Guides

Short-Term or Long-Term? The First Question Every Owner of a French Flat Has to Answer

Before the SCI, the tax regime or the case law, one decision shapes everything: who lives in your French flat and for how long. The rules of a meublé de tourisme, a furnished lease and an unfurnished lease, the 2026 figures, and the five questions that decide between them.

Buying Off-Plan in France: the VEFA, and Why the Mud Is Already Yours

How a French off-plan purchase (VEFA) actually works for a foreign buyer: the 5% deposit, the 35/70/95 payment grid, the completion guarantee, delivery day and the thirteen-month clock, with the case law and the tax layer.

Guarantor for a Student in France: What a Parent Abroad Signs

Your child has a place in Paris or Lyon and the agent wants your signature on an acte de cautionnement by Friday. What you are guaranteeing, what an agency may and may not ask a parent abroad for, the free State guarantee that can replace you, and the legal ceilings on deposit and fees, from the finance ministry's student guide and the texts behind it.

Who Pays the Copropriété Charges in the Year You Sell?

French law does not split copropriété charges by days when a flat changes hands. The owner on the due date pays the whole call, the owner on the accounts-approval date takes the whole adjustment, and the works fund is never refunded. What each rule means for a foreign seller or buyer.

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.

French SCI Accounting: Your Guide to Reporting, Profits, and Legal Obligations

You own the property. You have the keys. You have even navigated the initial setup. But now, a year has passed, and a quiet...

How to Change the Statuts of a French SCI (2026): Procedure, Votes and Costs

You have done it. The Société Civile Immobilière (SCI) is set up. The property is bought. The keys are in your pocket. You might think the...

The Golden Cage: The Complete Guide to Owning Shares in a French SCI

So, you have successfully navigated the French bureaucracy. You have your Société Civile Immobilière (SCI), the K-bis is in the safe, and the champagne has been...

The English Investor Guide: How to Create a Société Civile in France

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...

How to Continue Trading on Interactive Brokers After a PDT Flag (Even If You’ve Used Your One-Time Reset)

TL;DR (April 2026) — You've used your one-time IBKR PDT reset and you're stuck. The three workarounds that actually keep you trading: (1) switch...

How to Airbnb in France (2026): Rules, Taxes and the Le Meur Crackdown

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...