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Abandoned for 70 Years in Paris
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Uninhabited Paris

French Property Insider
Volume VIII, Issue 40
October 14, 2010
Paris, France
adrianleeds.com/frenchproperty/insider

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Bonjour French Property Insider Subscriber,

Tuesday evening, Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoë spoke before an audience of residents at the Mairie of the 3rd arrondissement as he does annually. This year, his focus was on the shortage of affordable housing in the city, an issue of great importance at the top of the mayor's list. This year's conference was titled "2010 Compte Rendu de Mandat" and brochures were handed out summarizing the presentation into five topics: 1. Facing the Future, 2. Solidarity of the City, 3. City Progress, 4. The City and Its Residents and 5. A History, an Identity and a Future.

I reported on the event in yesterday's Parler Paris Nouvellettre¨ should you like to read it: parlerparis/issues/pparis13-10-10 And to get an online copy of the brochure, visit: http://www.paris.fr/

The housing shortage has much to do with Mayor Delano‘'s attempt to enforce long-term leasesÉalthough we know now that this effort will be targeted toward large developments that would be responsible for a substantial amount of housing and not individual owners or apartments. Part of the problem lies in the city's protective nature to forbid tall structures, a result of sentiment after the Tour Montparnasse was built, placing a tall black mark on the once human scale of the Paris skyline.

Another part of the problem, which this socialist mayor may never address, is the housing laws and regulations which benefit the tenant rather than the landlord, therefore reducing the incentive to invest and take on the role of landlord. You understand, this is my American background talking Ð hoping to achieve a better balance between the right and the left to create a more utopian situation Ð you can't have a happy tenant without a happy landlord, "n'est-ce pas?"

Meanwhile, you may have already seen the story Ð for 70 years a Paris apartment remained untouched, while the rent was religiously paid, and inside a painting valued at €2.1 million was discovered (a painting by the 19th-century Italian artist Giovanni Boldini). The owner, a woman named "de Florian," left the apartment before World War II and never returned. When she recently died at the age of 91, the apartment was discovered, cobwebbed and untouched.

The painting was the artist's muse and whose granddaughter it was who had left the flat, Marthe de Florian, an actress greatly admired, among them being the 72nd prime minister of France, George Clemenceau. When the painting went up for auction, it opened at €300,000, but sold for €2.1 million, a world record for the artist.

When the story broke this past week, it reminded me how many apartments there are in Paris with similar stories, empty and held in limbo as a result of inheritance and succession issues. Above "Le Palace des Vosges" (http://www.palacedesvosges.com) lies a very large apartment untouched for more than five years, filled with paintings by the artist who lived there. His abandoned car remains parked on the cobblestone courtyard while his wife and mistress battle over the estate! The other residents have tried in vain to have it removed, to no success. (I swear, this is true!)

Apartments for sale at a small bargain can be quite attractive, but often be littered with succession issues. The purchase process will be delayed as the issues are untangled and ironed out. We have been involved with many such situations, but never have we been so fortunate as to discover an asset of such great value awaiting the new owner!

A bientôt,

Copyright 2011, Adrian Leeds®
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