“A poisoned gift”: the inheritance of a property infested with dry rot puts this couple in difficulty

Inheriting real estate does not necessarily mean good news. Especially if you want to sell it: you will have to act quickly in order to respect the 6-month deadline for declaring the inheritance and not being liable for penalties.

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A “poisoned gift”. This is how Sylvie defines the real estate that she and her husband inherited upon the death of her sister-in-law. At first glance, however, there were worse things than inheriting a two-room apartment located on the Côte Fleurie, not far from Cabourg and Houlgate. An ideal property for a rental investment of the Airbnb type, which Sylvie and her husband thought they could resell very quickly. History, among other things, of being on target with the deadlines for declaring the inheritance and paying inheritance taxes. The declaration must in fact be filed with the tax administration within six months of death. And inheritance tax must be paid to the tax authorities when filing the declaration. “We didn’t know it, it stressed us a little. Six months goes by quickly, especially when the real estate market is not doing very well, like at the moment”breathes Sylvie.

She and her husband therefore quickly contacted a real estate agent to have the apartment valued. The expert values ​​it at 150,000 euros but is concerned about traces of humidity on the ceiling. On his advice, the couple brought in a real estate assessor. The sentence falls: the property is infested with dry rotthis fungus which feeds on wood and can cause very significant damage to the solidity of the building if it is not treated in time. “It was horrible to see when the false ceiling was opened to see the damage, there was lots of mold, it was white, fluffy…”remembers Sylvie.

Hope for a reduction on penalties

Needless to say, there is no question of selling the apartment at present. And this, even if Calvados is not one of the 19 departments having taken prefectural decrees requiring occupants or, failing that, housing owners to declare a risk of dry rot to the town hall. “We cannot sell the apartment as is, without saying anything, that would be dishonest”Judge Sylvie. Firstly, the two-piece must be dried out, using ventilation, as dry rot loves humidity. Then, a fungicide treatment will be necessary to eradicate the fungus. Then comes the time to repair the damaged wooden elements.

There is no doubt that the six-month deadline for declaring the succession will be exceeded. With the risk of having to pay late payment interest of 0.20% per month to the tax authorities on inheritance tax, as well as an increase in the latter, of between 10 and 80%. Sylvie and her husband, however, have one hope: taxpayers who have not been able to file the inheritance declaration within the legal deadline can ask the tax administration to benefit from a discount on penaltiesspecifying the circumstances which prevented compliance with this deadline. A request which will be subject to “benevolent analysis”assured last May the Ministry of Public Accounts in a response to a written question from MP André Chassaigne.