What costs and taxes are involved in selling our second home in France?
Several fees affect the final bill when you sell a French second home
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Reader question: What costs are involved in the sale of a second home?
Estate agent fees are usually between 4% and 10% of the sales price, and are one of the major costs.
The fees are often paid by the seller, but for more expensive properties it can be advantageous for the buyer to pay them. This is because notaire fees paid by the buyer at between 7% and 8% of the sales price will be lower if the price does not include estate agent fees.
Only around half of house sales in France are through estate agents, but if you do it yourself, beware: it can be a lot of work.
Vendors must now provide a number of diagnostic certificates, usually supplied for a fixed fee by an accredited specialist. Many diagnostiqueurs certifiés offer combined ‘packs’, with prices of around €400 to €800.
If the property’s energy performance certificate (diagnostic de performance énergétique, DPE) – one of the essential documents – gives a poor rating of F or G, a separate energy audit is needed. These typically cost around €1,000 and set out the estimated cost of improvements needed for the property to achieve a higher DPE rating.
If you sell the second home for more than you bought it, capital gains tax (impôt sur les plus-values) may be payable in France if you have owned it for fewer than 22 years (for tax) or 30 (for the related social charges).
CGT is charged at 19% of the capital gain, plus social charges of 17.2%, reduced to 7.5% if you live in the UK, another EU/EEA country or Switzerland.
Non-residents from outside the EU/EEA, including Britons, Americans and Australians, must hire a tax agent (représentant fiscal) if there is a capital gain.
The criterion for involvement is a sale for a value of €150,000 or more, not the size of the gain or loss. It can require a large chunk of the sale price to be held back for years in case tax offices contest deductions and demand more payments.
Fiscal representatives, who charge up to 1% of the sale price (but you can ‘shop around’), say they have to hold back funds as they carry responsibility for paying any surplus tax, plus interest and fines.
