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.
Every foreign owner of French property pays taxe foncière annually. Here is the structural map for 2026 — how the bill is calculated, the October deadlines, the new-build exemption, and the secondary-residence surtax that catches owners off guard.
A cross-border comparison of UK Stamp Duty Land Tax and French frais de notaire in 2026 — the bands, the surcharges, the carve-outs, and concrete worked examples at £500K and €500K for primary residence, second home, non-resident and new-build purchases.
A Cour de cassation ruling of 9 April 2026 confirms that a property owner expropriated in France can claim the indemnity for lost rental income for the first time on appeal — a useful procedural opening for any foreign owner of a let French property.
Every foreign owner of French property pays taxe foncière annually. Here is the structural map for 2026 — how the bill is calculated, the October deadlines, the new-build exemption, and the secondary-residence surtax that catches owners off guard.
A cross-border comparison of UK Stamp Duty Land Tax and French frais de notaire in 2026 — the bands, the surcharges, the carve-outs, and concrete worked examples at £500K and €500K for primary residence, second home, non-resident and new-build purchases.
A Cour de cassation ruling of 9 April 2026 confirms that a property owner expropriated in France can claim the indemnity for lost rental income for the first time on appeal — a useful procedural opening for any foreign owner of a let French property.
Every foreign owner of French property pays taxe foncière annually. Here is the structural map for 2026 — how the bill is calculated, the October deadlines, the new-build exemption, and the secondary-residence surtax that catches owners off guard.
A cross-border comparison of UK Stamp Duty Land Tax and French frais de notaire in 2026 — the bands, the surcharges, the carve-outs, and concrete worked examples at £500K and €500K for primary residence, second home, non-resident and new-build purchases.
A Cour de cassation ruling of 9 April 2026 confirms that a property owner expropriated in France can claim the indemnity for lost rental income for the first time on appeal — a useful procedural opening for any foreign owner of a let French property.
If you own French property and live abroad, you owe a French tax return by 21 May 2026 — even with zero rental income. Here is the box-by-box walkthrough, deadlines, and the five mistakes foreign owners make every year.
A non-EU passport holder can spend a maximum of 90 days in any rolling 180-day period in the Schengen Area. This is the rule that catches more foreign owners of French property at the border than any other piece of post-Brexit law — and the VLS-T visa is the legal way around it.
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.
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.