Real Estate

No Letter, No Deadline: a SAFER Ruling for Buyers Who Lost the Land

A buyer whose registered letter from the SAFER could not be delivered is never out of time to challenge the pre-emption, the Cour de cassation ruled on 9 July 2026, whatever he knew from other sources. What that means for foreign buyers of French farmland, and how the SAFER's reach grew on 20 August.

A Flat for as Long as You Keep the Job: France’s New Housing Law for Public-Service Workers

Loi 2026-553 ties social housing to the job that justified it, hands public employers half the flats built on land they sell at a discount, and lets town halls override the local plan to build for nurses, police and transport staff. Nothing in it touches a private lease. Here is what it changes for the buildings around you.

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.

The Relance Logement Bill, Article by Article: What the Senate Passed and What the Assemblée Still Has to Decide

The Senate has rewritten the Relance Logement bill and the Assemblée nationale takes it up this autumn. All ten articles explained: the works-contract reprieve for F and G homes, summer comfort in copropriété votes, planning derogation zones, the loosened Jeanbrun, the island second-home surcharge, and what each one means for a foreign owner.

Loi de 1948 Rents in 2026: the 0.78% Decree, the €204 Ceiling, and Why a Cheap Paris Flat Can Be a Bad Deal

Décret 2026-712 lets landlords of loi de 1948 homes raise rents by 0.78 percent from 1 July 2026, up to a ceiling that can be a tenth of the market rent. What the regime is, how the increase differs from an IRL revision, how a landlord gets out, and what a buyer of a flat with a 1948 tenant is really buying.

Who Can Actually Sign Your French Lease? Indivision, Usufruct and SCI Traps That Get Tenants Evicted

After an inheritance or through a family SCI, many foreign landlords sign French leases without fully owning the property. Article 595, article 815-3 and the two-thirds rule decide whether that lease stands - or gets the tenant evicted.

The Senate Just Rewrote France’s Renovation Deal – and Left Your LMNP Alone

The French Senate adopted the Relance Logement bill on 8 July 2026 - swapping the works threshold for a two-class DPE test and halving the copropriete shield to 18 months, while the landlord amortissement statute lives in the budget law, not this bill. What changes, what does not, and what September can still undo.

France’s Most Controversial Lease: the Bail Code Civil, Your Second Home, and the 2026 Crackdown

The bail Code civil is the correct lease for a French second home - and the contract Paris's mayor calls industrial-scale fraud when it dodges rent control. Where the line runs after the 2026 rulings, the DGCCRF campaign and the bill in parliament.

A Sewer Three Villages Away No Longer Sets Your Price: France’s Terrain à Bâtir Ruling (2026)

France's Constitutional Court has rewritten how expropriated land is priced in multi-site ZACs: your parcel can no longer be denied building-land value because a distant site lacks pipes. What the 19 June 2026 réserve changes for owners.

The Agent’s Licence: How to Check a French Estate Agent, and Who Pays When They Get It Wrong

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.

The Agent’s Commission: What You Owe a French Estate Agent, and When You Owe Nothing

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.