In France, the fight against vacant houses (lutte contre le logement vacant) is a more and more important political issue, even though the vacant house rate is decreasing, from 7.0 percent in 2000 to 6.0 percent in 2010. The rate of house for secondary or seasonal use is slightly declining from 10.0 percent in 2000 to 9.8 percent in 2010. This is because the total population in France was rapidly increasing 6.7 percent during the 10 years. It recorded at 64.6 million people in 2010 from 60.5 million in 2010. The pressure of the growing population and the shortage of decent houses especially in large cities are the main reasons for the measures against vacant houses. The tax against vacant houses and the requisition of vacant houses are the two main axes of the legislative measures for the fight against vacant houses. The former is introduced by the Act against exclusion in 1998 and is related to the owners of the houses vacant for at least two years in the eight areas with more than 200,000 inhabitants. The 2013 reform expanded the implementation areas (from 8 to 28 areas) and raised the tax rate. The latter has a long history and was often implemented at the post-Second-World-War period. However, there has been a very rare case of application these days, due to the difficulties in detecting the vacancy. The underuse of house is theoretically permissible in the context of French Law. However, the concept of housing right plays an important role in restricting the owners’ property right.
