5 tips for buying housing for your student child – Boursorama

Does your child leave the nest to study in a city other than the one where you live? It will then be necessary to find a solution to house it. While university residences and campuses may be a solution for some, the lack of space within these reception structures is often glaring and the vast majority of students are forced to rent accommodation during their studies … in unless their parents buy the apartment they will occupy during their studies. Be careful, however, this option will not necessarily be ideal for all profiles! To make the purchase of your child’s student accommodation truly profitable, discover 5 tips to follow before you start.

Check that the purchase is more advantageous than the rental

First and foremost, you will need to determine whether buying an apartment is more advantageous than renting an apartment. For this, you will not only have to assess the purchase price of the property but also the notary fees that will be associated with it as well as the costs of the mortgage if you need to take out a loan to carry out your real estate transaction. Finally, another parameter to take into account: the duration of your child’s studies. The longer the course, the more advantageous the purchase is compared to the rental. Finally, depending on the city where your child will be studying, it may also be interesting to examine the potential for capital gain and rental prospects.

Choosing the right location

Do you think that buying housing is more profitable and looking for the property in which your child will spend his years of university studies? So that your child can study in the best conditions and possibly to quickly re-let the property to another student when your child will no longer use it, pay particular attention to the location. It is advisable to go there before any purchase and to visit the districts which interest you, in particular the student districts. Pay attention to the immediate environment, proximity to transport, shops, travel time to get to class, etc.

Do not hesitate to do work

A property with work often displays a significant discount compared to a property in impeccable condition. Evaluate the haircut and ask yourself if it is more than what the work would cost you. If it is relatively easy work to do, like painting for example, why not ask your student child to do it before starting the year?

Be that as it may, the accommodation, if it is pleasant to live in and carefully decorated, will quickly find a buyer.

Explore the possibilities in terms of tax-exempt investments

By choosing an appropriate device, the purchase of student housing for your child can save you taxes. This is the case, for example, with the acquisition of an apartment in a student residence or of a property eligible for the Pinel law.

With the Pinel device, by purchasing an eligible property, you can benefit from a 12% tax reduction in exchange for renting the property for 6 years, 18% in exchange for renting the property for 12 years or 21% in exchange for renting the property for 12 years. In return, you will have to respect the ceilings of rents and prices per m² as well as the ceiling of tenants’ resources, which should not be too much of a problem if your child is a student. Note that to be able to benefit from the tax advantages of the Pinel system, your child must not be attached to your tax household.

Warning : CAF will not pay the APL to your child if the property he occupies belongs to his parents.

Other solution : opt for an investment in a student residence. Thanks to the Censi-Bouvard scheme, you will be able to benefit from both a tax reduction equal to 11% of the price of housing spread over nine years. You can also opt for the benefits of the Non-Professional Furnished Rental (LMNP) status. Thanks to a system of deduction of charges and rental depreciation, your rents could well no longer be taxable.

Determine whether or not there will be rent

To be able to benefit from the tax advantages of the investments mentioned above, it is imperative that your child pays you rent. Your student child does not have a lot of means and you want to charge him a derisory rent? Be careful though to respect the rules in force. The rent must be closer to the rates applied on the rental market of the city concerned and obey, if necessary, the fixed ceilings, at the risk of undergoing a tax adjustment and / or having to reimburse the tax benefits already received.

However, it is also possible to accommodate a child without making him pay rent, through the accommodation mechanism free of charge. Of course, this means that you will not receive property income and will not generate charges deductible from your property income since it is not a rental. The return on this operation is zero but you will be able to rent the property purchased for his studies at the departure of your child.