{"id":2131907,"date":"2026-09-26T18:55:57","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T16:55:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/2026\/09\/26\/british-unmarried-couple-buy-french-house-indivision-tontine-pacs-challenge-brexit\/"},"modified":"2026-09-26T18:55:57","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T16:55:57","slug":"british-unmarried-couple-buy-french-house-indivision-tontine-pacs-challenge-brexit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/2026\/09\/26\/british-unmarried-couple-buy-french-house-indivision-tontine-pacs-challenge-brexit\/","title":{"rendered":"Unmarried and Buying a French House Together After Brexit: Indivision, Tontine, PACS and How the Survivor Keeps the Roof"},"content":{"rendered":"

You live together in Manchester, Bristol or London. You are not married, you have found a stone house in the Dordogne or a flat in Paris, and the estate agent tells you that buying together in France is straightforward. Then the notaire<\/em> (the French public officer who authenticates conveyances) starts asking questions nobody asked in England: are you concubins<\/em> (an unmarried couple living together), are you considering a PACS, do you want a clause de tontine<\/em> (a survivorship clause), and what shares do you want in the acte de vente<\/em> (the deed of sale)? Each answer changes who owns what, who pays tax on a later sale or gift, and above all who keeps the roof if one of you dies first. Since Brexit, British buyers face the same French property rules as before, but with third-country residence paperwork on top and English wills that no longer circulate as smoothly. This guide explains, for an unmarried British couple, how French law treats your joint purchase, how to organise your shares, and how to protect the survivor without disinheriting children from an earlier relationship \u2014 and how to challenge the bill or the refusal when the tax office or a co-owner blocks you.<\/p>\n

French law does not know joint tenancy with survivorship as English conveyancers understand it. The default is indivision<\/em> (joint ownership in undivided shares), where each partner owns a fraction and can in principle force a sale. An unmarried partner has no inheritance rights by default, unlike a spouse. Two tools change that picture: the tontine<\/em> clause, which makes the survivor the deemed sole owner from day one, and the PACS (pacte civil de solidarit\u00e9<\/em>, the French registered civil partnership), which gives the survivor a tax exemption on death but no automatic ownership. Around them sits the r\u00e9serve h\u00e9r\u00e9ditaire<\/em> (the forced share reserved by law to children), which limits what you can leave to a partner when you have children. The sections below walk through each mechanism with the exact legal texts, recent court decisions, and the practical steps at the notaire’s office.<\/p>\n

I. Buying a French house unmarried: who owns what when two Britons sign the acte de vente?<\/h2>\n

A. How do two unmarried Britons own a French home by default, and can one partner force a sale?<\/h3>\n

When two unmarried people buy a French house together, the starting point is concubinage<\/em>. Article 515-8 of the Civil Code<\/a> states: “Le concubinage est une union de fait, caract\u00e9ris\u00e9e par une vie commune pr\u00e9sentant un caract\u00e8re de stabilit\u00e9 et de continuit\u00e9, entre deux personnes, de sexe diff\u00e9rent ou de m\u00eame sexe, qui vivent en couple.” Cohabitation, however stable, creates no matrimonial property regime and no inheritance right between the partners. For ownership purposes you are two strangers who happen to live together, and the house falls into indivision<\/em>, the ordinary regime of undivided co-ownership.<\/p>\n

The deed (acte authentique de vente<\/em>, the notarised deed of sale) is decisive. It states the share (quote-part<\/em>) each buyer takes \u2014 very often one half each. If the deed is silent, practice presumes equal shares, but you should never rely on silence: unequal deposits, mortgage repayments made by one partner, or works paid from a sole account become hard to prove years later. Tell the notaire exactly who funds what, keep bank transfers labelled, and have the deed record unequal shares (60\/40, 70\/30) where that reflects reality. The share in the deed governs the division of the price on resale, the allocation of rental income if you later let the house, and the base on which each partner is taxed.<\/p>\n

Once in indivision<\/em>, article 815 of the Civil Code<\/a> provides: “Nul ne peut \u00eatre contraint \u00e0 demeurer dans l’indivision et le partage peut toujours \u00eatre provoqu\u00e9, \u00e0 moins qu’il n’y ait \u00e9t\u00e9 sursis par jugement ou convention.” In plain terms, either partner can demand a sale or a partition at any time unless you have agreed otherwise in a binding convention. For a couple this is the sharp edge of the default regime: after a separation, the partner who wants out can force a sale through the court (licitation<\/em>, the auction or court-ordered sale of an undivided property), even if the other wants to stay. The Tribunal judiciaire de Nancy applied exactly this logic on 5 June 2026 (RG 24\/00174, decision published on courdecassation.fr<\/a>), ordering the opening of partition operations for a house bought in equal shares by two PACS partners after their separation, appointing a notaire and sending the parties back to settle the occupation indemnity. The same reasoning applies to concubins<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Day-to-day use is governed by article 815-9 of the Civil Code<\/a>, whose opening words are worth knowing: “Chaque indivisaire peut user et jouir des biens indivis conform\u00e9ment \u00e0 leur destination, dans la mesure compatible avec le droit des autres indivisaires”. Each co-owner (indivisaire<\/em>) may use and enjoy the house in line with its residential purpose, so far as that remains compatible with the other’s equal right. Where one partner occupies the whole house alone, the courts award an indemnit\u00e9 d’occupation<\/em> (an occupation indemnity, a monthly payment owed to the co-owner kept out of the property). The Tribunal judiciaire de Dax stated the rule bluntly on 18 September 2025 (RG 23\/00233, decision published on courdecassation.fr<\/a>): “Aux termes de l’article 815-9 du code civil, une indemnit\u00e9 d’occupation est due \u00e0 la partie cotitulaire du droit de jouissance par celle qui a la jouissance exclusive du bien.” In that case two former cohabitants had bought half each in 1992; the court gave exclusive use to one, ordered the other’s eviction, and awarded 22,140 euros of occupation indemnity. British couples should read this as a warning and a method: agree in writing who may stay and on what payment if you separate, or a judge will fix the figure for you, with a five-year limitation period (prescription quinquennale<\/em>) capping arrears.<\/p>\n

Capital gains and running costs follow the shares. Each partner declares their fraction of rental income and claims their fraction of deductible charges. On resale, each is taxed on their own share under the French private capital gains regime, with holding-period relief running from the date of the joint acquisition. The practical lesson of this first section is simple: the deed is your constitution. Equal shares suit equal funders; unequal funding needs unequal shares recorded by the notaire, plus proof of payments. And if you want more stability than the default \u2014 a lock against a forced sale for a period, or management rules \u2014 you need a written convention, which is the subject of the next section.<\/p>\n

B. Should you sign a conventional indivision agreement, and what can it usefully contain?<\/h3>\n

Article 1873-1 of the Civil Code<\/a> provides: “Ceux qui ont des droits \u00e0 exercer sur des biens indivis, \u00e0 titre de propri\u00e9taires, de nus-propri\u00e9taires ou d’usufruitiers peuvent passer des conventions relatives \u00e0 l’exercice de ces droits.” Owners in indivision, including bare owners and usufructuaries, may therefore sign a convention d’indivision<\/em> (a conventional indivision agreement) organising how they exercise their rights. For an unmarried British couple this is the most underused tool: cheaper than a company, flexible, and fully recognised by banks and courts.<\/p>\n

A well-drafted convention does four things. First, it records the true economic deal: initial deposits, mortgage instalments per partner, works financed, and the resulting shares, with a mechanism for adjusting shares when one partner overpays. Second, it organises management: who pays the taxe fonci\u00e8re<\/em> (the French local property tax on owners), insurance and repairs, by what majority decisions are taken, and who holds the keys and accounts. Third, it can postpone partition: the partners may agree that no one will demand a sale for a fixed term (up to five years, renewable), which gives the family project stability that article 815 alone does not offer. Fourth, it sets an exit route: pre-emption right (droit de pr\u00e9emption<\/em>, the right to buy the other’s share first) for the remaining partner, valuation method (estate agent average or expert), payment timetable, and what happens to the mortgage.<\/p>\n

The convention must be in writing and, to be enforceable against third parties and to last, it is published at the land registry (service de publicit\u00e9 fonci\u00e8re<\/em>) when it concerns real estate. It binds the heirs of each partner too, which matters enormously for Britons with children from an earlier relationship: without a convention, the deceased partner’s children step into their parent’s shoes as co-owners with the survivor and can demand a sale; with a convention, the agreed timetable and pre-emption terms still apply. Registration costs and notaire fees are modest compared with a forced sale. Review the convention each time your situation changes \u2014 marriage, PACS, birth of a child, or repayment of the mortgage \u2014 because a stale convention that contradicts your will creates litigation rather than preventing it.<\/p>\n

Many British buyers ask at this point whether they should instead buy through an SCI (soci\u00e9t\u00e9 civile immobili\u00e8re<\/em>, a French non-trading property company). An SCI adds annual accounts, meetings and tax filings, and since Brexit it does not solve residence or visa questions. It can help where you want shares to move easily or where several families co-invest, and our companion analysis of the SCI for British families explains those costs in detail. But for a couple buying one home to live in, a clear deed plus a convention d’indivision<\/em> usually does the job at lower cost. The harder question is what happens on death, because indivision alone leaves the survivor exposed: the deceased’s half passes to their heirs, not to the partner. That is where the tontine, the PACS and the will come in.<\/p>\n

II. Protecting the survivor after Brexit: tontine, PACS and the English will that respects French forced heirship<\/h2>\n

A. How does the tontine clause make the survivor sole owner, and what does the tax office charge?<\/h3>\n

The clause de tontine<\/em>, also called clause d’accroissement<\/em> (an accretion clause), is inserted in the deed of purchase itself. Each buyer is deemed to have bought the whole property subject to the other’s survivorship right: when the first partner dies, the survivor is treated retroactively as having owned the entire house since the purchase. There is no partition with the deceased’s heirs, because legally the deceased is deemed never to have owned it. The Dax case concerned a 1992 deed in which the two buyers had inserted an accretion clause blocking any partition or forced sale of the house without their mutual agreement. That blocking effect is precisely the attraction \u2014 and the risk, because the survivor takes everything and the deceased’s children take nothing from that house.<\/p>\n

Tax follows the legal fiction. Article 754 A of the General Tax Code<\/a> states: “Les biens recueillis en vertu d’une clause ins\u00e9r\u00e9e dans un contrat d’acquisition en commun selon laquelle la part du ou des premiers d\u00e9c\u00e9d\u00e9s reviendra aux survivants de telle sorte que le dernier vivant sera consid\u00e9r\u00e9 comme seul propri\u00e9taire de la totalit\u00e9 des biens sont, au point de vue fiscal, r\u00e9put\u00e9s transmis \u00e0 titre gratuit \u00e0 chacun des b\u00e9n\u00e9ficiaires de l’accroissement.” The survivor is therefore treated as receiving the deceased’s share by gift at death, and transfer duty (droits de mutation \u00e0 titre gratuit<\/em>) applies according to the relationship between the partners. Between concubins<\/em> \u2014 legal strangers \u2014 the rate is the strangers’ rate shown in article 777 of the General Tax Code<\/a>: “Entre parents au-del\u00e0 du 4e degr\u00e9 et entre personnes non-parentes 60”. Sixty per cent above a tiny allowance (1,594 euros) is the price of a tontine between unmarried partners, unless the dwelling qualifies for the narrow relief in article 754 A itself: no duty on the shared main home worth less than 76,000 euros in total, unless the survivor opts for death-duty treatment. Most British-owned French homes exceed that threshold, so the tontine between concubins<\/em> is a powerful civil shield with a heavy tax sword attached. Between PACS partners, by contrast, the survivor’s receipt on death is fully exempt (see section B), which is why tontine plus PACS is a common combined strategy.<\/p>\n

Two court warnings matter before you sign. First, the tontine blocks partition but not occupation claims. The Dax court recalled that even where the tontine excludes partition, co-holders keep a shared right of use during their joint lives, and exclusive occupation generates an indemnity. Living together contentedly, that changes nothing; separated and litigating, the partner kept out can claim monthly sums. Second, do not put a tontine clause over all the shares of a two-person SCI. The Court of Cassation ruled on 9 April 2026 (Third Civil Chamber, appeal no. 25-12.992, decision published on courdecassation.fr<\/a>), in a case where two cohabitants had formed an SCI and inserted an accretion clause over all the shares: “La clause de tontine ou d’accroissement stipul\u00e9e dans les statuts d’une soci\u00e9t\u00e9 civile est celle qui attribue au dernier survivant, de mani\u00e8re r\u00e9troactive, la propri\u00e9t\u00e9 des parts incluses dans le pacte tontinier.” The Court added that “lorsqu’elle porte sur l’ensemble des parts d’une soci\u00e9t\u00e9 civile, la clause statutaire d’accroissement ou de tontine est contraire \u00e0 la disposition imposant que la soci\u00e9t\u00e9 soit institu\u00e9e par deux ou plusieurs personnes”, because “Selon l’article 1832 du code civil, la soci\u00e9t\u00e9 est, sauf dans les cas pr\u00e9vus par la loi, institu\u00e9e par deux ou plusieurs personnes” (article 1832<\/a>). The result was nullity of the company, not a saving rewrite of the clause. The lesson for British couples: use the tontine in the purchase deed for the bricks themselves, not as a blanket clause over every share of a two-member SCI.<\/p>\n

Practically, the tontine suits childless couples, or couples whose children are shared and will inherit from the survivor, who want the survivor to keep the home at all costs. It suits badly the blended family where each partner has children from an earlier relationship, because the first to die disinherits their own children so far as the house is concerned. The notaire must explain this in plain terms and record your understanding; English-speaking buyers should ask for the acte<\/em> to state the clause in full and for a written tax estimate at first-death values. Where children must be protected, the PACS-plus-will route below usually works better, and it is also the route that keeps the survivor’s tax bill at zero.<\/p>\n

B. Can a PACS, an English will and a choice of English law protect your partner without disinheriting your children?<\/h3>\n

The PACS is the middle path between cohabitation and marriage. Article 515-1 of the Civil Code<\/a> states: “Un pacte civil de solidarit\u00e9 est un contrat conclu par deux personnes physiques majeures, de sexe diff\u00e9rent ou de m\u00eame sexe, pour organiser leur vie commune.” British citizens resident in France may conclude a PACS at the court registry or before a notaire; couples resident in England may conclude one before the French consulate in limited cases, but most British buyers sign it once settled in France. Property effects depend on the convention: article 515-5 of the Civil Code<\/a> keeps each partner’s personal property separate unless the deed or the PACS agreement opts into joint ownership, so state clearly whether the house is joint (indivision<\/em>) or belongs to one partner. Registration is quick and inexpensive, and it immediately changes the tax position on death.<\/p>\n

The tax advantage is total on death. Article 796-0 bis of the General Tax Code<\/a> provides: “Sont exon\u00e9r\u00e9s de droits de mutation par d\u00e9c\u00e8s le conjoint survivant et le partenaire li\u00e9 au d\u00e9funt par un pacte civil de solidarit\u00e9.” A surviving PACS partner pays no death duty on legacies from the deceased partner \u2014 the same exemption as a spouse. Compare the 60 per cent strangers’ rate for concubins<\/em> under article 777: the PACS saves the survivor from a forced sale to pay tax. During life, gifts between PACS partners also benefit from the married-couple allowance and scale rather than the strangers’ rate, and each child keeps their own 100,000-euro allowance under article 779 of the General Tax Code<\/a>, which states: “il est effectu\u00e9 un abattement de 100 000 \u20ac sur la part de chacun des ascendants et sur la part de chacun des enfants vivants ou repr\u00e9sent\u00e9s par suite de pr\u00e9d\u00e9c\u00e8s ou de renonciation.” But the PACS alone gives no ownership: without a will, the survivor inherits nothing and the deceased’s children take the deceased’s half. The PACS removes the tax; only a will (or a tontine) moves the property.<\/p>\n

That is where the will (testament<\/em>) and the r\u00e9serve h\u00e9r\u00e9ditaire<\/em> enter. Where you leave children, article 913 of the Civil Code<\/a> caps what you may give away: “Les lib\u00e9ralit\u00e9s, soit par actes entre vifs, soit par testament, ne pourront exc\u00e9der la moiti\u00e9 des biens du disposant, s’il ne laisse \u00e0 son d\u00e9c\u00e8s qu’un enfant”. With one child the disposable portion (quotit\u00e9 disponible<\/em>) is one half, with two children one third, with three or more one quarter; the rest is the children’s reserve and cannot be taken by a legacy to the partner. A legacy of the usufruct (usufruit<\/em>, the lifetime right to use the property and take its income) over the house is the classic balanced solution: the survivor lives in the house for life, the children hold the bare ownership (nue-propri\u00e9t\u00e9<\/em>) and recover full ownership at the survivor’s death. The Court of Cassation polices the boundary strictly. On 22 June 2022 (First Civil Chamber, appeal no. 20-23.215, decision published on courdecassation.fr<\/a>), it recalled: “Il r\u00e9sulte du premier de ces textes qu’aucune disposition testamentaire ne peut modifier les droits que les h\u00e9ritiers r\u00e9servataires tiennent de la loi.” And, citing article 919-2 of the Civil Code<\/a> \u2014 “La lib\u00e9ralit\u00e9 faite hors part successorale s’impute sur la quotit\u00e9 disponible. L’exc\u00e9dent est sujet \u00e0 r\u00e9duction.” \u2014 it quashed a decision that had valued a usufruct legacy by conversion instead of charging it against the disposable portion by extent (en assiette<\/em>). For British testators this means: have the notaire compute the reserve on French-situs assets before promising the whole house to the partner, and prefer a usufruct calibrated inside the quotit\u00e9 disponible<\/em>, possibly combined with a right of use and habitation (droit d’usage et d’habitation<\/em>) for extra security.<\/p>\n

Brexit adds a private-international-law layer that many English wills ignore. Since 17 August 2015 the EU Succession Regulation No 650\/2012 governs French successions, and its article 22 lets you choose the law of your nationality \u2014 English law for most British testators \u2014 to govern your worldwide estate. France honours that choice even though the United Kingdom never applied the Regulation. Without a choice, the law of your last habitual residence usually applies, which for a Briton settled in France is French law. A choice of English law does not dodge French tax, does not override the land-registry need for a French grant procedure, and does not remove the children’s reserve where French law would otherwise impose it on French-situs immovables in complex cases \u2014 so the clause must be drafted with a French notaire, mirrored in both your English will and any French will, and coordinated with the PACS and the deed. Our companion analysis of the British will and the choice of English law for a French house<\/a> works through that articulation in full, including how to challenge a notaire who refuses to apply the chosen law. Practical sources to read alongside this article are the official service-public.fr pages on the PACS and on buying in indivision<\/em>, and the gov.uk guidance on living in France and on wills for British nationals abroad.<\/p>\n

When the administration or a co-owner blocks you, French law offers structured challenges (voies de recours<\/em>, the legal routes for contesting a decision). Against a tax assessment applying the 60 per cent rate where the PACS exemption should apply, file a written claim (r\u00e9clamation contentieuse<\/em>) with the tax office, then appeal to the administrative court if rejected. Against a notaire who refuses to draw the tontine or to register the PACS property regime, seek a second notarial opinion and, if needed, a court ruling on interpretation. Against a co-owner or their heirs demanding an immediate sale in breach of a published convention, invoke the convention’s postponement and pre-emption clauses before the juge aux affaires familiales<\/em> (the family court judge). Keep every deed, transfer slip, PACS receipt and will in one file: in cross-border cases the party with the paperwork wins the argument about shares, payments and applicable law.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/h2>\n

An unmarried British couple can buy securely in France, but only by choosing deliberately among tools that English buyers rarely meet at home. Record true shares in the deed and live with article 815: anyone can force a sale unless you agree otherwise. Sign a convention d’indivision<\/em> under article 1873-1 where you want management rules, a postponement of partition and a pre-emption route. Use the tontine under article 754 A where the survivor must take the whole house, accepting the 60 per cent tax cost between concubins<\/em> and avoiding blanket tontine clauses over a two-member SCI after the April 2026 Cassation ruling. Or conclude a PACS under articles 515-1 and 515-5, gain the full death-duty exemption of article 796-0 bis, and pass the house \u2014 or its usufruct \u2014 by a will calibrated inside the disposable portion of articles 913 and 919-2, with an English-law choice coordinated between both wills. Each route has a distinct cost, a distinct tax bill and a distinct effect on children. Put the right combination in place before the compromis becomes final, keep the proofs, and challenge refusals and assessments through the proper channels rather than accepting them.<\/p>\n

Need a quick opinion on your case.<\/h2>\n

You are buying together unmarried, or you already own and want the survivor protected. Send your deed, PACS agreement and wills for a telephone consultation within 48 hours with a lawyer of the firm. First telephone consultation: 80 EUR TTC. Call +33 6 46 60 58 22<\/a> or write via our contact page<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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