The English Investor is the go-to English-language resource for foreign property investors in France. Written by a tri-qualified lawyer, our guides cover legal structures, tax strategy, rental regulations, and practical advice for buying and managing French real estate.
From January 2027 France's new vacancy tax will decide whether your home is empty on the strength of a database, your own declaration and, sometimes, a neighbour's tip-off. What fiscally vacant means, how occupation is proven, and the two defences that actually work.
A draft arrêté would cut the DPE electricity coefficient from 1.9 to 1.7 on 1 January 2027, lifting hundreds of thousands of electrically heated homes out of passoire status with no works and a free updated label. What it changes for foreign owners, and why it is not signed yet.
From 1 October 2026 every new French lease gives a non-paying tenant six weeks, not two months, to clear the debt after a commandement de payer. What the new contrat type changes, which clock governs your existing lease, and the procedure that actually gets a property back.
From January 2027 France's new vacancy tax will decide whether your home is empty on the strength of a database, your own declaration and, sometimes, a neighbour's tip-off. What fiscally vacant means, how occupation is proven, and the two defences that actually work.
A draft arrêté would cut the DPE electricity coefficient from 1.9 to 1.7 on 1 January 2027, lifting hundreds of thousands of electrically heated homes out of passoire status with no works and a free updated label. What it changes for foreign owners, and why it is not signed yet.
From 1 October 2026 every new French lease gives a non-paying tenant six weeks, not two months, to clear the debt after a commandement de payer. What the new contrat type changes, which clock governs your existing lease, and the procedure that actually gets a property back.
Every French estate agent operates behind a licence, a financial guarantee and compulsory insurance. How to verify the carte professionnelle in two minutes, what protects your deposit, and the case law making agents answer for the deals they touch.
France hangs an agent’s entire right to payment on a written mandate, a register number and a completed sale. When the commission is owed, who owes it, and the five decades of case law on agents who tried to get paid anyway.
Owning a French home gives you zero right to stay past 90 days. The visitor visa fixes that: VLS-T vs VLS-TS, what the consulate wants to see, the real 2026 costs, and the two clocks - Schengen and tax - that owners most often confuse.
A landlord's guide to the three legal routes for raising a French residential rent: the annual IRL revision, increases after improvement works, and re-pricing an under-valued rent at renewal.
SCI or your own name? The 2026 decision guide for foreign buyers of French property: what an SCI really changes when you buy, hold, sell and pass it on - and the five questions that settle it.
For many British investors looking across the Channel, the dream of owning French property—whether a Parisian apartment or a farmhouse in Dordogne—often leads to...
Last Updated: June 2026 (originally July 2025) – Thinking of investing in short-term rentals (à la Airbnb) in France? You’re not alone. But be warned: France has...
A 2026 refresh of our EIS and SEIS guide: the doubled SEIS limits, the schemes now running to 2035, the April 2026 expansion of EIS company thresholds, and the four ways to actually claim the relief.
Get the free one-page tax calendar for second-home owners: every bill, deadline and quiet trap of the year, verified against official sources. Plus one short email when the rules change.