This article is provided for general information only and does not constitute legal, tax or investment advice. Rules change and individual situations differ. Always confirm the current position with a qualified professional before acting.
The decision gets made at a kitchen table in Oxford. The house in the Dordogne was bought twelve years ago for summers that have grown rarer, and the roof will need doing soon. Selling it sounds simple. Selling it from another country is harder, because French law puts the reports, the signatures and the tax in a fixed order, and the tax is taken before the money leaves France.
This guide follows the sale in that order, from the first reports to the money reaching your bank at home. Each step links to the article on this site that covers it in depth. We’ve checked the rules against the official texts, and we’ve added the UK side, which French guidance doesn’t cover.
Sources: article L271-1 of the construction and housing code, the tax administration’s guidance on accredited representatives (BOI-RFPI-PVINR-30-20) and article 150 VC of the tax code.
Before you list: the diagnostic reports and the building’s paperwork
French law makes the seller provide a file of technical reports, the dossier de diagnostic technique. It has to be attached to the preliminary contract or, if there isn’t one, to the final deed. The list in the construction and housing code includes the energy rating, the natural and technological risk statement, and checks on lead, asbestos, termites, gas, electricity and drainage. Which ones you need depends on the building’s age, its installations and where it stands.
Book the diagnostic visits early. Some reports expire, and one that has lapsed by the day of the deed has to be redone. A missing report can also leave you liable for hidden defects it would have revealed, so it’s worth paying for a complete file.
If the home is heated by electricity, look at the energy rating again before you set the price. From 1 January 2027 the factor used to count electricity in the rating falls to 1.7, which can lift an electrically heated home by a class. We explained the change in our piece on the 1.7 factor. In a copropriété, a building of flats in shared ownership, the notaire will also ask the syndic, the managing agent, for the building’s figures, including what you still owe. The charges for the year of sale follow their own rules, set out in who pays the copropriété charges in the year you sell.
Choosing an agent, and what the mandate commits you to
An estate agent can only act for you under a written, signed sales mandate that sets the commission and says who pays it. The fee can fall on the seller, the buyer or both, and the advert has to show how it’s split, as the consumer authority’s guide to the profession explains. Under the loi Hoguet, the 1970 law that governs agents, the agent can’t take payment until the sale has been agreed in a signed written contract.
From abroad, read two things before signing: how long the mandate runs and whether it’s exclusive. An exclusive mandate stops you selling through anyone else for its term, which matters if you meet a buyer yourself on a visit. Our guide to commission and mandate rules goes through the clauses one by one.
Selling with a tenant in place, or with the property empty
A lease doesn’t end because the property is sold. The buyer takes it over with the tenant, as we explained in our article on selling a tenanted property. That narrows your market to buyers who want a let property, which can suit an investor and put off someone looking for a holiday home.
If you want the property empty and it’s let unfurnished as the tenant’s main home, you serve a congé pour vendre, a notice to sell, at least six months before the lease ends. That notice is also an offer. The tenant can accept it at the price and on the terms it states during the first two months, then has two months to complete the purchase, or four if they need a loan. A tenant who doesn’t accept loses the right to stay when the notice runs out. A sale to a close relative up to the third degree escapes the tenant’s right to buy first, and furnished lets follow different rules. The government’s page on a landlord’s notice lists the formalities.
From offer to compromis: the preliminary contract
Source: article L271-1 of the construction and housing code for the cooling-off period. Chart: theenglishinvestor.com
Once you accept an offer, the two sides sign a preliminary contract. It’s either a compromis, binding on both, or a promesse de vente, where you promise to sell and the buyer takes an option. We compared them in our guide to the two contracts. The technical reports are attached to this contract, which is why they come first.
A buyer acquiring a home for private use then has ten days to withdraw, counted from the day after the contract is notified, and gets back any money paid. A buyer who borrows can also make the purchase conditional on the loan. For you as the seller, the sale becomes much firmer once both have passed.
Signing without flying over
You can give someone a procuration, a power of attorney, to sign for you. Depending on the deed, it can be a private document signed electronically or a notarised one. Under a decree of 20 November 2020, a French notaire can take a notarised power of attorney by secure video call with an electronic signature, as the notaries’ national site explains.
That decree covers the power of attorney, and the deed itself is still signed before the notaire, by you or by the person you appoint. Ask the notaire early which form they want, because the answer decides whether you need a video appointment, a UK notary public (often with an apostille) or nothing more than an email.
The tax the notaire takes before you’re paid
A gain on French property is taxed in France wherever you live. For a seller abroad, the notaire works out the tax on the plus-value, the capital gain, and pays it to the tax office at the time of the sale, out of the price. You receive what’s left.
There are two layers. Income tax is charged at 19%, and social charges come on top. Both shrink with the years you’ve owned the property: the income tax part disappears after 22 years and the social charges after 30. Sellers who can show they’re covered by the social security system of the UK, an EEA country or Switzerland pay 7.5% in social charges, and other sellers pay more. A net gain above €50,000 after the allowances also carries a surtax.
Our two guides do the arithmetic: capital gains tax on French property for non-residents, with a worked example, and the British investor’s 2026 guide. If you let the property furnished under the réel regime, the depreciation you deducted is added back to the gain for sales from 15 February 2025, with exceptions for some serviced residences. Our piece on the year of sale explains which furnished-letting status applies when you sell.
The accredited tax representative
If you live outside the EU, Iceland and Norway and the price is above €150,000, you need a représentant fiscal accrédité, an accredited tax representative in France who answers for the tax. The UK has been outside that group since Brexit, so a British seller above the threshold needs one. The tax administration’s guidance judges the threshold on the price in the deed, and an agent’s fee included in that price isn’t taken off. Our guide to the accredited representative covers who needs one and the exceptions.
The other costs on the seller’s side
The owner on 1 January owes the whole year’s taxe foncière, the annual property tax, even if the sale happens in February. The buyer can agree in the deed to repay a share for the days they own the property, and the notaire can settle that between you on the day. The tax office still sends the bill to you.
If a French mortgage is still running, the bank can charge an early repayment fee, capped at six months’ interest on the sum repaid and at 3% of the capital outstanding. The fee isn’t due when the sale follows a change of workplace, the forced end of your work or a death, as the government’s page on early repayment explains.
| Cost | Who pays | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Technical reports file | Seller | Attached to the preliminary contract |
| Agent’s commission | As the mandate says | Seller, buyer or both, shown in the advert |
| Capital gains tax | Seller, paid by the notaire | 19% plus social charges, reduced by years of ownership |
| Accredited tax representative | Seller | Outside the EU, Iceland and Norway, price above €150,000 |
| Taxe foncière | Owner on 1 January | Buyer’s share only by agreement in the deed |
| Mortgage early repayment fee | Seller | Capped at six months’ interest and 3% of capital outstanding |
Getting the money home, and the UK side
After the deed, the notaire settles any mortgage registered on the property, pays the tax and transfers the balance to you. Moving euros into a UK account is a currency trade like any other, and the points in our guide to moving money for a purchase apply in reverse.
If you’re resident in the UK, the gain is also within UK Capital Gains Tax, and you report it on the capital gains pages of your Self Assessment return, claiming the credit for the French tax on the foreign pages. HMRC gives credit for French tax on the same gain, capped at the lower of the French tax and the UK tax on that gain, and any French tax above that is lost. The treaty’s credit covers the French income tax. The CSG, the CRDS and the 7.5% solidarity levy aren’t among the taxes it lists, so check with a UK adviser whether any other relief is available before you file. HMRC’s page on selling overseas property is the place to start.
Where you stand
You live in the UK and the price is above €150,000: appoint the accredited representative before the preliminary contract, and ask the notaire which power of attorney they want.
The property is let unfurnished: decide early between selling with the tenant and selling it empty, because the notice has to go out at least six months before the lease ends.
You’ve let it furnished under the réel regime: ask for a tax estimate that includes the depreciation added back before you agree a price.
You’ve owned it for more than 22 years: there’s no income tax on the gain, and the social charges are already reduced.
Our view
The step we’d redesign is the representative. A British seller above €150,000 pays an accredited firm to guarantee a tax that the notaire has already paid out of the sale price. The guarantee covers any later reassessment, and the state is entitled to want that. For a seller with a simple gain and a complete file, though, the fee buys very little, and since Brexit the rule applies to the UK as it does to any other country outside the EU, Iceland and Norway.
The other lesson is timing. The representative, the technical reports and a tenant’s notice all take time, and all of it can start before a buyer appears. A seller abroad who waits for an offer before starting them can lose weeks, and with them, sometimes, the buyer. If you’re thinking of buying again later, our buying guide runs the same process from the other side.
Readers, if you’ve sold a French property from abroad, did you sign in person or through a power of attorney? Which step took longest for you, the reports, the buyer’s loan or the notaire’s tax calculation? And did the UK side of the tax come as a surprise?
FAQ: selling a French property from abroad
Can I sell my French property without travelling to France?
Yes. You can appoint someone to sign the contract and the deed for you through a power of attorney. A French notaire can take a notarised power of attorney by secure video call under a decree of 20 November 2020.
Who pays French capital gains tax when a non-resident sells?
The seller. The notaire calculates it and pays it to the tax office out of the sale price at the time of the sale, so you receive the price net of the tax.
Do UK residents need a tax representative to sell French property?
In principle yes, if the price is above €150,000, because the exemption covers sellers living in the EU, Iceland and Norway. The threshold is judged on the price in the deed, including any agent’s fee that price contains.
Who pays the taxe foncière in the year of the sale?
The owner on 1 January owes it for the whole year. The buyer can agree in the deed to repay a share, but the tax office still bills the seller.
Do I pay UK tax when I sell a French property?
If you’re resident in the UK, the gain is within UK Capital Gains Tax and goes on your Self Assessment return. HMRC gives credit for French tax on the same gain, up to the UK tax due on it.
