The English Investor

The English Investor is a lawyer qualified in New York, England & Wales and Paris (Georgetown Law, Sciences Po), with more than a decade in private practice and French property held through his own SCIs. Every claim on this site is backed by an official source you can check. More on the About page.

Exclusive Content

Démembrement: Giving Your Children a French Home While You Keep the Use

Giving your children the bare ownership of a French home while you keep the usufruct cuts French gift tax and leaves nothing more to pay on your death. Here's who pays for repairs, why the wealth tax still bites, and how HMRC may see the same deed.

UK Moves to End Double Tax on French SCIs: What Changes for UK Owners, and When

If you live in the UK and own a let French property through an SCI, the same rent can be taxed twice. The UK now plans a credit for the French tax, with claims from early 2028: what it could save, and what is still open.

France Writes Your Rent Schedule for You: Below-Market Rent and the Maths of Keeping a Good Tenant

In France you can’t lift a sitting tenant’s rent to market whenever you like: the law sets the timetable, and in tight-market zones even a new tenant’s rent is capped. We run the numbers on when keeping a good tenant beats chasing the market.

Selling a French Property From the UK or Abroad: the Steps in Order

Every step of selling a French property while you live abroad, in order: the reports, the agent, the preliminary contract, signing remotely, the French tax the notaire takes, and the UK side.

Can Your Neighbours in France Force You to Soundproof Your Flat?

A French court can order an owner to soundproof a flat when the noise from it is abnormal, even where a new floor meets the national standard. We explain the rules, two key rulings, the four steps from complaint to court order, and what tenants can and can’t demand.

French Home Prices Fell 0.8% in a Year to June 2026: What It Means If You Own From Abroad

French home prices fell 0.8% in the year to mid-2026, with houses down 1.3% and flats almost unchanged. We break down the notaires’ figures by city, explain why the 4% mortgage line matters, and what it all means if you sell or buy from abroad.
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Ma Prime Logement Décent: the French Grant That Pays up to 90% of a Wreck’s Repairs, and Who Actually Gets It

France’s Anah pays 60 to 90 percent of heavy works on a degraded home, up to €70,000, for modest households who live in it. Who qualifies (residents, not holiday-home owners), the five ways a house qualifies, the strings, the sister aid for landlords with no income test, and how to apply in the right order.

Made in Europe or No Bonus: France Rewrites the Heat-Pump Grant Rules (1 September 2026)

From 1 September 2026 the coup de pouce chauffage pays for a heat pump only if the model is on a State-approved, European-assembled list. What changed, who still qualifies (second homes do not get the bonus), the solar twist, and the date that decides everything.

Brussels Picks a Side: the EU Law Coming for Europe’s Holiday Rentals

The EU is preparing an Affordable Housing Act that backs city crackdowns on short-term lets. France is already ahead, and the one reliable legal challenge is closing. What owners should do.

Signed and Published: France’s DPE Rewrite Will Erase 300,000 Passoires in January

The arrêté of 19 August 2026 is in the Journal officiel: the DPE electricity coefficient falls to 1.7 on 1 January 2027, and around 300,000 homes will shed passoire status without a single work being done.

The Foreign Owner’s Guide to the French Copropriété AGM (Assemblée Générale)

Convocation deadlines, proxies, postal votes, the four majorities and the procès-verbal: how the French copropriété AGM really works for foreign owners.

Taxe Foncière Discounts: Which Ones Can You Actually Claim?

France offers six taxe foncière reliefs, from a €100 automatic discount to a cap that stops the bill exceeding half your income. Which ones a non-resident owner can actually claim, with the 2026 thresholds and deadlines.