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Short answer
Yes. UK and international buyers can borrow for a second home in France under the same binding rules as any other home loan: repayments on all your loans within 35% of income, borrower insurance included, and a term of no more than 25 years. Lenders have very little room to go beyond those limits for second homes. The lenders we work with usually want a deposit of around 30% and a loan of at least about €200,000, and rent you hope to earn from the French property is often ignored. Budget too for purchase tax at the 5% departmental rate that applies in most of France and for taxe d’habitation, which is still charged on second homes.
Can I get a mortgage on a second home in France?
Yes. The lending rules set by the Haut Conseil de stabilité financière (HCSF) apply to second homes and buy-to-let in the same way as to main homes, and they cover loans to non-residents. That means a debt ratio, the taux d’effort, of no more than 35% of your income and a maximum term of 25 years.
The difference for a second home, the résidence secondaire, lies in the flexibility. Each lender may go beyond the rules on up to 20% of its new home lending each quarter. At least 70% of that margin must go to main residences and at least 30% to first-time buyers, which leaves only about 6% of a lender’s lending free for second homes and buy-to-let. In practice a second home loan needs to fit inside the 35% limit. The HCSF kept these rules unchanged in June 2026.
Sources: HCSF FAQ, questions 27 and 35; HCSF press release, June 2026.
How much deposit do I need for a holiday home in France?
France has no legal cap on loan to value, so each lender sets its own. The lenders we work with usually want a deposit of around 30%, so a loan of about 70% of the price. They generally start at loans of about €200,000, though other brokers quote minimums from about €150,000 at some banks.
The minimum loan matters if you are looking at a modest property. At 70% loan to value a €200,000 loan goes with a price of about €286,000. Below that you need a lender with a lower minimum or a different plan, such as paying cash or raising money against a UK property. Age matters too. Lenders generally want the loan repaid by about 70, and few take on new borrowers over 65.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Deposit, 30% | €90,000 |
| Loan at 70% loan to value | €210,000 |
| Purchase tax at 6.3185% | €18,956 |
| Notaire scale fees including VAT | €3,353 |
| Land registry contribution (CSI) at 0.10% | €300 |
| Disbursements, estimate | €1,200 |
| Cash from your own funds, deposit plus costs | €113,809 |
In this example the €210,000 loan falls below the minimum most of the lenders we work with use, so the case would need one of the lenders that start lower. Purchase costs of about 7% to 8% on an older property always come on top of the deposit and are paid from your own money.
Deposit, minimum loan and age guidance from the criteria of the lenders we work with, January 2026, with the minimum loan as at October 2026. Lower minimums quoted by other brokers are market practice, not law. Costs from the Service-public.fr fee scale and notaires.fr, November 2025, with disbursements taken as €1,200. The example leaves out mortgage security and bank fees, which the notaire fees calculator adds.
Will lenders count rental income from a holiday home?
Usually not the rent you hope to earn from the French property itself. Lenders often ignore expected rent from a new purchase. Rent from property you already let is treated differently: lenders commonly count around 70% of it, and some brokers quote 70% to 75%.
The HCSF rules also shape how rent is counted. Rent cannot be netted off against the repayments on the let property. Instead the gross rent, reduced by a haircut, is added to your income while the repayments count in full on the debt side of the 35% test. So a holiday let does not pay for itself in the lender’s calculation. These approaches are market practice, not law, and each lender applies its own.
Sources: French Private Finance guide, June 2026; HCSF FAQ, question 17.
What are the rules for letting a French holiday home?
Furnished holiday lets, the meublés de tourisme, are governed by the Loi Le Meur of 19 November 2024. The main change for owners is registration. A national online registration service is planned for the fourth quarter of 2026. Once it is live every holiday let will have to be registered, in every commune. Until then registration is only required in certain communes, so check the rules where you are buying.
The fines are significant: up to €10,000 for failing to register and up to €20,000 for a false declaration or a fake registration number.
You may read about a 120-day limit on holiday letting. That applies when someone lets their main residence as a holiday let, and a commune can lower it to 90 days. A second home is not your main residence, so that particular cap is not the one to plan around.
Sources: Service-public.fr, July 2026; ANIL; economie.gouv.fr on letting a main residence, checked September 2026.
How is holiday let income taxed in France?
Many owners of small holiday lets use the micro-BIC regime, a simplified system that taxes furnished letting income after a flat-rate allowance. The thresholds and allowances were cut sharply from 2025 income. They now depend on whether your let is classified, meaning officially rated as a meublé de tourisme classé, or unclassified.
| Type of holiday let | 2025 income | 2026 income | Flat-rate allowance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unclassified | €15,000 | €15,000 | 30% |
| Classified | €77,700 | €83,600 | 50% |
Under the old rules for 2024 income the thresholds were €77,700 for unclassified lets and €188,700 for classified lets, so older guides may quote limits that no longer apply.
Tax on French rental income is complex and depends on French rules and on those where you live. Take advice from a tax adviser before you commit to letting.
Source: impots.gouv.fr, checked September 2026.
What taxes do you pay on a second home in France?
Two local taxes apply every year.
- Taxe foncière is the property tax paid by owners. It is the property’s cadastral rental value multiplied by local rates, and the bases rose 0.8% for 2026. The 2026 deadlines are 15 October if you do not pay online, 20 October online and 26 October by direct debit.
- Taxe d’habitation is still due on second homes. It is payable by whoever has use of the property on 1 January.
Communes in areas with a housing shortage, known as zones tendues, can add a surcharge of 5% to 60% to taxe d’habitation on second homes. In July 2026 the tax authority reported 3,689 eligible communes, of which 1,666 apply a surcharge and 688 charge the full 60%. The average surcharge is 41.8%. Check the commune before you buy.
You may also need to file a déclaration d’occupation in the Biens immobiliers section of impots.gouv.fr by 1 July, but only when the way the property is occupied has changed. A €150 fine per property for missing it has been postponed to 2027 for most individuals.
Sources: impots.gouv.fr on taxe foncière, 2026; Service-public.fr on taxe d’habitation; economie.gouv.fr on the surcharge, DGFiP figures July 2026.
Do second home buyers pay the higher French purchase tax?
Usually yes. Purchase tax on an older property, the droits de mutation (DMTO), is a departmental rate plus a communal tax of 1.20% plus a state charge of 2.37% of the departmental tax. Departments may raise their rate from 4.50% to 5.00% for deeds signed from 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2028, and at 1 June 2026 88 of 100 departmental authorities charged 5.00%. That takes the total tax to 6.3185% of the price, against 5.80665% at the 4.50% rate.
There is an exemption from the extra 0.5 point for first-time buyers, but it only covers someone who has not owned their main home in the previous two years and is buying a main residence they will live in for at least eight months a year. It does not help a UK or international buyer of a second home.
Departments popular with UK and international buyers that charge 5% include Dordogne, Lot, Charente-Maritime, all four Brittany departments, Var, Haute-Savoie and Paris. Hautes-Alpes, Alpes-Maritimes, Ardèche, Charente, Drôme, Lozère, Oise, Hautes-Pyrénées, Saône-et-Loire, Guadeloupe and Mayotte were at 4.50% on 1 June 2026, and Indre at 3.80%.
Sources: notaires.fr, November 2025; DGFiP rates table, June 2026; Kohen Avocats on the BOFiP update, June 2026. Our buying costs guide covers the full notaire bill.
How long can I stay in my French second home?
As a UK national you can spend up to 90 days in any 180 across the Schengen area without a visa. Owning a home in France does not change that. The EU Entry/Exit System (EES) has been fully live at the border since 10 April 2026 and records your entries and exits. ETIAS, the travel authorisation that will cost €20 and last three years, is not yet live.
For longer stays you need a visa. A VLS-T visiteur visa covers three to six months. A VLS-TS visiteur covers more than six months and is valid for 12 months, after which you move to a residence card.
The 2023 immigration law included a provision giving British second-home owners a long-stay visa as of right. The Conseil constitutionnel struck it down on 25 January 2024 in decision 2023-863 DC, and nothing had replaced it as at 28 September 2026.
Sources: ABTA, August 2026; Sénat written question on long-stay visas.