A lover of old buildings, you have purchased a building of character in poor condition. You don’t miss any of Stéphane Bern’s shows and dream of reviving your property by restoring it to its former glory. Unfortunately, you lack the funds to finance major renovation work. As long as your property is of architectural or heritage interest, without being protected as historical monuments, you can benefit from assistance from the Heritage Foundation.
This organization, which has delegations in each region, distributes financial assistance, sometimes not insignificant. To benefit from it, you must obtain the label from this institution. You must submit a file before starting your work. To be eligible, your property must meet certain criteria. First of all, it must be located in a municipality of less than 20,000 inhabitants, in a remarkable heritage site, in a site classified under the Environmental Code, or be non-habitable but display typical characteristics of rural heritage . This is for example the case of a bread oven, a wash house, a dovecote, etc.
The other condition to be met concerns the works: only those which affect the parts of your building visible from the public highway, or the interior if it is open to the public, will be taken into account. Please note: the Heritage Foundation label can also be awarded for work linked to the renovation of a garden or a private park. It is then necessary to respect the same conditions of accessibility to the public, but, in this case, there are no particular criteria of location or protection.
Subsidy and tax deduction
If you complete all the steps and are finally granted the label, for a maximum period of three years, you will benefit from several advantages. First, the Foundation will distribute aid – under conditions – which can represent 2% to 20% of the amount of eligible work. Its amount will essentially depend on the historical quality of your property and that of the planned renovations.
The label also allows you to deduct between half and all of the eligible work from your overall income, or the entire bill from your property income. Finally, thanks to it, you will be able to appeal to public generosity, via the call for donations or corporate sponsorship – under conditions, and under the responsibility of the Foundation –, and benefit from subsidies or bonuses granted by communities local.