Real Estate

The Cour de Cassation's 9 April 2026 ruling is a brutal warning to British couples holding a French property through a small SCI: a tontine clause that covers all the shares makes the SCI null from inception. We unpack the trap, the practical fix that preserves the tax-efficient outcome, and what to do if your existing statutes are at risk.

The Cour de Cassation has just confirmed that the 2-month deadline to contest a French copropriete AGM decision runs from the day the registered letter was first presented at your address — even if you never picked it up. A procedural trap for non-resident British landlords, explained with the 16 April 2026 ruling and the wider French property timetable.

A 16 April 2026 Cour de Cassation ruling settles, for the first time, that an action to rectify a French notarial deed of property sale is a personal action with a 5-year prescription. What British buyers need to know.

At one minute past midnight on 1 May 2026, England's biggest tenancy reform in nearly four decades came into force. What the Renters' Rights Act does, and how the new English regime compares to French law that's been in place since 1989.

In 2004, two buyers won a French house at auction — only to discover the existing tenant had a lifetime clause they'd inherited. The 2010 Cour de Cassation ruling every British investor must know.

INSEE's Q1 2026 IRL of 146.60 (+0.78% YoY) sets the rent-revision cap on French residential leases. A British landlord's guide to article 17-1, the DPE F/G freeze, the DOM/Corsica indices, and the one-year invocation deadline.