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Guides and news: Property

Property: practical guides and legal news from the firm, newest first.

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Property

Your French House Is Cracking After the Drought: Natural-Disaster Insurance, Seller Claims and Builder Liability for Foreign Owners

Cracks after the drought in your French house? Recognition, natural-disaster insurance, hidden-defect claims against the seller and ten-year builder liability explained.

Property

British Papers Refused in France After Brexit: Apostille, Sworn Translation and How to Challenge a Dossier Incomplet

Your UK birth certificate refused by the prefecture since Brexit? Apostille, sworn translation and legalisation explained, plus how to challenge a dossier incomplet.

Property

You Bought a French House and the Extension Was Built Without a Permit: Demolition Risk, Regularisation and Claims Against the Seller

Your French house has an extension built without planning permission. Who can order demolition, why ten years of silence is not a permit, and the three 2025 claims against the seller and the …

Property

Water Damage in Your French Flat: How Foreign Owners Trace the Leak, Claim on Insurance, and Recover the Cost (2026)

Ceiling stains found months later in your French flat? Proof, five-day insurance notice, IRSI track, and who pays: neighbour or building.

Property

France Loi Carrez Surface Shortfall: Claiming a Price Reduction Within the One-Year Deadline

Your Paris flat measures less than the deed states. French Carrez law grants a proportional price cut if the shortfall exceeds 5 percent, but only within one year.

Property

The Compromis de Vente Explained: Withdrawal, Loan Conditions and Deposit Rules for Foreign Buyers in France

How the French compromis de vente binds foreign buyers: ten-day withdrawal, mortgage condition, deposit rules and diagnostics before the final deed.

Property

Buying French Property in Split Ownership: Usufruit and Nue-Propriete — A Foreign Buyer’s Legal Guide

Bare ownership in France sells at a deep discount while a usufructuary keeps the use. Price scale, deed, works, charges, taxes and exit traps for foreign buyers.

Property

Squatters in Your French Second Home: 48-Hour Removal and Full Eviction Guide for Absent Foreign Owners

Squatters occupy your French second home while you live abroad: the 48-hour prefectural removal route, the emergency court eviction, criminal penalties and the occupation payments you can re …

Property

Your French Tenant Has Left and the Flat Is Damaged: What a Foreign Landlord May Keep From the Deposit — and How to Prove It

Keys back, flat damaged, deposit in hand: the foreign landlord's complete method for justifying deductions from a French security deposit — inventories, invoices, wear and tear, deadlines an …

Property

Buying French Property at Auction as a Foreign Buyer: Court Sales, Notarial Auctions and the Traps After the Hammer

Judicial seizure sales and voluntary notarial auctions explained for non-resident buyers: guarantees, bidding, the ten-day overbid window, payment deadlines and the folle enchere resale risk …

Property

My French Tenant Stopped Paying: Commandement, Court Termination and the Winter Truce — A 2026 Timeline for Foreign Landlords

Tenant not paying in France? The six-week commandement, court termination, winter truce and enforcement timeline explained for foreign landlords.

Property

France G-Rated Letting Ban: Works, Rent Freeze and Remedies for Foreign Landlords (2026 Guide)

Since 1 January 2025, G-rated flats may not be re-let and F/G rents are frozen. What tenants can force, what landlords can do, and the Paris route back to lawful letting.

Maître Reda Kohen

Maître Reda Kohen

Partner, member of the Paris Bar, 11 rue Margueritte, 75017 Paris. Author of the analyses published in this journal. About