Valley International / moving to france

Buying your first home in France, from offer to completion

The French purchase process is safe, slow and unfamiliar. Almost every difficulty a foreign buyer has comes from assuming it works like the one they know.

A French property purchase runs in two stages separated by several months. A preliminary contract, usually a compromis de vente, binds both parties and fixes the price, the conditions and the deadline; the final deed is then signed before a notaire, who alone transfers ownership and registers it. The point foreign buyers most often miss is that the commitment happens at the first stage, not the second: by the time you reach the notaire's office for completion, the terms were settled months earlier. The negotiation that matters is therefore the drafting of the preliminary contract.

Whose interests the notaire actually serves

A notaire is a public officer who authenticates the deed, verifies title, collects the taxes due on the transaction and registers the transfer. A single notaire commonly acts for both parties. That is not a conflict; the role exists to secure the transaction itself, not to advance one side's interests. The consequence is that nobody in the room is negotiating on your behalf. A buyer who wants their own position defended appoints a second notaire, which does not increase the total cost of the transaction because the fee is shared between them.

What buyers call notaire's fees is largely not the notaire's fee at all: the greater part consists of transfer taxes collected on behalf of the state and local authorities, with the notaire's own regulated remuneration a minor component. That matters because it is not negotiable and because it differs substantially between an existing property and a new one.

The clauses that protect you

• The mortgage condition. French practice makes a purchase conditional on obtaining the loan, and the clause must describe the loan you will actually seek, in amount, rate and duration. A clause drafted loosely, or waived to appear a stronger buyer, removes the protection entirely and exposes the deposit.
• The statutory withdrawal period for a buyer of residential property, provided by article L. 271-1 of the construction and housing code, which runs from notification of the signed preliminary contract and belongs to the buyer alone. The seller has no equivalent right.
• The technical surveys the seller must annexe, covering matters such as asbestos, lead, energy performance and natural risk exposure. They are informative rather than a guarantee, and reading them is the buyer's job.
• Any condition specific to your situation: a residence permit, the sale of another property, a planning certificate. If it is not written into the preliminary contract, it does not exist.

Borrowing as a newcomer

French lending is assessed on repayment capacity measured against income, with a strong preference for fixed-rate loans and a required borrower's insurance policy. A newly arrived foreign national presents an incomplete file: a short French income history, no French credit record, and sometimes income paid in another currency, which lenders treat cautiously. Expect the process to be slower than at home and to require more documents, and expect the mortgage condition in the preliminary contract to need a realistic deadline, not an optimistic one.

What the purchase does to the rest of your file

A French property is real estate for French wealth tax under article 964 and following of the French tax code, and it stays within French tax jurisdiction permanently, including if you later leave the country — Your French property after you leave France covers what that permanence means in practice. It is also the asset most affected by your matrimonial regime, because who owns it depends on which law governs that regime, not on whose name is on the deed. Both questions should be settled before the preliminary contract is signed, not before completion, because by completion the terms are fixed.

ÉTHIQUE ET PATRIMOINE, a French simplified joint-stock company (SAS), registered office at 41 rue Saint-Ferdinand, 75017 Paris, France, Paris Trade Register no. 803 414 796, VAT no. FR 40 803 414 796, registered with ORIAS under number no. 24001817 (www.orias.fr) — Financial investment adviser (CIF) no. 18002418, member of ANACOFI-CIF, a professional association approved by the Autorité des marchés financiers, and Anacofi-Courtage for its brokerage activity. Presence: Paris, Montpellier, Singapore, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Shanghai and Dubai.

Written by Stéphane Molère, Président d'Éthique et Patrimoine — page last reviewed on 2026-08-30 — rules quoted are those in force at that date.