Real Estate

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.

One Owner’s Roof, Everyone’s Liability: the Syndicat Pays for the Leak Whatever the Règlement Says (2026 Ruling)

A roof or terrace held en jouissance privative is yours to maintain if the règlement says so, but the Cour de cassation ruled on 17 September 2026 that the syndicat still pays whoever the leak damages, then claims it back from you. What that means for the owner above and the owner or tenant below.

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.

The Guaranteed 1.5% a Year Was Never Yours: France Voids the Fixed Annual Rent Increase

A couple let a care-home room on a commercial lease with a guaranteed 1.5 per cent annual rent increase. On 3 September 2026 the Cour de cassation held the clause deemed unwritten, reversing its 2022 position, and the operator can claim five years of increases back. What it means for every managed-residence investor and commercial landlord in France.

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.

France’s LMP Reform 2026: Foreign Income Now Counts in the Non-Resident Threshold (Loi de Finances 2026)

The Loi de Finances 2026 has ended a long-standing French quirk: non-resident landlords previously qualified for LMP status because only French-source income was compared against rental receipts. From 1 January 2026, foreign income now counts — pushing many non-resident owners back to LMNP, with material CGT consequences.

France’s 120-Day Airbnb Cap: The Cour de cassation Closes the ‘Internship’ Loophole (Civ. 3e, 16 April 2026)

The Cour de cassation has ruled that a student internship — even one embedded in a university curriculum — does not count as a 'professional obligation' for the purposes of the 120-day annual cap on tourism rentals of a French primary residence. We unpack what the 16 April 2026 ruling closes off, what it leaves intact, and how it interacts with the Loi Le Meur tightening.

Buying French Property as a US Person: The Tax-Reporting Stack You Cannot Skip (2026)

A field guide to the IRS reporting stack — FBAR, Form 8938, Form 8865, Schedule E, Foreign Tax Credit — that US persons take on the moment they buy French property, with the SCI classification puzzle and the post-2019 CSG/CRDS creditability under LB&I-04-0819-007.

When a French Tenant Hides Their Assets: The 2026 Criminal Pathway

When a French tenant overstays after lease termination, refuses to pay, AND shuffles their assets to dodge enforcement, the landlord has a criminal-law tool most don't know about. The Cour de Cassation, on 9 April 2026, confirmed that the post-termination occupation indemnity is quasi-delictual — and therefore covered by the criminal offence of organising fraudulent insolvency under article 314-7 of the Code pénal. Punishable by up to 3 years' imprisonment and a €45,000 fine. What every French landlord — domestic or foreign — should know.

France’s 2026 Notary-Fee Hike: Why British Buyers Pay More

From 1 April 2025, French départements can raise their DMTO rate from 4.5% to 5% under article 116 of the Loi de finances 2025. By April 2026, ~83 of France's 100 départements have done so. For a typical British buyer of a resale flat in Paris or the Côte d'Azur, the practical effect is a notary-fee bill that's €2,500 to €5,000 higher than a year ago — and most British buyers can't claim the primo-accédant exemption that would let them avoid it.

France’s 2026 CSG Hike: The 7.5% Carve-Out for UK Landlords

France raised CSG on capital income by 1.4 points on 1 January 2026 — but bare rental and real-estate gains were specifically exempted, while LMNP got hit. And UK-resident landlords with the right A1 or S1 paperwork can pay just 7.5% on every euro of net rental income, an 11-point saving most British landlords have never been told about.