Notwithstanding the general state of the French market, has anyone seen any evidence that Leaseback properties are actually worth holding once their initial agreement periods are up? None of the agents I've ever been in contact with can show me a resale market for the previous crops of Leasehold schemes, (now going back nearly 20 years), or any other proof that these older properties have achieved any useful capital appreciation. Friends and I previously rejected Leaseback because of this lack of a resale market plus concerns regarding the bias of French law towards the tenant, (no winter evictions, etc). Does anyone disagree that French Leaseback is particularly difficult to sell on and therefore a very poor long term investment? Prove me wrong?

The lease definitely is a problem should you wish to sell when it applies, but if you are wise when chosing your location there should be a resale market. An example is Piere Vanace leaeback situated about 10 miles West of Cannes. It is set in hills, but has tremendous views of the Med and is away from the hussle and bustle of the strip along the beach. I visited it in April. The person selling had bought just under 40 apartments 10 years before. He wasn't happy with new lease / rental being offered by Pierre Vacance, so he put another management company in place for his apartments and sold them on. When I visited in April there were only 2 or 3 left. Ofcourse, we can't all afford 40 leasebacks then put another management company place to run them. So resale market for us might not have been so strong!

I imagine the best leasebacks for resale will be those with terrific location and/or those that offer somethig special. Two that I think will prove sound investments are:
1) La Piened. I visited this and was close to investing in it. Its location is terrific and development is ideal. (Old Club Med that has been refurbished and offers high rental returns. It has direct access to a lovely Med beach without the need to cross any roads. Ideal for those that want an investment they can take their young families to for a holiday.)
2) Forgot name of this one, but think its in Herault. Its an old nun's convent where the beautiful old cellar with lovely vaulted ceilings has been converted into a swimming and spa area. If memory serves me correctly there were only 14 apartments, so there should be a good resale market due to lack of supply.

There are many resales always on the market. You will find them on several French web sites but the problem is entering the right search criteria to find them because any of the search queries I have used do not allow you to answer key words like lmnp etc. But I had a quick search and found this one

http://www.seloger.com/recherche.htm?av=0&...50&ci=&

- the studio in Pau is a leaseback, added on the 20th September and if you can read French you will see that it is already sold. Most French renew leases rather than resell but from what I can see on French sites the resales sell very quickly.

Seamus McConville

Thank you Seamus, I've found a few leaseback resales using your link more by accident than design even using the investment properties tab. Having considered the relative merits of leaseback once again I am still biased towards properties without the tie in to a management company.