Buying Property in France After Brexit

The pre-Brexit mental model

Most UK buyers arrive at French property with an inherited assumption: France is basically next door. The flight is 90 minutes, the train is direct, the cultural exchange runs deep, and the legal rights of an EU citizen made the practicalities of owning a Dordogne farmhouse or a ski apartment in the Trois Vallées almost frictionless.

That model worked. Until 1 January 2021, when it stopped.

UK citizens are now third-country nationals in France. The right to buy is unchanged — France places no restrictions on foreign nationals purchasing residential property — but the reality of owning, using, letting, and eventually selling sits inside a different legal framework. Stays are capped. Tax representation is required on resale. Inheritance rules cross a new border. Rental reporting changed. Currency exposure became more visible. None of this stops a sensible purchase. All of it changes how that purchase should be planned.

For British buyers, the risk is not buying the wrong French property. It's buying with a pre-Brexit mental model.

What actually changed

The 90/180 Schengen rule

Since Brexit, UK citizens can spend a maximum of 90 days in any 180-day rolling window across the entire Schengen Area without a long-stay visa or residency permit. For a French second home, that translates to roughly three months a year of physical presence — and the 180-day window includes time spent in any other Schengen country, not just France. A long weekend in Amsterdam counts.

Owners who built their plans around six months in the Dordogne and six months back in Surrey now hit this rule directly. If your buying plan depends on staying longer, you need a long-stay visa or carte de séjour route — visiteur, talent, retiree, etc. Each route has different conditions, and the choice is consequential. Talk to a French immigration avocat. We don't advise on which route to apply for.

The French représentant fiscal on resale

When a UK resident sells French real property above a regulatory threshold, French tax authorities require a représentant fiscal — a designated French entity that guarantees the seller's tax obligations to the French state. The representative is a regulated function, not optional, and adds cost (typically a small percentage of the sale price). EU-resident sellers don't have this requirement; UK-resident sellers do, post-Brexit.

This is sometimes the moment a UK seller realises Brexit changed things. The buyer is also French-tax exposed differently. Plan for it on the buy, not on the sale.

We coordinate the introduction to a représentant fiscal when the time comes. We are not one ourselves.

GBP–EUR currency exposure

A 6–12 month buying timeline routinely sees the pound move 3–5% against the euro. On a €650,000 house, that is £20,000+ of friction in either direction. Talk to a regulated FX broker (Wise Business, OFX, Currencies Direct — common UK-EUR routes) about timing strategy and forward contracts.

We'll mention when the question is hot. We won't tell you when to convert.

Inheritance and succession

French inheritance law (droit de succession) applies to French real property regardless of the owner's nationality. Forced heirship rules — réserve héréditaire — interact with UK domicile via the EU Succession Regulation (Brussels IV), which UK buyers can elect into by will. The choice between holding the property in personal name versus an SCI (société civile immobilière) has both French and UK-side consequences for inheritance tax exposure.

The decision is irreversible after closing. Engage a French notaire and a UK-side cross-border solicitor before signing the compromis. Yes House does not advise on inheritance structure.

Post-Brexit rental rules

If you plan to let the property when you're not using it, you'll typically register with the local mairie, comply with the meublé de tourisme regime if short-term, charge taxe de séjour, and report rental income to French tax authorities (déclaration de revenus fonciers). Some communes in tension zones — Paris, the Côte d'Azur, parts of Provence — have additional caps on short-term lets. The rules are local and changing.

We coordinate operations directly or via vetted local partners through Property Concierge. Rental tax reporting is a fiscalist engagement; we don't handle it.

What still works the same

The good news, and we mean this: the French property transaction itself is more reliable than the British one in several ways, and Brexit didn't change any of it.

The notaire is a state-appointed legal intermediary who verifies title, drafts the acte de vente, collects taxes, and registers the transaction. Title fraud is essentially non-existent in France. Once you've signed the acte authentique, you have title in a way that's harder to challenge than in most common-law jurisdictions.

EU consumer protection still applies to the buying transaction itself. The compromis de vente includes a 10-day cooling-off period during which a UK buyer can withdraw without penalty. The transaction shape — offer, signed compromis with deposit, due-diligence period, acte authentique at completion roughly 2–3 months later — is unchanged from how it worked in 2019. The vocabulary is unfamiliar. The structure is recognisable.

And the property is still the property. The Normandy farmhouse, the Lot stone village, the Provence mas, the ski apartment in Méribel — the inventory and the dream haven't changed. What changed is what sits around it.

Where Yes House fits in

Visit Pack — for buyers with 1–3 listings

Most UK clients first meet Yes House through a Visit Pack. You've found 1–3 listings online — Belles Maisons, SeLoger, an agent's site. We drive out, visit, film, ask the questions, and tell you which ones (if any) are worth flying for. From €950 for one property in a covered area; multi-property and long-distance quoted before we go. UK buyers are tempted to "just hop over" because flights are cheap — Visit Pack replaces two of those weekends with one verdict.

Buyer Sprint — for buyers without a shortlist

Some UK clients move to a Buyer Sprint when they want us to source the listings rather than just visit them. From €5,000 for a focused search in one region; full sprints quoted on the kick-off call. We build the shortlist of 3–5 homes worth travelling for; you fly once, with the right questions ready and the right introductions waiting.

Property Concierge — after purchase

After purchase, Property Concierge is the back-end engagement — utilities setup, property checks, artisan coordination, optional rental directly or via vetted local partners. Scoped per home. UK owners use it because the 90/180 rule means they cannot be on the ground enough to run the home themselves; it lets the home work without them having to.

What we don't do for UK buyers

These boundaries matter — both because they're regulatory, and because they're how we stay independent.

HMRC reporting on foreign property. UK rules on declaring overseas assets and rental income are work for a UK-licensed accountant. We don't advise.
UK-side Capital Gains Tax, Inheritance Tax, and IFI exposure. Cross-border tax is a UK cross-border tax accountant's specialism. We coordinate introductions; we don't advise.
Acting as a représentant fiscal. The function is regulated and is performed by designated French entities. We coordinate the introduction at sale; we don't take that role.
Visa and immigration law. Long-stay routes, carte de séjour applications, titre de séjour renewals — French immigration avocat's work.
UK or French mortgage broking. French banks lend to qualifying UK non-residents through courtiers (brokers) experienced in non-resident lending. We coordinate introductions; we don't broker.
Building survey. A licensed diagnostiqueur or expert bâtiment certifies condition. We visit and observe — the two are not substitutes.
Insurance broking. A French courtier en assurance binds the policy. Property Concierge coordinates the introduction.

For full scope, see the Legal Notice.

Practical next step

If you've already shortlisted French properties online, the smallest, most concrete way to use Yes House is a Visit Pack. Send us the listings you're considering; within a few days we come back with a fixed quote per property and a calendar — before you book the flight.