Small swimming pools measuring less than 10 m2 are on the rise. And this is not always for a question of budget, but also a way to avoid numerous taxes: development tax, property tax and housing tax.
The overall swimming pool market in France will experience a clear slowdown in 2023, marked by a 16% drop in construction compared to 2022, due in particular to inflation and high credit rates, according to the report drawn up by the Federation of Swimming Pools. pool and spa professionals (FPP). With an average cost of 25,000 euros for an average surface area of 26 m, a swimming pool is not affordable for everyone.
But one type of swimming pool is enjoying significant success: small swimming pools, less than 10 m long, are on the rise since Covid. The plots are becoming smaller and smaller and the French appreciate city swimming pools to cool off or do aquagym. This is why they are more and more common in large cities like Lyon or Marseille explains Stphane Figueroa, president of the Federation of Swimming Pool and Spa Professionals (FPP), questioned by Le Figaro.
Small swimming pools that escape taxes
A major advantage of small swimming pools is their ease of installation. They require neither building permits nor declaration of works, and are not subject to the famous development tax, unless they are close to protected sites, reminds the daily Le Figaro.
In addition, a swimming pool of more than 10 m must be declared to the tax authorities, because it increases the rental value of the accommodation, thus impacting the property tax and the housing tax for secondary residences. Failure to declare these installations to the tax authorities also results in penalties. In 2023, 140,000 undeclared swimming pools will have been identified using artificial intelligence.