Buying in France as a non-resident: notaire and tax

The purchase: the same process, through the notaire

The service-public.gouv.fr guidance sets out no purchase procedure specific to foreign buyers: the offer, the preliminary contract, the 10-day cooling-off period and the deed of sale all apply (see selling your home: the steps).

The deed of sale is an authenticated deed that must be drawn up by a notaire (a public official who handles property conveyancing). Before drafting it, the notaire checks the parties’ identity, from a birth certificate extract and photo ID bearing a signature, as well as their legal capacity. The deed must be signed before the notaire; a buyer who cannot attend can give power of attorney to a third party, and the representation is recorded in the deed (service-public.gouv.fr). Buyer and seller may each choose their own notaire; the fees are then shared between the two.

Financing

If the purchase is financed, even partly, by a mortgage, the preliminary contract must include a condition suspensive (condition precedent) that the loan is obtained, lasting at least one month; if the loan is refused, any sums paid are refunded (Code de la consommation, art. L313-41). Service-public.gouv.fr specifies that the condition is met by a firm, unconditional offer matching the agreed terms (amount, term, maximum rate); an agreement in principle is not enough. The period for obtaining approval is generally 45 to 60 days.

The official guidance consulted gives no lending rule specific to non-resident borrowers. See our guide on borrowing capacity.

Letting: rental income and the minimum rate

A non-resident is taxed in France on their French-source income that is taxable in France under the tax treaty with their country of residence (impots.gouv.fr). The tax authority publishes 36 country fact sheets, including one for Canada.

Unfurnished letting. Rents are revenus fonciers (property income). Under the micro-foncier (simplified flat-rate scheme), if the household’s gross rental receipts do not exceed €15,000, a flat 30% allowance applies; otherwise, or by irrevocable election for 3 years, the actual-expenses regime applies, with form 2044 (impots.gouv.fr).

Furnished letting. The income falls under bénéfices industriels et commerciaux (BIC, industrial and commercial profits), subject to social charges of 18.6%, the rate applicable to income received from 2025 onwards (impots.gouv.fr).

The tax rate. According to impots.gouv.fr:

If the progressive scale gives a higher rate, the scale applies. The non-resident may also opt for the average rate: they declare their worldwide income, which is used only to calculate the rate applied to their French income. In the impots.gouv.fr example, €10,000 of net rental income and €10,000 of foreign pensions give an average rate of 4.62%, i.e. €462 of tax instead of €2,000 at the minimum rate. The tax authority only applies this rate if it is more favourable. As a rule, non-residents are not entitled to tax reductions and credits, nor to deductions of expenses from overall income (impots.gouv.fr).

Social charges. These apply to non-residents’ French-source property income. People covered by a compulsory social security scheme in an EEA country or Switzerland have been exempt from CSG and CRDS (social contributions) since 1 January 2019, the United Kingdom included, but remain liable to the 7.5% solidarity levy (impots.gouv.fr). The exemption is claimed by ticking boxes 8SH or 8SI on form 2042 C.

Selling: capital gains for non-residents

The gain is calculated as for a resident, with a holding-period allowance of 6% a year from the 6th to the 21st year and 4% in the 22nd year for income tax; full exemption is reached after 22 years for income tax and 30 years for social charges. The rate is a 19% levy, plus 17.2% social charges, or 7.5% for people insured in the EEA, Switzerland or the United Kingdom. The tax is paid by the notaire at the time of sale, with form 2048-IMM-SD (impots.gouv.fr; CGI, art. 244 bis A).

Two possible exemptions (impots.gouv.fr; service-public.gouv.fr; BOI-RFPI-PVINR-10-20):

• the former main residence in France, sold no later than 31 December of the year following departure, without having been made available to a third party in the meantime, provided the seller’s new residence is in an EU State or in a State bound to France by an administrative assistance agreement to combat tax fraud and evasion and an agreement on assistance in tax recovery;
• one home, up to €150,000 of net gain, for an EU or EEA national who was domiciled in France continuously for at least 2 years, if the sale takes place no later than 31 December of the 10th year after departure, or with no time limit if they have had free use of the property since 1 January of the previous year. The cap applies per seller (co-owner in indivision, cohabiting partner, PACS partner); a married couple selling a jointly owned property can be exempt up to €300,000 in total, the cap being assessed on each spouse’s share. This cap concerns the gain; it is not the same as the €150,000 price threshold for the tax representative below.

For the conditions, rates and a worked example, see our guide on plus-value d’un non-résident (capital gains for non-residents).

The tax representative. One is compulsory, unless the seller is established in the EU, Iceland or Norway, the price is €150,000 or less per seller, or the gain is fully exempt through the holding period. For this threshold, a married couple, whatever their matrimonial regime, or PACS partners taxed jointly, count as a single seller: the threshold is assessed on the total price, unlike the exemption cap above (BOI-RFPI-PVINR-30-20, § 180). The notaire and a lawyer cannot act as representative (impots.gouv.fr).

Local taxes and IFI

The owner on 1 January pays the taxe foncière (property tax), whether domiciled in France or abroad. A home available to a non-resident is treated as a second home and is subject to the taxe d’habitation (council-type residence tax) (impots.gouv.fr). Every owner must declare the occupancy of their homes before 1 July in “Gérer mes biens immobiliers” (the online property management service) if anything has changed.

The IFI (impôt sur la fortune immobilière, property wealth tax) applies to a non-resident whose property assets located in France exceed €1.3 million net on 1 January 2026 (IFI 2026 practical brochure).

Which professional to consult

The notaire draws up the deed, which may be signed by power of attorney, and pays the capital gains tax on resale. The courtier en crédit (mortgage broker) looks for a loan compatible with the condition precedent. The agent immobilier (estate agent) arranges viewings and the offer remotely, the diagnostiqueur (property surveyor) provides the surveys to the seller, and the géomètre-expert (chartered surveyor) marks out a plot’s boundaries.