in land intervention zones, carried out under the conditions provided for in articles L. 211-2, L. 211-3 and L. 211-7 of the French Town Planning Code, as they read prior to Law no. 85-729 of 18 July 1985;

e. Retrocessions granted pursuant to article L. 211-11 of the town planning code, as it read prior to law no. 85-729 of 18 July 1985;

f. Acquisitions of property subject to urban pre-emption rights or pre-emption rights instituted in deferred development zones, made under the conditions provided for in articles L. 211-4, L. 211-5, L. 212-2, L. 212-3 and L. 213-1 to L. 213-3 of the town planning code;

g. Retrocessions granted pursuant to Article L. 213-11 of the Town Planning Code;

h. acquisitions of property subject to the pre-emption right instituted in pre-emption zones created pursuant to article L. 215-1 of the French Town Planning Code, carried out under the conditions provided for in Chapter V of Title I of Book II of the said Code by local authorities or public establishments benefiting from the right of pre-emption, directly, by substitution or by delegation;

i. retrocessions granted pursuant to Article L. 215-22 of the French Town Planning Code;

j. Asset disposals carried out by the association mentioned in Article L. 313-34 of the Code de la construction et de l'habitation or by non-trading property companies in which it holds the majority of shares, in favour of compulsory supplementary pension schemes for private sector employees on a pay-as-you-go basis set up by inter-professional collective agreements;

k. Acquisitions of buildings made by a public land institution as part of operations to requalify run-down condominiums of national interest mentioned in Title IV of Book VII of the Construction and Housing Code.