For a British pensioner who owns a house or flat in France, a French taxe foncière bill can feel particularly difficult to understand. Taxe foncière is the annual French local property tax charged on built property. Brexit does not, by itself, remove that liability, and the fact that a pension is paid from the United Kingdom does not automatically produce an exemption. The real questions are more precise: your age on 1 January, the income figure used by French law, the legal status of the property, and whether you personally inhabit it.

The position is different from the rules for buying a property, and it is also different from French income tax. A second home can sometimes qualify for the age-and-income relief even though it is not your principal home. That conclusion follows from the French tax code and the Conseil d’État’s Friteau decision, but it depends on actual occupation and on the income threshold. A house rented exclusively to somebody else, a property held through a company, or a claim based only on being retired may lead to a different result.

This guide sets out the legal test for a British owner, explains how a UK pension can enter the French calculation, and gives a practical claim route. It also distinguishes the taxe foncière itself from the waste-collection charge shown on the same notice, because a successful exemption may not remove every line of the bill. The answer is therefore potentially yes, but only after checking each condition against the relevant tax year.

I. Can a British pensioner qualify for French taxe foncière relief on a second home?

A. Does the age-and-income test apply to a British owner?

The starting point is the nature of the tax. Article 1380 of the French General Tax Code, the Code général des impôts or CGI, states: “La taxe foncière est établie annuellement sur les propriétés bâties sises en France à l’exception de celles qui en sont expressément exonérées par les dispositions du présent code.” In English, French built property is taxed every year unless a provision of the code expressly creates an exemption. The rule is attached to the property situated in France, not to the passport of its owner. The official wording is available in CGI Article 1380 on Légifrance.

The person named on the tax account is also important. Article 1400 I provides: “Sous réserve des dispositions des articles 1403 et 1404, toute propriété, bâtie ou non bâtie, doit être imposée au nom du propriétaire actuel.” The provision means that the current owner is normally the person assessed, subject to the code’s exceptions. An usufructuary, meaning a person who has the legal right to use property and receive its income while another person holds bare ownership, can have a separate position. CGI Article 1400 should be checked where ownership is divided, because a family arrangement can change who is legally liable.

The age relief is found in Article 1391 I. It says: “Les redevables âgés de plus de soixante-quinze ans au 1er janvier de l’année de l’imposition sont exonérés de la taxe foncière sur les propriétés bâties pour l’immeuble habité par eux, lorsque le montant des revenus de l’année précédente n’excède pas la limite prévue à l’article 1417.” Four elements matter.

First, “plus de soixante-quinze ans” means more than 75, not simply being a pensioner and not necessarily having reached the 76th birthday after the relevant date. The comparison is made on 1 January of the year of assessment. If you are 75 on that date, Article 1391 does not yet apply on the age condition. If you are already over 75 on 1 January, the age condition is met, subject to the other requirements. The full statutory wording is in CGI Article 1391 on Légifrance.

Secondly, the income condition concerns the previous year’s figure and not the amount of cash that happened to arrive in a UK bank account. French legislation uses the revenu fiscal de référence, usually shortened to RFR. The RFR is the French “reference taxable income” shown on a French income-tax assessment. It can include items that were not themselves subject to French income tax in the ordinary way. A low amount of French income tax, or a statement that a pension is exempt under a treaty, is not enough by itself to prove that the RFR is below the limit.

Thirdly, the property must be “habité par eux”, meaning inhabited by the claimant. That wording is central for a second home. It does not say that the property must be the claimant’s only home, and it does not impose a British or French nationality condition. It does require a real connection between the claimant and the home rather than a purely financial investment. The evidence should show personal use, not just ownership.

Fourthly, the income limit is the limit in Article 1417 for the relevant year. Article 1417 I currently states: “Les dispositions des articles 1391 et 1391 B sont applicables aux contribuables dont le montant des revenus de l’année précédant celle au titre de laquelle l’imposition est établie n’excède pas la somme de 12 679 €, pour la première part de quotient familial, majorée de 3 386 € pour chaque demi-part supplémentaire, retenues pour le calcul de l’impôt sur le revenu afférent auxdits revenus.” This is the exact wording of the version linked in CGI Article 1417 on Légifrance. The figures are indexed and can change; they should be treated as the figures stated in the cited version, not as a substitute for checking the live threshold for the notice being challenged.

The expression “quotient familial” refers to the French system that adjusts the tax calculation for family circumstances. A single person, a married couple, and a household with dependants do not necessarily have the same number of parts. The number of parts used for the relevant tax calculation therefore matters when the threshold is tested. A couple should not assume that combining two pensions produces one simple threshold, nor should an individual use a household figure without checking the assessment.

A UK pension must be classified before the RFR is assessed. The United Kingdom–France double-taxation convention distinguishes different sources of pension and public-service remuneration. Article 18 of the official treaty says: “Subject to the provisions of paragraph 2 of Article 19, pensions and other similar remuneration paid in consideration of past employment to a resident of a Contracting State shall be taxable only in that State.” Article 19 deals with government service and contains an exception to the ordinary pension rule. The full convention is available in the official 2008 UK-France double-taxation convention.

This classification matters because Article 1417 IV expressly addresses income connected with international tax conventions. The text includes the words “ceux exonérés par application d’une convention internationale relative aux doubles impositions”. In practical terms, an amount that is exempt from French income tax under a treaty may still be relevant to the reference-income calculation where the CGI requires it to be included. The French tax office may therefore request the gross pension statement, the relevant UK source, and the treaty basis instead of looking only at the tax paid in France.

The UK-side rule points in the same direction. The GOV.UK guidance on tax when you live abroad warns that a pension may be taxed by the country of residence and by the United Kingdom, while a double-taxation agreement may prevent tax being paid twice. That is an income-tax coordination rule. It is not a blanket exemption from French local property taxes. A British resident in France should keep the treaty classification and the French RFR calculation together as two connected but distinct questions.

For example, suppose a British citizen aged 78 owns a cottage in Brittany, visits it personally throughout the year, and has an RFR below the applicable Article 1417 limit. The person may have a serious basis for asking that the Article 1391 exemption be applied to the cottage, even if the main home is in the United Kingdom. By contrast, a 78-year-old whose UK pension, investment income and other relevant amounts place the RFR above the threshold fails the income condition. A 75-year-old on 1 January fails the age condition for that year even if the income is very low.

The same analysis applies whether the owner is tax resident in France or in the United Kingdom, but residence status affects the evidence and the treaty discussion. The French tax authority confirms that a non-resident owner remains concerned by local taxes for property situated in France. Its official guidance for non-residents and local taxes explains that the relevant tax office is generally the office for the place where the property is located. The owner should state the actual tax residence rather than implying that the second home makes the person French-resident.

The treaty also contains a caution for non-residents. Article 24(5) says: “Nothing contained in this Article shall be construed as obliging either Contracting State to grant to individuals not resident in that State any of the personal allowances, reliefs and reductions for tax purposes which are granted to individuals so resident.” That provision may be raised by the tax authority, particularly where a claim resembles a personal allowance. It does not make the domestic Article 1391 test disappear, but it means a cross-border claim should explain why the requested relief is a property-tax exemption under the CGI and how the Friteau reasoning applies. The request should never rely on the sentence “I am British and retired” alone.

B. Can a second home count as an “inhabited” property?

The words “second home” do not automatically defeat the claim. The Conseil d’État, France’s highest administrative court, decided the issue in a case commonly known as Friteau. In Conseil d’État, 20 October 2000, no. 205635, on Légifrance, the court considered a taxpayer who already benefited from the relief for a principal residence and sought it for a second residence. The decision states that the relevant provision “ne subordonne le bénéfice du dégrèvement à aucune autre condition concernant l’immeuble que son affectation exclusive à une habitation par le contribuable”. The decision number, date and official text should be quoted in any serious claim rather than relying on a summary found in an online forum.

The consequence of Friteau is not that every holiday property qualifies. Its point is that the fact that another home already receives the relief does not, by itself, prevent the same taxpayer from claiming relief for a second residence. The property still needs to be used as accommodation by the claimant, the age and income conditions must still be met, and the claimant must be the person legally entitled to the relief. The administrative tax commentary records the same approach: BOFiP guidance on the age-based taxe foncière exemption says that the taxpayer’s existing benefit for a principal residence does not prevent a benefit for a second residence.

The occupation question is factual. Personal use can be demonstrated by regular stays, utility consumption, home insurance, personal belongings, correspondence, travel records and a consistent explanation of how the property is used. No single document is conclusive. A British pensioner who spends several months a year at the French home and keeps it available for personal occupation has a stronger factual case than an owner who only visits once while granting somebody else exclusive use for the rest of the year.

The boundary is particularly important where a property is rented. The BOFiP commentary explains that a second home made available exclusively to a third party cannot be treated as inhabited by the taxpayer, even if there is no formal lease. That is why a furnished holiday letting, a long-term tenancy, or a free occupation by a family member should be described precisely. A property cannot be presented as personally inhabited if the evidence shows that another person has exclusive enjoyment during the relevant period.

Personal use also differs from occasional permission for guests. If the owner retains access and genuinely uses the property, occasional family visits do not necessarily destroy the claim. If the owner has transferred exclusive enjoyment, has no practical access, or operates the property as a rental business, the Article 1391 argument becomes materially weaker. The question is not whether a friend has ever slept there; it is whether the home is inhabited by the taxpayer in the legal and factual sense used by the relief.

Ownership through a société civile immobilière, or SCI, needs separate care. An SCI is a French civil property-holding company. The person living in the house may be a shareholder, but the company can be the legal owner and the tax treatment may not mirror a property owned personally. A British family should not use Friteau as an automatic answer for an SCI-held home. The deed, the SCI’s tax status, the shareholder’s right of occupation and the identity of the liable person must be reviewed together. The name on the taxe foncière notice is an important first indicator but not the whole analysis.

The date in Article 1415 makes timing decisive. That article provides: “La taxe foncière sur les propriétés bâties, la taxe foncière sur les propriétés non bâties et la taxe d’habitation sur les résidences secondaires sont établies pour l’année entière d’après les faits existants au 1er janvier de l’année de l’imposition.” The official provision is in CGI Article 1415. French local taxes are assessed for the whole year by reference to the situation on 1 January. A sale, a move, a change in occupation or a birthday later in the year may not produce the result an owner expects for that year’s assessment.

This is also why a second-home claim should identify the exact year and the facts on 1 January. A claimant who moved into the property in March should not describe it as personally inhabited on 1 January without explaining the legal basis. Likewise, a person who turned 76 in April was not necessarily over 75 on the relevant 1 January. The notice, the calendar date and the supporting documents should all use the same tax year.

Friteau is best understood as an anti-overstatement rule. It prevents the tax office from rejecting the claim solely because the same taxpayer has a principal home elsewhere. It does not remove the requirement to inhabit the second home, does not change the income threshold, does not convert rental property into personal accommodation, and does not override the ownership rules. For a British pensioner, this distinction is the difference between a credible cross-border claim and a short letter that is likely to be refused.

II. How do you claim the relief and challenge a French tax bill?

A. Which exemption, reduction or cap can actually apply?

The full age-and-income exemption is only one of several mechanisms, and the labels used on a French tax notice can be confusing. Exonération means an exemption from the relevant tax. Dégrèvement means a reduction or discharge of an assessment. The legal effect depends on the article relied upon and on the property concerned.

For a person over 75 with qualifying income, Article 1391 is the principal route. The words “pour l’immeuble habité par eux” are important because they connect the exemption to the home personally inhabited by the taxpayer. The statute also provides transition rules where a taxpayer loses the exemption after a change in circumstances. That can matter when the RFR rises above the threshold or when a person moves into long-term care. It is safer to ask the tax office to state which year and which transition rule it has used than to assume that a sudden full bill is correct.

Article 1390 covers people receiving the allocation de solidarité aux personnes âgées, or ASPA, a French means-tested solidarity allowance for older people, and the allocation supplémentaire d’invalidité, or ASI, an additional invalidity allowance. Article 1390 I states: “Les titulaires de l’allocation de solidarité aux personnes âgées mentionnée à l’article L. 815-1 du code de la sécurité sociale ou de l’allocation supplémentaire d’invalidité mentionnée à l’article L. 815-24 du même code sont exonérés de la taxe foncière sur les propriétés bâties dont ils sont passibles à raison de leur habitation principale.” The official text is in CGI Article 1390. Those are French benefits; a UK State Pension or Pension Credit is not automatically ASPA or ASI. The claimant must identify the actual benefit rather than translating a UK benefit into a French legal category.

For people over 65 but not over 75, Article 1391 B can provide a €100 dégrèvement, but its wording refers to the principal home. It states: “Les redevables âgés de plus de soixante-cinq ans au 1er janvier de l’année d’imposition autres que ceux visés à l’article 1391 bénéficient d’un dégrèvement d’office de 100 € de la taxe foncière sur les propriétés bâties afférente à leur habitation principale lorsque le montant des revenus de l’année précédente n’excède pas la limite prévue à l’article 1417.” See CGI Article 1391 B. A British owner should not assume that this €100 rule applies to a French second home merely because the person is over 65 and has a low income.

There is also a cap mechanism for certain taxpayers whose taxe foncière is disproportionate to income. Article 1391 B ter I begins: “Il est accordé, sur la cotisation de taxe foncière sur les propriétés bâties afférente à l’habitation principale des contribuables dont les revenus n’excèdent pas le montant prévu au II de l’article 1417, un dégrèvement égal à la fraction de la cotisation supérieure à 50 % du montant total de leurs revenus définis aux II et IV du présent article.” The provision concerns the principal home, has income conditions, and excludes taxpayers liable for the French wealth tax on property, the impôt sur la fortune immobilière or IFI, in the circumstances stated by the code. It is not a general cap for a holiday home. The current wording is available in CGI Article 1391 B ter.

Long-term care can create another special situation. A person who moves permanently into a care facility may retain enjoyment of the former principal home. Article 1391 B bis refers to “Les personnes qui conservent la jouissance de l’habitation qui constituait leur résidence principale avant d’être hébergées durablement”. The official CGI Article 1391 B bis sets conditions for the exemption, reduction or €100 relief. This provision is not a shortcut for a normal second home, but it may matter to a British pensioner whose French property was the principal home before a permanent move into care.

The tax notice may still show the taxe d’enlèvement des ordures ménagères, known as TEOM. TEOM is the household-waste collection charge, normally displayed with the property-tax assessment. The French tax authority explains that a person exempt from taxe foncière may still have to pay TEOM in its official explanation of why an exempt taxpayer receives a bill. A successful Article 1391 claim may therefore remove the taxable property-tax component while leaving the TEOM line payable. The request should identify each line rather than demanding that the entire notice be cancelled.

That distinction can be illustrated with a simple example. A 79-year-old British owner of a personally occupied house in France satisfies the age and RFR conditions and wins an Article 1391 exemption for the second home under the Friteau reasoning. The main taxe foncière component may be discharged, but the TEOM can remain. If the owner is 68, has a low RFR and owns only a second home, Article 1391 B’s principal-home wording may not provide the €100 reduction for that property. If the owner is 78 but has a qualifying RFR above the Article 1417 limit, the age alone is insufficient.

A pensioner’s healthcare position does not change this result. An S1 form is a document used in certain cross-border healthcare arrangements; it is not a taxe foncière exemption certificate. Nor does a French residence permit itself prove the RFR or occupation requirements. These documents may help establish a person’s life in France, but the legal test remains the one in the CGI and the evidence must be connected to the property-tax claim.

B. What evidence and deadline govern a claim?

The claim should be framed as a precise réclamation, meaning a formal objection to the assessment, rather than as a general request for advice. Address it to the French tax office responsible for the property. A British owner can normally begin through the secure messaging facility in the French tax account or by writing to the service shown on the notice. The communication should identify the property address, the notice number, the tax year, the owner’s status, and the precise articles relied upon.

The evidence should answer the tax office’s likely questions in the same order as the law. Include a copy of the taxe foncière notice and proof of the ownership or usufruct right. Add proof of date of birth and the age reached on 1 January. Provide the French income-tax assessment showing the RFR and the household parts, if one exists. If the French assessment does not show all the relevant UK amounts, attach pension statements, P60 or equivalent annual evidence, bank statements where needed, and a short table explaining gross amounts, currency conversion and the treaty classification.

The treaty evidence should be specific. A private pension, a UK State Pension, a government-service pension and a survivor’s pension may not follow the same rule. The GOV.UK guidance on UK income when living abroad explains that UK income can include pensions, rent, savings and wages. Where relief at source or a refund of UK tax is relevant, the official France Individual form guidance identifies the form used for UK-France treaty relief. Those documents do not replace the French RFR calculation, but they help prevent an unexplained discrepancy between the UK return and the French claim.

Then prove personal occupation of the second home. Useful evidence can include electricity or water bills showing use, home insurance, council or local-service correspondence, dated travel records, photographs of personal possessions, internet bills, and a written schedule of stays. Explain whether relatives or guests were present and whether the claimant retained access. If the property was ever listed for short-term letting, attach the dates and show that the claimant’s own occupation was not replaced by a third party’s exclusive enjoyment.

The evidence must be honest about mixed use. A property may be used personally for part of the year and rented for another part, but the tax office may focus on whether it was inhabited by the taxpayer under the legal test. Do not describe an Airbnb investment as a personal second home without addressing the rental periods. Do not send a generic utility bill if the account shows no use and assume the title deed resolves the occupation issue. A short chronology from 1 January of the relevant year is often clearer than a large bundle of unexplained documents.

The deadline is set by the tax-procedure code. Article R*196-2 of the Livre des procédures fiscales, the French tax-procedure code, provides: “Pour être recevables, les réclamations relatives aux impôts directs locaux et aux taxes annexes doivent être présentées à l’administration des impôts au plus tard le 31 décembre de l’année suivant celle, selon le cas”. The full current provision is available at LPF Article R*196-2 on Légifrance. For a notice put into collection in 2026, the ordinary deadline will generally be 31 December 2027, subject to the precise event and wording of the notice. File earlier: waiting for a reply to an informal email should not be allowed to consume the formal deadline.

Keep proof of filing. Save the submitted message, attachments, acknowledgement, postal receipt or screen capture. If the tax office asks for more documents, reply within the stated time and preserve the exchange. A refusal should be requested in writing, with the reason: income above the threshold, no personal occupation, incorrect age date, ownership through an SCI, non-resident treatment, or a dispute about the TEOM. Those reasons require different responses.

Payment and challenge are separate issues. A réclamation does not automatically mean that the bill can be ignored. The official guidance on the 50% cap explains that a claim does not suspend payment by itself and that the taxpayer can request a sursis de paiement, a suspension of collection, where the conditions are met. The French tax authority’s cap guidance also warns of collection consequences if an amount is left unpaid without the appropriate request. A claimant should therefore decide whether to pay the undisputed TEOM and any other amount, ask for a suspension of the disputed sum, or obtain advice before the due date.

If the tax office rejects the formal claim, the next route is an administrative tax dispute based on the decision and the documents already filed. At that stage, the issue is not whether the owner feels the bill is unfair. It is whether the legal conditions in Article 1391, Article 1417 and the Friteau decision were met on the relevant date and whether the authority gave a lawful reason for refusal. The file should contain the notice, the claim, the evidence, the reply, and a clear calculation of the amount still contested.

Several recurring mistakes can be avoided. Do not use the gross amount of a single pension as if it were always the RFR. Do not treat “non-taxable in France” as meaning “excluded from every French threshold”. Do not ask for the €100 principal-home relief when the property is a second home without explaining the legal basis. Do not include TEOM in the amount said to be exempt unless a separate rule supports that request. Do not rely on nationality, an S1, or a residence permit instead of proving age, income and occupation. Finally, do not cite Friteau without giving its exact number, date and factual limit.

Conclusion

A British pensioner can potentially claim French taxe foncière relief for a second home, but the answer is conditional. The strongest case is a claimant who is more than 75 on 1 January, remains below the Article 1417 RFR limit, personally inhabits the French property, and is the person legally liable for the tax. The Friteau decision, Conseil d’État no. 205635 of 20 October 2000, means that a principal home elsewhere does not automatically defeat a second-home claim. It does not turn a rented investment, an SCI arrangement or a third party’s exclusive accommodation into qualifying personal occupation.

The UK-France treaty must be used to classify the pension, while the French tax code determines the local-property relief. The RFR may include amounts connected with treaty-exempt income. The full exemption should also be distinguished from the €100 principal-home reduction, the principal-home income cap, and TEOM, which may remain payable. A carefully documented réclamation, filed before the Article R*196-2 deadline and supported by evidence of age, RFR, treaty classification and personal use, gives the tax office a legally testable question instead of a general complaint.

Official sources used in this guide include CGI Article 1391, CGI Article 1417, the Friteau decision no. 205635, and the UK-France double-taxation convention. The relevant threshold and administrative practice should be checked again for the tax year named on the notice.

Need a quick opinion on your case

You can arrange a consultation by phone within 48 hours with a lawyer from the firm.

We can review the French tax notice, the UK pension documents, the RFR, and the evidence of personal use of your second home.

Call Maître Reda Kohen on +33 6 46 60 58 22 or use the contact form for kohenavocats.fr.