From 2027, one tax on empty homes – what it means on the Cap

The 2026 Finance Act replaces the annual tax on vacant dwellings (TLV) and the housing tax on vacant dwellings (THLV) with a single tax. It takes effect on 1 January 2027, for the tax year 2027. The stated aim is simplification: two taxes on the same empty homes, one national and one optional, had become hard to follow for owners and communes alike.

Which homes it covers

The tax falls on homes that are empty and unfurnished, or not furnished enough to be lived in, but have the basic comforts – electricity, running water and sanitary fittings. A furnished second home is not a vacant dwelling in this sense; it remains in the taxe d’habitation on second homes.

In a zone tendue, it is automatic

In communes where housing is short – the zones tendues – the tax applies without any decision by the town. A home is taxed if it has been empty for at least one year on 1 January.

• First year: 17 per cent of the cadastral rental value
• Every following year: 34 per cent
• The commune may raise the rates, up to 30 per cent in the first year and 60 per cent after

Antibes has been on the zone tendue list for several years. The list the new tax uses is fixed by Decree No. 2026-831 of 25 August 2026, and owners should check their commune there.

Elsewhere, the town decides

Outside the zones tendues the tax applies only where the municipal council votes for it. The home must then have been empty for at least two years on 1 January, and the council sets the rate, up to 50 per cent.

What it is calculated on

The base is the cadastral rental value – the valeur locative cadastrale on the property tax notice – not the market value. As an illustration only: on a villa with a cadastral rental value of €20,000, the base rates would give €3,400 in the first year and €6,800 in each year after; at the maximum a commune can set, €6,000 and €12,000.

When it does not apply

• The home is empty for reasons beyond the owner’s control.
• The home was occupied for more than 90 consecutive days – in the previous year in a zone tendue, in each of the previous two years elsewhere.
• The home belongs to a social-housing body (HLM).

Who collects it

The single tax is collected for the communes and the intercommunal bodies. The old TLV went to the national housing agency.

What it means on the Cap

Most villas on the Cap are main or furnished second homes and fall outside the tax. It matters for the houses that stand empty and unfurnished between a sale and a renovation, or during a long succession – exactly the houses buyers often look at. A vacancy tax that doubles after the first year is a cost to put into the calculation, and a question to ask the seller: how long has the house been empty, and was it occupied for 90 days in a row last year?

Sources: Service-Public.fr – A single tax for vacant homes from 2027 (21 May 2026, updated 2 September 2026) · Article 108, Law No. 2026-103 of 19 February 2026 (Finance Act 2026) · Decree No. 2026-831 of 25 August 2026