Selling property in France: the tax, the diagnostics, and the notaire
Everyone researches buying a French home; almost nobody researches selling one until they must — and then the questions come fast. How much capital gains tax will I pay? What are all these surveys I'm being asked for? Who's the notaire working for? The reassuring news: your main home is tax-free, a long-held holiday home often nearly so, and the process is orderly once you know its shape. Here's how selling actually works, and how to keep the tax as low as it legitimately can be.
The short version
- Your main home is fully exempt from capital gains tax — no tax, whatever the gain, if it's genuinely your résidence principale.
- A second home is taxed at 36.2% (19% + 17.2% social charges) — but it tapers to zero over 22 years (income tax) and 30 years (social charges).
- Big gains carry a 2–6% surtax above €50,000.
- Keep your invoices: purchase costs and registered renovation works reduce the taxable gain — the biggest lever most sellers miss.
- You must supply the diagnostics — a folder of standard surveys (energy, lead, asbestos, etc.) you pay for.
- The notaire runs the sale in two stages and calculates and withholds your gains tax at completion.
Selling a home is stressful in any country; doing it in an unfamiliar system, in a second language, with an unfamiliar tax attached, understandably raises the temperature. But a French sale is a well-worn path, and most of the anxiety comes from not knowing two things: what you'll be taxed, and who does what. Get those clear and the rest is process. So let's start where the worry usually starts — the tax — because the answer is often far kinder than people fear, and then walk through the mechanics.
Capital gains tax — usually less than you fear
The plus-value is the tax everyone frets about, and for most sellers it turns out to be modest or nil. Open each to see why.
No tax at allYour main home is fully exempt
The best news first: the sale of your résidence principale — your genuine main home — is completely exempt from capital gains tax and social charges, regardless of how big the gain or how long you've owned it. The catch is that it must really be your main residence at the point of sale; a place you moved out of a while ago can lose the exemption, so timing a sale around a move matters.
Falls with the yearsA second home: 36.2%, then it tapers
On a second home or holiday home, the gain is taxed at 19% income tax + 17.2% social charges = 36.2% — but only in full for the first five years. After that it tapers with ownership: the income-tax part falls to zero after 22 years, and the social-charges part after 30 years. So the longer you've held it, the less you pay, reaching nil at 30 years. This is why a long-held French holiday home can often be sold with little or no gains tax.
Over €50kBig gains carry a surtax
On top of the 36.2%, gains above €50,000 attract a surtax of 2% to 6%, rising in bands up to the largest gains. It only bites on substantial profits, but on a valuable property it's a real addition worth factoring into your sums.
Keep the invoicesWhat you can deduct to shrink the gain
The taxable gain is the sale price minus your purchase price and allowable costs — and those costs are worth capturing. Notaire and agency fees on the original purchase, and documented renovation and improvement works carried out by registered French businesses (keep the invoices), can be added to your cost base, reducing the gain. This is the single biggest lever most sellers underuse — dig out those old invoices.
The money most sellers leave on the table
Find every renovation invoice before you calculate the gain
The taxable gain is your profit — sale price minus what the place really cost you — and "cost" includes the notaire and agency fees you paid on purchase, and the renovation and improvement works you had done by registered French firms. Every euro of documented, allowable spend you add to your cost base is a euro of gain you don't pay 36.2% on. People routinely forget the new roof, the rewire, the extension, and hand the taxman money they needn't. Before you let anyone calculate your plus-value, dig out the invoices — a shoebox of old factures can be worth thousands.
Bringing the proceeds back? Mind the exchange rate
Selling a French place often means moving a large sum back to the UK — and just as when you bought, the exchange rate is where the money quietly leaks. A specialist currency service beats the bank by thousands on a sum that size.
See the transfer services we rate →Pimpernel may earn a small commission if you use this — it never changes what we recommend, and there's nothing to sell you.
The process — diagnostics, contracts, completion
Beyond the tax, selling is a sequence of well-defined steps, and the surprises are only surprises if nobody warned you. Open each.
Seller paysThe diagnostics — a folder of surveys you must provide
French sellers must supply a dossier de diagnostic technique — a set of standard survey reports commissioned from a certified diagnostiqueur. Depending on the property and area these cover things like energy performance (the DPE), lead, asbestos, termites, gas and electrical safety, and natural-risk exposure. You pay for these, they take a visit and a few days, and the buyer sees them before committing. Order them early so they don't hold up the sale.
Two contractsThe two-stage sale, through the notaire
A French sale runs in two steps, both handled by a notaire (often one acting for both sides). First the compromis de vente — the binding preliminary contract, after which the buyer has a short cooling-off period. Then, a few months later, the acte de vente — final completion, when the money and keys change hands. The notaire also calculates and withholds your capital gains tax straight from the proceeds, so it's settled at sale, not later.
4–8%Agency fees — and who pays them
If you sell through an agence immobilière, fees are higher than in the UK — often 4–8% — and the listing will usually state whether they're charged to the seller (honoraires vendeur) or added for the buyer. Selling privately (de particulier à particulier) avoids them but means doing the legwork yourself. Either way the notaire's fees on completion are the buyer's cost, not yours.
Selling, and unsure what you'll actually pay?
The gains-tax taper, the deductible costs, the surtax, the main-home question — small details that move the final figure a lot. Pimpernel can help you work out the likely tax and gather the invoices that shrink it, before you sign anything.
A note for non-residents
If you've already left France and are selling from abroad, the picture shifts a little: non-residents can face additional requirements, and in some cases must appoint a représentant fiscal (a tax representative) for larger sales, whose job is to guarantee the gains-tax calculation to the French authorities. The taper relief and main-home rules still broadly apply, but the paperwork is heavier, so if you're selling as a non-resident it's worth confirming the current thresholds and whether a representative is needed for your sale. For most people selling the home they still live in, none of this applies — it's the straightforward, and tax-free, case.
Sold well, a French sale is calm and predictable: order the diagnostics early, gather your cost invoices, let the notaire handle the two contracts and the tax, and plan how you'll move the proceeds home without losing a slice to the exchange rate. The taxman is often gentler than the rumours suggest — especially on the home you've actually lived in.
Selling is a project with a tax bill attached
Diagnostics to order, invoices to find, two contracts, a completion date, the money to move home. Pimpernel Pro keeps the sale on a dated plan and the tax picture clear, so nothing about the figures surprises you at the notaire's table.
- Sale & completion reminders
- The property & tax wizards
- Deductible-cost checklists
- Every Library guide, in depth
Getting the proceeds back to the UK?
Moving a large sum home has the same exchange-rate trap as sending it over did. Our guide shows how to keep thousands that would otherwise leak.
Read: Moving money to France →Buying somewhere new?
If you're selling to buy again, our buying guide covers the notaire, the fees and the whole purchase for British buyers.
Read: Buying property in France →Straight from the source
Plus-value (capital gains) rules and the tax itself are on impots.gouv.fr; the notaire-led sale process is explained on notaires.fr and service-public.fr.
Capital gains rules, the taper, the surtax and the process here are current for 2026 and drawn from official and specialist sources, but tax law is intricate and depends on your residence, the property and your circumstances. Pimpernel are not tax advisers or notaires. Confirm your position with a qualified French tax adviser or notaire before selling. This guide is general information, not advice.