Usufruct
Right to use a property and receive its income (rents) without owning it, more extensive than the right of use and habitation.
Full definition
Usufruct is a real right that grants its holder (the usufructuary) the right to use a property and receive its fruits (income, rents), while leaving the bare ownership to another person.
Unlike the right of use and habitation, the usufructuary can let the property and receive the rents. This more extensive possibility gives usufruct a higher value than the right of use and habitation. In a life annuity with usufruct, the discount on the price will therefore be larger, resulting in a lower bouquet and/or annuity for the seller.
Usufruct is sometimes preferred by sellers who wish to retain the option of letting their property if they move (for example into a care home). Usufruct ends on the death of the usufructuary, allowing the bare owner to recover full ownership of the property.
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Related terms
DUH (Right of Use and Habitation)
Right allowing the seller to personally occupy the home sold via life annuity until their death, without being able to let it.
Bare Ownership
Ownership right of a property without the right to enjoy it or receive its income, held by the buyer in an occupied life annuity.
Occupied Life Annuity
Sale via life annuity where the seller retains the right to live in the property (right of use and habitation or usufruct) until their death.
Dismemberment of Ownership
Legal division of ownership between usufruct (right of use and income) and bare ownership (ownership without enjoyment).
Gift
Legal act by which a person transfers a property free of charge to another person during their lifetime.
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