Buying Property in France as a Non-Resident: Process and Costs
Living abroad and starting to look for an apartment or villa in France? Searching can be straightforward at first. To reach completion, you will also need to understand the properties on offer, prepare your documents and coordinate with the agency, bank and notaire.
Living outside France does not, by itself, prevent you from buying property there. Your family circumstances, financing and the countries involved still need to be considered when preparing the purchase. French notarial property portal, buying as a non-resident.
This guide follows the purchase from the initial search to the handover of the keys. It covers existing residential property in mainland France, with examples drawn from the French Riviera market.
1. Where and how should you look for property in France?
Start with property portals and agency websites
To explore the market, you can use general portals such as SeLoger and Bien’ici. For higher-end properties, Belles Demeures, Propriétés Le Figaro and Maisons & Appartements also carry listings.
Start with an area and budget, then refine the search: apartment or villa, floor area, bedrooms, land, outdoor space and parking. If the results are too limited, decide which filters are essential. A listing may be incomplete: a missing field does not always mean that the property lacks the feature you want.
Next, look at agency websites in your chosen areas. Listings provide an initial shortlist; a conversation can clarify the address, layout and information that is not shown online.
Recognise different listings for the same property
A villa may be advertised by several agencies. You may therefore see the same property with different photographs, another description or floor areas that appear inconsistent.
Before arranging several viewings, ask what explains the differences. Do the figures include the same spaces? Are outbuildings counted? Do the prices reflect the same terms and the same date? Also confirm that the property is still offered for sale.
A difference between listings needs an explanation before it becomes part of your comparison.
Explain your lifestyle to narrow down the location
A town name alone does not define your search. A main home for a family with schoolchildren, an apartment for short visits and a villa for hosting relatives may suit very different needs.
Explain how often you will stay, your usual journeys, whether you want to walk to shops, how much quiet matters and any access requirements. On the French Riviera, nearby addresses can offer different daily routines because of slopes, parking or the immediate surroundings.
At DAMA, our initial discussion of your budget, criteria and lifestyle helps shape the selection. Your feedback on the first properties then helps us refine the search.
Understand network searches and off-market properties
Some properties are presented privately. A professional may introduce them when a suitable property is available and the basis on which they act allows it, including through cooperation between agencies.
For specific requirements, we can also approach properties that are not officially on the market. This depends on the opportunities encountered; it does not guarantee that a property meeting every criterion exists.
A confidential property deserves the same scrutiny as a public listing: the price, condition, documents and terms of sale still need to be examined.
2. How do you assess a listing and judge whether the price is reasonable?
Check the areas quoted and how the spaces can be used
First establish what the listing describes. Does the floor area cover the main house? Does it include outbuildings, a converted basement or other spaces? For an apartment, which measurement is being used?
Ask for a breakdown and any available plans. A price-per-square-metre comparison is useful only when the areas are measured on a comparable basis.
For a villa, examine the land too. Its total size does not tell you how much is accessible, level or usable. Look at the relationship between the house, terraces, garden, pool and parking.
Separate the current condition from its presentation in photographs
Lighting, angles and decoration can make a property look particularly appealing. Ask whether the photographs show its current condition and whether any images contain virtual furnishing or a proposed renovation.
A room that is barely shown, a view photographed from one particular position or an outbuilding missing from the report may justify further images. During a viewing, look at windows, floors, installations and finishes. Signs of damp or cracks may require examination by a technical professional.
When comparing properties, ask practical questions: can you see the sea from the living rooms or only from the garden? Can you hear a road? Is access convenient? Would the work involve decoration or more substantial elements?
Read the energy report and anticipate works
The French energy performance assessment, or DPE, provides information on energy consumption and greenhouse-gas emissions, using classes from A to G. Read the full report to understand the equipment, building characteristics and proposed improvements. A letter alone says little about the work to consider. French environment ministry, DPE.
Depending on the property and its classification, an energy audit may also be required. Ask whether it applies to the sale and obtain it where necessary. Service Public, energy audits.
If you intend to let the property, have the rules for that use checked. Letting a tenant’s main home and offering holiday accommodation are not subject to all the same requirements. Verify the letting project before relying on future income.
Compare asking prices with completed sales
Identify properties for sale in the same area, with a layout, plot and condition as similar as possible. This initial comparison shows the alternatives offered within your budget.
Listings show asking prices. To examine transactions, the official DVF explorer provides access to available sales data. The French tax authority’s dataset covers the previous five years, with some territorial exclusions. Official DVF dataset information.
Read each reference in context. One transaction may include several plots or elements. The recorded amount does not describe the interior condition at the time, and subsequent works may have changed the property. An older sale may not reflect current conditions in the area.
The seller’s previous purchase price and renovation spending therefore do not, on their own, establish today’s value. Ask the professional which sales they use, when they took place and how the properties differ from the one you are considering. The comparison should help you make an informed offer.
3. How should you prepare your purchase and assemble the documents?
Prepare these elements while searching. Waiting until you have found the property to gather the first documents can add delays just when you want to move forward.
Clarify the project, financing and buyers
Define the intended use: a main home, second home, family stays or letting. Also establish who will buy: you personally, several buyers or a company.
Any proposed ownership structure should be examined with the notaire and relevant advisers, taking your international circumstances into account. A company is not automatically the most appropriate option. Family arrangements, financing and succession objectives can all matter.
For financing, distinguish a purchase with a loan, a purchase using your own funds and a cash purchase with possible refinancing later. That last scenario needs to be studied beforehand; a future loan should not be assumed.
DAMA generally raises financing at the first discussion or before viewings, to align the search with a realistic budget. For the documents and banking contacts to consider, read our guide to French mortgages for non-residents.
Gather personal records and documents from abroad
For the first discussions, organise the available information about:
- each buyer’s identity, address and tax residence;
- family circumstances, including marriage and the matrimonial property regime;
- professional activity and the proposed financing;
- the funds intended for the purchase.
The notaire and lender specify what they need for your circumstances. For civil-status records, supporting documents or company records issued abroad, confirm any translations and authentication formalities before incurring costs.
If a company is buying, also prepare its registration documents, articles and information identifying its representatives and the people who own or control it. The professionals involved will specify the appropriate supporting evidence.
Explain the source and movement of funds, including for a cash purchase
A cash purchase still requires preparation. The professionals involved have due-diligence obligations: they may ask how the funds were accumulated, rather than simply checking an account balance. Tracfin and DGCCRF, requirements for property professionals.
Depending on the source, evidence may concern savings, income, the sale of a business, another property sale or an inheritance. If the money has moved between accounts or countries, prepare the records tracing that movement. The notaire and bank specify the checks required.
Ask which account can be used to send the funds and which steps remain outstanding. Any proposed account opening in France or Monaco needs to be discussed with the chosen institution, under its own conditions and timetable.
Where a transaction has connections with Russia, have the restrictions affecting the people, banks and transfers involved checked. A buyer’s language does not establish what is permitted. The rules must be examined at the time of the transaction. Council of the European Union, sanctions against Russia.
Collect the property documents and identify what is missing
Ask for plans, a breakdown of areas, diagnostic reports and information about access and easements. For construction or alterations, collect available authorisations and completion documents, along with relevant insurance records and invoices for the works concerned.
An extension, pool or converted outbuilding needs to be considered alongside its paperwork. The property’s current appearance does not establish its legal history.
For a condominium, private estate or subdivision, ask for the documents governing its organisation: regulations, specifications or association articles, meeting minutes, charges and decisions on works. Also establish whether there are disputes or proceedings. The precise list depends on the property. Service Public, documents for the preliminary agreement.
The agent gathers available information and identifies missing items. The notaire carries out independent checks, while a technical professional examines matters within their field. An important issue can be raised with the notaire before an offer, rather than waiting for the preliminary agreement.
4. How can you avoid scams when buying property in France?
Check the business and your contact’s authorisation
Ask which business your contact works for and in what capacity. The professional carrying out the transaction activity must hold the appropriate French professional licence. An employed sales negotiator or commercial agent may act under the agency’s licence with an authorisation certificate; they do not necessarily hold a separate licence themselves.
The CCI register of property professionals lets you search for a business, including by name, SIREN registration number or licence number, and view information about its collaborators. Check the person’s connection to the business, the authorised activity and the validity of the documents.
Confirm the identity of the person contacting you
The existence of an agency does not, by itself, prove that the person writing to you works for it. A photograph of a professional licence or a document sent by messaging service can be copied.
If something is inconsistent, call the agency using a number obtained independently of the conversation. Confirm your contact’s identity and involvement in the transaction before sending sensitive documents or proceeding with a payment request.
Read the legal information and fee schedule
The website’s legal information identifies the business behind the trading name. Compare it with the professional details and documents you have received.
The fee schedule sets out the services, maximum fees and who pays them. Where the calculation uses price bands, check whether they are cumulative. Ask for a written explanation if the figure presented differs from your understanding. DGCCRF, rules for property agents.
Understand the viewing acknowledgement and mandate
A bon de visite records that a professional introduced you to a property. It does not replace a mandate and cannot, on its own, establish an entitlement to a commission.
The written mandate defines the assignment and remuneration; it must precede the relevant intermediary or negotiation activities. An agency may also cooperate with the appointed professional: ask it to explain its role. If the basis for a commission is unclear, have the documents examined before paying. DGCCRF, mandates and viewing acknowledgements.
5. What costs should you budget for beyond the purchase price?
Distinguish the property price from agency fees
Check whether the seller or buyer pays the fees. Where the buyer pays, the listing must distinguish the price including fees, the price excluding fees and the percentage applied. The mandate and sale documents must be consistent with the terms presented. DGCCRF, price information.
This allocation can affect the transfer-duty calculation. Where the mandate properly places the commission on the buyer and the applicable conditions are met, it is excluded from the duty base.
Fictional example, unrelated to DAMA’s fees: a property priced at €2,000,000 excluding fees, with €100,000 in buyer-paid fees, totals €2,100,000 for the property and commission. Under the applicable conditions, the duty base can exclude that €100,000. If the sale price is €2,100,000 including a seller-paid commission, that sum remains part of the price subject to duty.
This example does not calculate every acquisition cost. Have the duty base confirmed from the mandate and sale documents; changing the way a price is displayed is not sufficient. French tax guidance, intermediary commission and the duty base.
Understand acquisition costs
The amounts commonly called frais de notaire consist mainly of taxes and duties, alongside the notaire’s remuneration, formalities and disbursements. They are additional to the purchase price.
The calculation varies with factors including the property, location and circumstances of the acquisition. Request an estimate for the actual transaction rather than applying an online percentage to the whole budget. Notaires de France, acquisition costs.
Include financing, transfers and moving in
Depending on the project, allow for bank application charges, the loan guarantee or security, borrower insurance and any agreed broker fees. For funds held in another currency, discuss exchange and transfer arrangements with your institution.
Add works, furniture, any technical advisers’ fees and the costs of moving in. Separate the funds needed for completion from the money you want to retain to make the property suitable for your intended use.
Plan the property’s annual budget
Ask for available information on shared charges, insurance, utilities, subscriptions and maintenance of the garden, pool or other equipment.
For taxe foncière, the owner on 1 January remains liable to the tax authority for the full year. The deed can provide for an allocation between seller and buyer on a pro-rata basis; that agreement operates between the parties. The latest tax notice helps you plan for this cost. Service Public, property tax.
Other tax obligations depend on the property’s use and your circumstances. Have the consequences in France and, where relevant, your country of residence examined before deciding how to acquire the property.
6. What happens between the offer and the handover of the keys?
A common sequence: offer → preliminary agreement → conditions and formalities → final deed and keys.
Make an offer whose terms you understand
The offer identifies the property, proposed price and validity period. Set out the intended financing, preferred timetable and any conditions that matter to the purchase. If you need an authorisation or a loan, address that when the offer is drafted.
The seller can accept without reservation, refuse or make a counter-offer. A sufficiently precise offer that is accepted can bind the parties: have it checked before sending it. Do not pay a deposit with the offer; payments provided for in a preliminary agreement belong to a different stage. Service Public, purchase offers.
Choose your notaire and prepare the documents
You can choose your own notaire even if the seller already has one. Involving two notaires does not double the regulated remuneration for the sale: they share it. A separate advisory assignment may have its own charge, which should be clarified. Notarial guidance, the role and remuneration of notaires.
The notaire checks the legal position of the parties and property, including identity and capacity, ownership history, mortgages, easements and planning matters. They also examine the authority of anyone representing an absent party. Service Public, checks before the final deed.
Explain your international circumstances early. The language of the discussions, foreign documents and ownership arrangements may require particular preparation.
Sign a compromis or promesse de vente
A compromis commits the parties to sell and buy on the agreed terms. A unilateral promesse gives the beneficiary an option to buy within a specified period. The preliminary agreement records matters including financing, conditions precedent and deadlines. Service Public, preliminary sale agreements.
If a deposit or an indemnité d’immobilisation is provided for, confirm its amount, recipient and the circumstances in which it is returned or retained. An indemnity can be credited against the price if you buy, or retained by the seller if you withdraw outside the applicable protections, depending on the agreement. A failed condition must be examined against the steps and evidence required by the contract.
Identify the applicable cooling-off period
For the purchase of residential property, a non-professional buyer generally has a ten-day withdrawal period. Its starting point depends on notification or delivery of the agreement under the statutory rules; it does not automatically begin on the day of signature.
Confirm the dates and how any withdrawal must be notified. For a company purchase or other particular circumstances, whether the protection applies needs to be examined. French Building and Housing Code, Article L271-1.
Follow the conditions and formalities
Where your purchase falls under the rules for residential mortgage lending to individuals, the loan condition describes the financing sought and the steps to follow. An approval in principle is not a firm offer matching the agreed terms. If lending is refused, evidence and deadlines matter when relying on the condition. Service Public, the mortgage condition.
The sale may also be subject to a pre-emption right. For urban pre-emption, the local authority generally has two months from receipt of the déclaration d’intention d’aliéner, or DIA, to respond. The notaire follows the procedure and confirms when the sale can be completed. Service Public, sales in a pre-emption area.
The overall timetable depends on the financing, documents, checks and formalities in your transaction. Ask what remains outstanding before booking a trip or planning a move; simply adding two months to the offer date does not produce a reliable completion date.
Prepare the payment and verify the bank details
Before completion, the notarial office sends a statement of the funds required. Arrange for them to be received in accordance with its instructions, working with your bank. Also confirm how the agency commission is to be paid under the transaction documents.
Verify the office’s bank details by calling a number already known to you or obtained independently. An urgent request or changed bank details must be confirmed before any transfer. Emails and documents can be intercepted or altered. Notaires de France, bank-details fraud prevention.
Arrange a final viewing and sign the authentic deed
Arrange a final viewing to check the property’s condition, equipment and what is to remain or be removed under your agreement. Raise anything identified at that stage before signing.
The notaire explains the deed and collects the signatures. The keys are handed over on the terms agreed in the deed. The notaire provides an ownership attestation and carries out the land-registration formalities. Your title document is sent after those formalities are processed. Service Public, the final deed of sale.
7. How can you organise the purchase while living abroad?
Prepare a shortlist before travelling
At DAMA, we discuss your budget, criteria and lifestyle, then send an initial selection. Your feedback helps us understand what suits you and refine the properties to view.
If you wish, we can record videos or arrange viewings by video call to give you more information before your trip. These discussions help prepare the selection; they should be complemented by the documents and examinations relevant to the project.
We can also group viewings over one or two days, subject to your availability and that of the properties and people involved. The aim is to prepare a programme that matches your criteria and the time you can devote to the visit.
Arrange representation for the signing in advance
If you cannot attend, ask the notaire which representation arrangements are suitable. A power of attorney can allow a representative to sign for you. Its form, identity checks and any foreign formalities must be determined with the office.
French authentic powers of attorney can be executed remotely within the applicable framework. This does not mean that every final sale deed can be signed directly by video call from home. French Ministry of Justice, remote authentic powers of attorney.
Prepare these arrangements before confirming whether you will attend on the proposed signing date.
Keep responsibilities and follow-up clear
Identify who is waiting for which document, who needs to respond and the next deadline. Your agent follows the search and property discussions; the bank handles financing and transfers; the notaire prepares the deeds and checks within their remit. Other advisers contribute where technical, legal or tax questions require them.
DAMA can also support you with a property you have already found. We discuss your project and the points on which you want advice or follow-up. Our buyer-support page explains this approach.
What to prepare for your first discussion
To move forward, you can send us an initial description of your search:
- the areas you are considering and the property’s intended use;
- your overall budget and financing to be examined;
- essential features and possible compromises;
- your timetable and opportunities to travel;
- properties already found and steps already taken.
This information helps us prepare a selection and identify what needs to be clarified before you commit. Tell us about your property purchase in France.