FANCY buying a home in France? For the price of a baguette you could be a French homeowner as long as you’re willing to turn up with your tool belt and a little savoir-faire.

The local council of Roubaix in northern France, right next to the Belgian border, is offering up 17 dilapidated properties for the token price tag of 1 euro (AUD$1.50) in the hopes of restoring a neighbourhood that has long lost its joie de vivre.

Near the bustling city of Lille and about 230kms north of the French capital, the town is famous for the 115 year old Paris Roubaix bicycle road race held in April each year.

Following in the footsteps of Liverpool City Council, which sold off a collection of run down houses for 1 pound in 2013 and an Italian village currently offering up homes for 1 euro, Roubaix officials are taking submissions from potential purchasers until the end of May.

Each hopeful buyer can go online and put their name down for up to three properties. The humble homes measure between 64sqm to 145sqm in total and are in various states of disrepair. The addresses in question are located 10 minutes from the town centre.

Now five years on from its Homes for a Pound experiment, hundreds of Liverpool residents are reaping their rewards from a similar “gimmick” sale. The unique UK scheme is central to a Channel 4 documentary The £1 Houses: Britain’s Cheapest Street.

On the touristic island of Sardinia the historic town of Ollolai has 200 homes up for grabs with a $1.50 price tag as well.

Just as the British and Italian towns have done, the Roubaix City Council is requiring buyers to bring the rundown homes back to their former glory and pay for the renovation works out of their own pocket. The Council will however, pay for the transaction costs.

As with any historic renovation project, buyers of the 1 euro homes in Roubaix will have a list of dos and don’ts for their maison makeovers.

French publication Capital, which initially reported on the rare real estate event, said that wannabe buyers should do their homework and crunch the numbers before throwing their hard-earned euro into the ring.

According to figures supplied to Capital, renovation costs for the smallest of homes on offer could sit somewhere between 63,000 and 100,000 euros (AUD $96,000 and $153,000). That translates to between $1500 and $2400 a square metre — more than the average price buyers could expect to pay for a pre-existing (but not newly renovated) home in the area.

The larger properties could set you back between $297,000 and $353,000 after the work — up to double the cost of a pre-existing nearby home.

At this stage the Council says priority will be given to locals, however foreigners are not completely out of the picture. But keen buyers looking for a weekender or AirBnB income stream will have to think twice as these 1 euro homes are to be made a primary place of residence, and that means no renting.