Leaseback properties became popular in France in the 1970s. This type of tourist accommodation was developed through tax incentives. A leaseback property can be a house, apartment or hotel suite and is usually located in or close to a holiday resort.<\/p>\n
In 2017, the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) received submissions from Irish property owners who purchased such a leaseback property in France. Complainants were concerned they may have been mis-sold their properties.<\/p>\n
The role of the CCPC is to enforce competition and consumer protection law in Ireland. The CCPC does not have an ombudsman function and therefore cannot intervene in individual complaints, on behalf of individual complainants.<\/p>\n
However, as a member of the European Consumer Protection Co-operation Network, which is composed of the EU consumer protection authorities, the CCPC was in a position to ask the French authority, Direction G\u00e9n\u00e9rale de la Concurrence, de la Consommation et de la R\u00e9pression des Fraudes<\/em> (DGCCRF), to investigate the issues raised by Irish property owners on their purchase of leaseback properties in France.<\/p>\n The CCPC provided a preliminary assessment of over 150 complaints to the DGCCRF.\u00a0 Furthermore, to assist the French authorities to undertake their investigation, the CCPC also supplied the DGCCRF with documentation from the complainants.<\/p>\n In December 2019, the DGCCRF advised the CCPC and the complainants that it would conduct a criminal investigation into the various issues raised. The CCPC supported the DGCCRF investigation by:<\/p>\n The DGCCRF has informed the CCPC that they have completed their criminal investigation into the matters raised by Irish property owners. Their update is as follows:<\/p>\n The information provided by the DGCCRF on this part of their investigation is provided below.<\/p>\n 9 December 2022<\/p>\n Following an in-depth investigation relating to three resorts\/residencies in which Irish investors had purchased French leaseback properties, the DGCCRF national investigation service has submitted reports to the public prosecutors of three \u2018Tribunaux judiciaires\u2019 (courts of first instance) in the South of France.<\/p>\n The reports\u00a0 submitted to public prosecutors relate to the following resorts:<\/p>\n These reports of the DGCCRF, subject to what will be the decisions of the public prosecutors once they will have completed their examination, can give rise to criminal law proceedings before the three courts. Then, if such proceedings are actually opened, and if at a second stage, after having proceeded with the cases the courts reach the conclusion that French criminal law has indeed been breached, these courts will be in a position to condemn the authors of these practices under this law, i.e. to impose on them a fine or even a jail sentence.<\/p>\n However your attention is drawn to the fact that the above-mentioned possible proceedings cannot lead to the granting of any financial compensation, which can exclusively stem from the undertaking by the plaintiffs themselves of an individual legal action for this very purpose.<\/p>\n It is therefore indispensable, for property owners in the resorts detailed above to be possibly granted such financial compensation, that they undertake such action. This means, in procedural terms, that they must now lodge individually a documented complaint before the relevant court, whilst referring to the reference number of the relevant criminal case, the purpose of which will be to seek compensation for the damage they have suffered.<\/p>\n For the avoidance of doubt, the aforesaid concerns all property owners in the resorts detailed above, whether or not they have provided a file to the DGCCRF. Indeed, under French Law, the DGCCRF is not allowed to act on behalf of plaintiffs in any way regarding the processing of their individual requests for compensation. Any information contained in the reports submitted by the DGCCRF is therefore legally irrelevant regarding the issue of compensation, which is to be handled individually by each plaintiff.<\/p>\n Given the foregoing, the DGCCRF have suggested to the CCPC to provide property owners with the information in the table below in order to allow property owners in the three resorts\/residencies to lodge such complaints. The table below contains the details of the relevant court for each resort\/residence, including the contact details and the applicable case reference number.\u00a0 Please use the reference number provided in the last column when contacting the court.<\/p>\nCCPC activity<\/h2>\n
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DGCCRF update<\/h2>\n
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\n\t\t\t\tIrish owners of a French leaseback property in Le Petit Lac Mandelieu, Les Jardins de Saint-Beno\u00eet Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse and Les Jasses de Camargue Gallargues-le-Montueux\t\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\n\t\t
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