{"id":2133624,"date":"2026-09-28T15:01:19","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T13:01:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/2026\/09\/28\/british-second-home-90-180-day-rule-overstay-refusal-oqtf-challenge-brexit\/"},"modified":"2026-09-28T15:01:19","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T13:01:19","slug":"british-second-home-90-180-day-rule-overstay-refusal-oqtf-challenge-brexit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/2026\/09\/28\/british-second-home-90-180-day-rule-overstay-refusal-oqtf-challenge-brexit\/","title":{"rendered":"Your French Second Home After Brexit: Counting Your 90 Days in 180, Overstay Traps, and How to Challenge a Refusal of Entry or a Removal Order"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>You bought the stone house in the Dordogne before Brexit, when a British passport meant coming and going as you pleased. Since 1 January 2021 you are a third-country national at the French border, and every night you spend under your own roof eats into a quota: 90 days in any 180-day period, counted across the whole Schengen area, with no reset button at Christmas. Miscount by a week and the consequences stop being theoretical. Border officers can refuse you entry and put you on the next flight home, a prefect can order you to leave France with a formal removal order, and an overstay can earn you a ban from the entire Schengen zone of up to three years. This guide is written for the British second-home owner who travels on a UK passport without a visa. It shows you how to count your days without making the three classic mistakes, when to switch to a long-stay visitor visa and a <em>carte de s\u00e9jour visiteur<\/em> (a temporary residence card for visitors) instead of gambling on another short trip, what happens if you are stopped at the border or told to leave, and exactly how to challenge a refusal of entry, a visa refusal or a removal order with a file a judge can accept.<\/p>\n<h2>I. Your 90 days in any 180: how the count works for a British second-home owner<\/h2>\n<h3>A. How to count your days without a visa, and what counts as a day<\/h3>\n<p>The starting point is simple and is confirmed by the British government itself: you can travel without a visa to the Schengen area, which includes France, for up to 90 days in any 180-day period when you come as a tourist, to visit family or friends, or for business meetings and events, as the official <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/foreign-travel-advice\/france\/entry-requirements\">GOV.UK entry requirements for France<\/a> explain. The French side of the same rule sits in the Code de l&#8217;entr\u00e9e et du s\u00e9jour des \u00e9trangers et du droit d&#8217;asile (the Code governing entry and residence of foreign nationals, universally called the CESEDA), which provides that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000042777216\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000042777216\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u201cTout \u00e9tranger souhaitant entrer en France en vue d&#8217;y s\u00e9journer pour une dur\u00e9e n&#8217;exc\u00e9dant pas trois mois doit solliciter aupr\u00e8s des autorit\u00e9s diplomatiques et consulaires fran\u00e7aises un visa de court s\u00e9jour, dans les conditions pr\u00e9vues \u00e0 l&#8217;article 6 du r\u00e8glement 2016\/399 du Parlement europ\u00e9en et du Conseil du 9 mars 2016\u201d<\/a>. British citizens are exempt from that short-stay visa requirement, but the reference to Article 6 of Regulation (EU) 2016\/399, the Schengen Borders Code available on EUR-Lex (the official EU law portal), matters enormously, because that Article sets the 90\/180-day maximum and the entry conditions that apply to you even without a visa.<\/p>\n<p>The count works on a rolling window, and this is where most second-home owners go wrong. The question is never how many days you have spent in France since 1 January. On every single day you are present in France, you look backwards over the preceding 180 days and you count every day of presence in any Schengen country. If the total is over 90, you are overstaying. Take a realistic pattern: two weeks at Easter in the Lot, six weeks across July and August in your own house, ten days in Barcelona in October, then Christmas and New Year in France from 20 December to 5 January. Each trip felt short. Added together inside a single 180-day window, the summer, Spanish and Christmas days stack, and the January tail of the Christmas trip is examined against the previous 180 days, which include most of the summer. Owners who think in calendar halves, who believe the counter resets on 1 January, or who assume days in Spain or Italy do not count, are the ones who discover the arithmetic at the border desk at Bergerac or Limoges.<\/p>\n<p>Three further counting rules catch people out. First, the day of entry and the day of exit both count as full days of presence, even for a morning arrival or an evening departure. A weekend trip that touches Saturday and Sunday costs two days, not one. Second, days spent in France under a French residence permit or a long-stay visa do not count towards the 90-day visa-free limit, as GOV.UK expressly confirms \u2014 but the reverse is equally true, and just as useful: once that permit or visa expires, every new visa-free day starts counting again from zero only in the sense of the rolling window, not with a clean slate. Third, only physical presence counts, yet presence is now recorded with increasing precision. Your passport should be stamped on entry and exit, and the European Entry\/Exit System (the electronic registration of third-country entries and exits, known as the EES) is being rolled out across the Schengen area, with GOV.UK warning travellers to allow extra time at the border for registration. Keep your own ledger regardless: boarding passes, ferry bookings, Eurotunnel confirmations and a printout of the European Commission&#8217;s short-stay calculator for the trip in question. When an officer&#8217;s screen and your memory disagree, the paper with dates on it wins.<\/p>\n<p>At the border itself, visa exemption is not a right of entry. The CESEDA states the general rule bluntly: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000042777224\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000042777224\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u201cPour entrer en France, tout \u00e9tranger doit \u00eatre muni : 1\u00b0 Sauf s&#8217;il est exempt\u00e9 de cette obligation, des visas exig\u00e9s par les conventions internationales et par l&#8217;article 6, paragraphe 1, points a et b, du r\u00e8glement (UE) 2016\/399 du Parlement europ\u00e9en et du Conseil du 9 mars 2016 concernant un code de l&#8217;Union relatif au r\u00e9gime de franchissement des fronti\u00e8res par les personnes (code fronti\u00e8res Schengen) ; 2\u00b0 Sous r\u00e9serve des conventions internationales, et de l&#8217;article 6, paragraphe 1, point c, du code fronti\u00e8res Schengen, du justificatif d&#8217;h\u00e9bergement pr\u00e9vu \u00e0 l&#8217;article L. 313-1, s&#8217;il est requis, et des autres documents pr\u00e9vus par d\u00e9cret en Conseil d&#8217;Etat relatifs \u00e0 l&#8217;objet et aux conditions de son s\u00e9jour et \u00e0 ses moyens d&#8217;existence, \u00e0 la prise en charge par un op\u00e9rateur d&#8217;assurance agr\u00e9\u00e9 des d\u00e9penses m\u00e9dicales et hospitali\u00e8res, y compris d&#8217;aide sociale, r\u00e9sultant de soins qu&#8217;il pourrait engager en France, ainsi qu&#8217;aux garanties de son rapatriement\u201d<\/a>. In plain terms, the officer can ask for four things: proof of the purpose of your stay, proof of accommodation, proof of means of subsistence, and proof of medical cover and repatriation. For an owner heading to his own house, the strongest accommodation proof is ownership itself. GOV.UK advises that you may need to show evidence of ownership or tenancy of your property, such as a tax or utility bill: carry the latest <em>avis de taxe fonci\u00e8re<\/em> (the French property tax bill), a recent electricity bill in your name, and the <em>attestation d&#8217;assurance habitation<\/em> (the home insurance certificate) for the house. Travellers who arrive with nothing but a passport and an address invite the deeper interview.<\/p>\n<p>If family or friends travel with you to stay in your house, a different document can enter the picture. French law requires visitors coming for a family or private stay of under three months to hold a specific hosting certificate: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000042777189\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000042777189\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u201cTout \u00e9tranger qui d\u00e9clare vouloir s\u00e9journer en France pour une dur\u00e9e n&#8217;exc\u00e9dant pas trois mois dans le cadre d&#8217;une visite familiale ou priv\u00e9e doit pr\u00e9senter un justificatif d&#8217;h\u00e9bergement qui prend la forme d&#8217;une attestation d&#8217;accueil, sign\u00e9e par la personne qui se propose d&#8217;assurer le logement de l&#8217;\u00e9tranger, ou son repr\u00e9sentant l\u00e9gal\u201d<\/a>. That <em>attestation d&#8217;accueil<\/em> (the validated hosting certificate) is signed by the host and validated by the town hall, and the host undertakes to bear the guest&#8217;s living costs if the guest cannot, since the certificate <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000042777187\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000042777187\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u201cest pr\u00e9sent\u00e9e pour validation au maire de la commune du lieu d&#8217;h\u00e9bergement ou, \u00e0 Paris, Lyon et Marseille, au maire d&#8217;arrondissement, agissant en qualit\u00e9 d&#8217;agent de l&#8217;Etat\u201d<\/a> and carries the host&#8217;s financial undertaking. The practical procedure is described step by step on the official <a href=\"https:\/\/www.service-public.gouv.fr\/particuliers\/vosdroits\/F2191\">service-public.fr page for the attestation d&#8217;accueil<\/a>. As the owner staying in your own home you do not need one for yourself, but if you host non-EU relatives who do not share your roof rights, arrange it at the mairie several weeks before their flight: consulates and airlines both check it.<\/p>\n<h3>B. When 90 days are not enough: the long-stay visitor visa and the visiteur residence card<\/h3>\n<p>Sooner or later many owners outgrow the quota. A retired couple who want March to June in the Charente, an owner supervising six months of renovation works, or a family splitting the school year between Kent and the Languedoc cannot fit inside 90 days in 180, and stretching the count is the single most dangerous option. French law offers a purpose-built route instead: the long-stay visa for visitors, followed by a one-year visitor residence card. The Code states the gateway clearly: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000051562134\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000051562134\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u201cTout \u00e9tranger souhaitant entrer en France en vue d&#8217;y s\u00e9journer pour une dur\u00e9e sup\u00e9rieure \u00e0 trois mois doit solliciter aupr\u00e8s des autorit\u00e9s diplomatiques et consulaires fran\u00e7aises un visa de long s\u00e9jour dont la dur\u00e9e de validit\u00e9 ne peut \u00eatre sup\u00e9rieure \u00e0 un an\u201d<\/a>, and that visa expressly covers stays <em>en qualit\u00e9 de visiteur<\/em>, as a visitor. The architecture around it is strict. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000051562113\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000051562113\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Article L. 411-1 lists the documents that alone authorise a stay of more than three months<\/a> \u2014 long-stay visa, temporary card, multi-year card, resident card and a few others \u2014 while <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000042776906\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000042776906\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Article L. 411-2 warns that \u201cA l&#8217;expiration de la dur\u00e9e de validit\u00e9 de son document de s\u00e9jour, l&#8217;\u00e9tranger doit quitter la France, \u00e0 moins qu&#8217;il n&#8217;en obtienne le renouvellement ou qu&#8217;il ne lui en soit d\u00e9livr\u00e9 un autre\u201d<\/a>, adding that where any residence document is refused or withdrawn, the foreigner must leave. And the bridge between visa and card is compulsory: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000042776891\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000042776891\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u201cla premi\u00e8re d\u00e9livrance d&#8217;une carte de s\u00e9jour temporaire ou d&#8217;une carte de s\u00e9jour pluriannuelle est subordonn\u00e9e \u00e0 la production par l&#8217;\u00e9tranger du visa de long s\u00e9jour mentionn\u00e9 aux 1\u00b0 ou 2\u00b0 de l&#8217;article L. 411-1\u201d<\/a>. You cannot arrive visa-free, fall in love with the lifestyle, and apply for a visitor card from inside France. The long-stay visa must be obtained from the French consulate covering your home in the United Kingdom before you travel, and our companion guide to <a href=\"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/2026\/09\/25\/british-newcomer-france-long-stay-visa-carte-sejour-refusal-oqtf-challenge-brexit\/\">which long-stay visa and which carte de s\u00e9jour a British newcomer needs<\/a> walks through that consular stage in detail.<\/p>\n<p>The visitor card itself, the <em>carte de s\u00e9jour temporaire portant la mention \u201cvisiteur\u201d<\/em>, is defined by Article L. 426-20 of the CESEDA, and every word of that Article deserves attention: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000042776442\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000042776442\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u201cL&#8217;\u00e9tranger qui apporte la preuve qu&#8217;il peut vivre de ses seules ressources, dont le montant doit \u00eatre au moins \u00e9gal au salaire minimum de croissance net annuel, ind\u00e9pendamment de l&#8217;allocation aux adultes handicap\u00e9s mentionn\u00e9e \u00e0 l&#8217;article L. 821-1 du code de la s\u00e9curit\u00e9 sociale et de l&#8217;allocation suppl\u00e9mentaire mentionn\u00e9e \u00e0 l&#8217;article L. 815-24 du m\u00eame code, se voit d\u00e9livrer une carte de s\u00e9jour temporaire portant la mention \u2018visiteur\u2019 d&#8217;une dur\u00e9e d&#8217;un an. Il doit en outre justifier de la possession d&#8217;une assurance maladie couvrant la dur\u00e9e de son s\u00e9jour et prendre l&#8217;engagement de n&#8217;exercer en France aucune activit\u00e9 professionnelle. Par d\u00e9rogation \u00e0 l&#8217;article L. 414-10, cette carte n&#8217;autorise pas l&#8217;exercice d&#8217;une activit\u00e9 professionnelle\u201d<\/a>. Three conditions, three frequent refusals. First, resources: you must prove you can live on your own means at a level at least equal to the net annual minimum wage, the SMIC, and the figure is assessed per person, from durable income or genuinely available savings \u2014 a state or private pension paid into a UK account, rental income documented by tax returns, investment income with statements, or savings high enough to cover the year. Second, health insurance covering the whole stay: a travel policy with a defined ceiling and exclusions is routinely judged insufficient, while full private medical cover for twelve months, or registration in the French system where available, satisfies the requirement. Third, the written undertaking not to work in France, which the Article reinforces by expressly barring professional activity even by derogation. Owners who keep answering London emails from the poolside should understand the trap: salaried remote work for a UK employer performed from France can be treated as work in France, and it sits badly with a status whose legal definition is to live on one&#8217;s own resources without working.<\/p>\n<p>Consulates refuse visitor visas more often than applicants expect, and the courts uphold those refusals where the file is thin. The administrative court of appeal of Nantes confirmed the framework in a 1 April 2025 judgment concerning a long-stay visitor visa for a child, CAA Nantes No 24NT01244, published at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/ceta\/id\/CETATEXT000051418916\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/ceta\/id\/CETATEXT000051418916\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">legifrance.gouv.fr\/ceta\/id\/CETATEXT000051418916<\/a>. The court recalled the two governing texts and then stated the decisive principle: <em>\u201cL&#8217;\u00e9tranger d\u00e9sirant se rendre en France et qui sollicite un visa de long s\u00e9jour en qualit\u00e9 de visiteur doit justifier de la n\u00e9cessit\u00e9 dans laquelle il se trouve de r\u00e9sider en France pour un s\u00e9jour de plus de trois mois. En l&#8217;absence de toute disposition conventionnelle, l\u00e9gislative ou r\u00e9glementaire d\u00e9terminant les cas o\u00f9 ce visa peut \u00eatre refus\u00e9, et eu \u00e9gard \u00e0 la nature d&#8217;une telle d\u00e9cision, les autorit\u00e9s fran\u00e7aises, saisies d&#8217;une telle demande, disposent, sous le contr\u00f4le du juge de l&#8217;exc\u00e8s de pouvoir, d&#8217;un large pouvoir d&#8217;appr\u00e9ciation et peuvent se fonder non seulement sur des motifs tenant \u00e0 l&#8217;ordre public, tel que le d\u00e9tournement de l&#8217;objet du visa, mais aussi sur toute consid\u00e9ration d&#8217;int\u00e9r\u00eat g\u00e9n\u00e9ral. La commission de recours contre les d\u00e9cisions de refus de visa d&#8217;entr\u00e9e en France peut l\u00e9galement fonder sa d\u00e9cision de refus sur les motifs tir\u00e9s de ce que le demandeur ne justifie pas disposer des moyens d&#8217;existence suffisants pour faire face aux d\u00e9penses li\u00e9es \u00e0 son s\u00e9jour en France ou poss\u00e9der une assurance maladie couvrant la dur\u00e9e de son s\u00e9jour.\u201d<\/em> In that case the family produced company registration extracts without any detail of actual income, a grandfather&#8217;s financial guarantee the court called insufficient, and an accident-only policy that did not prove medical cover \u2014 and the refusal survived. The lesson for a British owner is direct: a guarantee letter from a relative, a portfolio valuation without income evidence, or a credit-card travel policy will not carry a visitor file. Twelve months of bank statements showing pension or rental income landing regularly, a tax return tying the income to your name, a full medical insurance certificate naming each applicant and the covered period, and title deeds or a twelve-month lease for the French address are the documents that answer the exact grounds the commission uses.<\/p>\n<p>One timing point decides many files. Because the first card requires the long-stay visa, and because consular appointments, commission appeals and prefecture renewals each take months, apply for the visitor visa while you still have quota left, not after an overstay has already poisoned the file. An overstay recorded in the system transforms the next consular interview from a routine means test into an examination of your credibility. Owners who plan the switch early \u2014 visa-free spring, consular application in London in summer, long-stay arrival in autumn, prefecture renewal before the first anniversary \u2014 never meet the officers described in the second half of this guide.<\/p>\n<h2>II. Stopped at the border or told to leave: refusals, holding areas and removal orders<\/h2>\n<h3>A. Refusal of entry, the waiting zone and the removal order after an overstay<\/h3>\n<p>Two different measures, taken by two different authorities, punish two different mistakes, and owners constantly confuse them. The refusal of entry (<em>refus d&#8217;entr\u00e9e<\/em>) is a border measure, taken the day you arrive, when the officer judges that you do not meet the entry conditions \u2014 insufficient means, no credible accommodation, no insurance, or, increasingly, a stay history showing you have already exhausted your 90 days. The Code gives that decision immediate teeth: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000042777129\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000042777129\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u201cLa d\u00e9cision de refus d&#8217;entr\u00e9e sur le territoire fran\u00e7ais dont l&#8217;\u00e9tranger fait l&#8217;objet peut \u00eatre ex\u00e9cut\u00e9e d&#8217;office par l&#8217;autorit\u00e9 administrative\u201d<\/a>. It is a written, reasoned decision, and it states the remedies against it, but it is enforceable at once: the carrier that brought you is obliged to take you back, and arguing at the desk changes nothing. Where return on the same day is impossible, the traveller refused entry may be held in a waiting zone (<em>zone d&#8217;attente<\/em>), the closed transit accommodation at the airport, port or international station. The Code defines it precisely: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000042777111\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000042777111\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u201cL&#8217;\u00e9tranger qui arrive en France par la voie ferroviaire, maritime ou a\u00e9rienne et qui n&#8217;est pas autoris\u00e9 \u00e0 entrer sur le territoire fran\u00e7ais peut \u00eatre plac\u00e9 dans une zone d&#8217;attente situ\u00e9e dans une gare ferroviaire ouverte au trafic international figurant sur une liste d\u00e9finie par voie r\u00e9glementaire, dans un port ou \u00e0 proximit\u00e9 du lieu de d\u00e9barquement ou dans un a\u00e9roport, pendant le temps strictement n\u00e9cessaire \u00e0 son d\u00e9part\u201d<\/a>. Holding beyond the initial hours requires a judge&#8217;s authorisation, and a lawyer can intervene at that hearing \u2014 which is why the telephone number of a solicitor or advocate who answers in English should be in your phone before you fly, not searched for from inside the zone.<\/p>\n<p>The removal order, the <em>obligation de quitter le territoire fran\u00e7ais<\/em> universally shortened to OQTF, is the inland measure, taken by the prefect when you are already in France and your stay has become unlawful. For a British visitor the most relevant legal ground is written for exactly your situation. The Code provides that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000042775578\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000042775578\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u201cL&#8217;autorit\u00e9 administrative peut obliger un \u00e9tranger \u00e0 quitter le territoire fran\u00e7ais lorsqu&#8217;il se trouve dans les cas suivants : 1\u00b0 L&#8217;\u00e9tranger, ne pouvant justifier \u00eatre entr\u00e9 r\u00e9guli\u00e8rement sur le territoire fran\u00e7ais, s&#8217;y est maintenu sans \u00eatre titulaire d&#8217;un titre de s\u00e9jour en cours de validit\u00e9 ; 2\u00b0 L&#8217;\u00e9tranger, entr\u00e9 sur le territoire fran\u00e7ais sous couvert d&#8217;un visa d\u00e9sormais expir\u00e9 ou, n&#8217;\u00e9tant pas soumis \u00e0 l&#8217;obligation du visa, entr\u00e9 en France plus de trois mois auparavant, s&#8217;est maintenu sur le territoire fran\u00e7ais sans \u00eatre titulaire d&#8217;un titre de s\u00e9jour ou, le cas \u00e9ch\u00e9ant, sans demander le renouvellement du titre de s\u00e9jour temporaire ou pluriannuel qui lui a \u00e9t\u00e9 d\u00e9livr\u00e9\u201d<\/a>. Read the second limb slowly: a visa-exempt Briton who entered more than three months ago and holds no residence document is within the text. In practice the prefecture rarely hunts owners at home; the OQTF typically follows a police or gendarmerie check \u2014 a roadside control, an incident at the mairie, a denunciation after a neighbour dispute \u2014 where the passport stamps show day 91 and beyond with no card to justify them. The decision must be reasoned and individual: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000049050376\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000049050376\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u201cLa d\u00e9cision portant obligation de quitter le territoire fran\u00e7ais est motiv\u00e9e. Elle est \u00e9dict\u00e9e apr\u00e8s v\u00e9rification du droit au s\u00e9jour, en tenant notamment compte de la dur\u00e9e de pr\u00e9sence de l&#8217;\u00e9tranger sur le territoire fran\u00e7ais, de la nature et de l&#8217;anciennet\u00e9 de ses liens avec la France et des consid\u00e9rations humanitaires pouvant justifier un tel droit\u201d<\/a>. Owning a house for twenty years does not immunise you, but the prefect must at least examine the length of your presence, your ties and any humanitarian considerations \u2014 and a decision that recites nothing about your file is vulnerable before the court.<\/p>\n<p>Both measures can carry a forward-looking sting. The OQTF is frequently accompanied by an order to leave within a short voluntary departure period or immediately, and by a re-entry ban (<em>interdiction de retour<\/em>) forbidding return to France for up to three years. The administrative court of appeal of Lyon illustrated the full package in a 3 November 2021 judgment, CAA Lyon No 20LY03732, published at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/ceta\/id\/CETATEXT000044344410\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/ceta\/id\/CETATEXT000044344410\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">legifrance.gouv.fr\/ceta\/id\/CETATEXT000044344410<\/a>, where an OQTF without voluntary departure and a one-year return ban were both challenged. The court noted that the applicant did not dispute that <em>\u201cune obligation de quitter le territoire fran\u00e7ais sans d\u00e9lai pouvait \u00eatre ordonn\u00e9e \u00e0 son encontre en application du 2\u00b0 du I de l&#8217;article L. 511-1 du code de l&#8217;entr\u00e9e et du s\u00e9jour des \u00e9trangers et du droit d&#8217;asile\u201d<\/em> \u2014 the former numbering of the overstay ground now found in Article L. 611-1 \u2014 and it upheld the one-year ban, holding that <em>\u201cle pr\u00e9fet de la C\u00f4te-d&#8217;Or n&#8217;a pas commis d&#8217;erreur d&#8217;appr\u00e9ciation en assortissant sa mesure d&#8217;\u00e9loignement d&#8217;une interdiction de retour d&#8217;une dur\u00e9e d&#8217;un an sur le territoire fran\u00e7ais\u201d<\/em>, after weighing years of presence, family ties and the absence of humanitarian circumstances. The proportionality review is real but demanding: a recent relationship, no children, no particular integration and years of adult life spent in the home country did not suffice to overturn either measure. Add the Schengen-level warning that GOV.UK prints in plain language \u2014 overstay the 90-day visa-free limit and you may be banned from entering Schengen countries for up to three years \u2014 and the arithmetic of one extra month in the sun becomes stark: it can cost you the next three years of springs, summers and Christmases in your own house.<\/p>\n<h3>B. How to challenge a refusal, a removal order or a ban, and protect your next trips<\/h3>\n<p>Every one of these decisions can be challenged, but each travels down its own procedural track with its own short deadline, and taking the wrong track wastes the time you do not have. Start with the consular visa refusal, the decision most owners meet first. A refusal of a French visa must be contested through a compulsory prior appeal to the commission that reviews visa refusals, the <em>commission de recours contre les d\u00e9cisions de refus de visa d&#8217;entr\u00e9e en France<\/em> sitting in Nantes, before any court will hear you \u2014 the Nantes judgment discussed above shows the full ladder, from the consulate in Manila to the commission&#8217;s implied refusal, to the administrative court of Nantes, to the court of appeal. Your refusal letter states the appeal route and the time limit: diary it on receipt and treat it as absolute. The appeal must answer the exact boxes the consulate ticked, and the Nantes case teaches what fails. Where the ground is means of subsistence, send twelve months of statements showing regular pension, rental or investment income in your name, the corresponding tax return, and, for savings-based files, balances large enough to fund the whole stay at a credible daily rate: registration extracts and bare guarantees without income detail were judged insufficient. Where the ground is insurance, send a certificate naming each traveller, the full period and medical cover including hospitalisation and repatriation: an accident-only policy was judged not to prove medical cover. Where the ground is purpose, send the title deeds or the twelve-month lease, the property tax bill and the home insurance certificate. A fresh application with a repaired file is often faster than a contested appeal against a refusal whose grounds were factually correct \u2014 a lawyer&#8217;s first job is to tell you honestly which of the two you have.<\/p>\n<p>The OQTF goes directly to the administrative court, and speed matters even more. The Code opens the judicial door in one sentence: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000049056408\" class=\"kohen-legifrance-popup-link\" data-kohen-legifrance-url=\"https:\/\/www.legifrance.gouv.fr\/codes\/article_lc\/LEGIARTI000049056408\" data-kohen-legifrance-title=\"Texte officiel Legifrance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u201cLa d\u00e9cision portant obligation de quitter le territoire fran\u00e7ais ainsi que la d\u00e9cision relative au s\u00e9jour, la d\u00e9cision relative au d\u00e9lai de d\u00e9part volontaire et l&#8217;interdiction de retour sur le territoire fran\u00e7ais qui l&#8217;accompagnent, le cas \u00e9ch\u00e9ant, peuvent \u00eatre contest\u00e9es devant le tribunal administratif selon la proc\u00e9dure pr\u00e9vue \u00e0 l&#8217;article L. 911-1\u201d<\/a>. The time limit is counted in days or weeks depending on whether a voluntary departure period was granted, so the rule is simple: see a lawyer the day the order is served, with the order itself, the passport with its stamps, and every document proving lawful presence and ties. Three lines of attack carry weight. First, legality of the stay calculation: produce the dated travel evidence \u2014 boarding passes, ferry and tunnel bookings, the calculator printout \u2014 and show that within the relevant 180-day window the count stayed at or under 90, or that days under a valid permit or long-stay visa were wrongly included. Second, defective reasoning: hold the prefect to the statutory duty to verify the right of residence and to weigh duration of presence, nature and age of ties with France, and humanitarian considerations, and ask the court to annul a decision that examines none of them. Third, proportionality and personal circumstances: long ownership, a spouse or partner in France, children in French schools, medical treatment underway, each proved by documents rather than asserted in a letter. The re-entry ban must be challenged alongside the OQTF, on its own duration and reasoning \u2014 the Lyon judgment shows judges calibrating the ban year by year against presence, ties and history, which means a documented twenty-year ownership with deep local roots argues differently from a first-year file, provided the evidence is in the bundle.<\/p>\n<p>Two practical moves protect future trips whatever track you are on. The first is to regularise forward: the Lyon case itself ended with the prefecture issuing a residence document that extinguished the dispute, the prefect explaining that the title he had delivered had the effect of abrogating the contested removal decisions. An OQTF is not a life sentence; a well-founded application for the right status \u2014 a visitor card supported by real resources and insurance, or any other card matching your situation \u2014 can dissolve the litigation by removing its object. Our guides to the <a href=\"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/2026\/09\/25\/british-newcomer-france-long-stay-visa-carte-sejour-refusal-oqtf-challenge-brexit\/\">long-stay visa route for British newcomers<\/a> and to <a href=\"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/2026\/09\/25\/british-warp-card-france-renewal-refusal-oqtf-challenge-brexit\/\">renewing a Withdrawal Agreement residence card<\/a> cover the two neighbouring statuses owners most often hold. The second move is never to travel while a ban or an unexecuted removal order may be live without advice: carriers face penalties for boarding inadmissible passengers, border systems share alerts, and a second refusal compounds the first. If you must travel, carry the court receipt (<em>r\u00e9c\u00e9piss\u00e9 de recours<\/em>), the suspension order if one was granted, and the lawyer&#8217;s letter \u2014 and keep copies with someone in the United Kingdom who can send them at an hour&#8217;s notice.<\/p>\n<p>A final word on behaviour at controls, because files are won and lost in the first ten minutes. Answer precisely, in dates: when you entered, through which port, when you leave, how many days that makes in the window. Volunteer the folder before it is demanded: passport, tax bill, utility bill, insurance certificate, return booking, calculator printout. Sign nothing you do not understand \u2014 you may ask for an interpreter \u2014 and keep every document handed to you, photographing each page. The refusal or order you challenge is the paper the officer writes that day; its boxes, dates and reasoning are the skeleton of your appeal. Owners who keep calm, count aloud and keep paper get decisions that can be beaten. Owners who argue, estimate and travel light get decisions that stick.<\/p>\n<h2>Conclusion<\/h2>\n<p>The 90\/180-day rule is not hostile to British second-home owners, but it is indifferent to good faith. It counts days, not intentions: every Schengen day in the rolling 180-day window, entry and exit days included, visa-free days only, with stamps and electronic records doing the remembering for you. Count before each trip with the calculator, carry ownership and insurance proof that answers Article 6 at the border, and arrange hosting certificates for guests in good time. When your life in France outgrows 90 days, take the visitor road early \u2014 consular long-stay visa first, then the resource-backed, insured, work-free visitor card \u2014 because credibility spent on an overstay cannot be recovered at the next interview, and consulates lawfully refuse thin files. If the border or the prefecture moves against you, move faster: compulsory commission appeal for visas, immediate court challenge for removal orders and bans, each argued from dated documents rather than assurances. Your house survived Brexit. Give its calendar the same care you give its roof, and it will keep welcoming you for decades.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>British second-home owner in France? How the 90\/180-day rule counts your stays, what an overstay really costs, and how to challenge a refusal of entry, a visa refusal or an OQTF removal order.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":251031309,"featured_media":16361,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kj_source_type":"","_kj_official_id":"","_kj_official_url":"","_kj_judilibre_id":"","_kj_jur":"","_kj_lieu":"","_kj_chambre":"","_kj_rg":"","_kj_date":"","activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":4,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"federated","footnotes":""},"categories":[80312,80314],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2133624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-british-desk","category-decryptage"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.2 (Yoast SEO v28.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Your French Second Home After Brexit: Counting Your 90 Days in 180, Overstay Traps, and How to Challenge a Refusal of Entry or a Removal Order - Ma\u00eetre Reda Kohen, Real Estate and Business Law Attorney in Paris<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/2026\/09\/28\/british-second-home-90-180-day-rule-overstay-refusal-oqtf-challenge-brexit\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Your French Second Home After Brexit: Counting Your 90 Days in 180, Overstay Traps, and How to Challenge a Refusal of Entry or a Removal Order\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"British second-home owner in France? 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