Selling an Inherited Property in France from Abroad (2026)

Every year, thousands of properties in France pass to heirs living in the UK, the US, Belgium, Switzerland or further away. The good news : French procedure is built to handle remote sellers. The less good news : nothing can be sold until the succession is formally settled, and every co-heir must sign — the two points where foreign successions get stuck.

This guide walks through the process in order, with the tax angles specific to non-resident heirs. For the tax rules on the inheritance itself, see our guide to French inheritance tax.

A French property cannot change hands until title is transferred to the heirs. Only a notaire can do this. The core documents :

• Acte de notoriété — the inheritance deed identifying the legal heirs and their shares. It requires civil status documents (death certificate, birth/marriage certificates, any will). Foreign documents need certified translations and often an apostille;
• Attestation immobilière — the certificate transferring the property title to the heirs, registered at the land registry. Due within 10 months of death in practice;
• Déclaration de succession — the inheritance tax return, filed within 6 months (death in France) or 12 months (death abroad), with the tax paid. The notaire prepares it.

Choose any notaire in France — you are not tied to the property's location, though a local one simplifies the sale later. Fees are regulated and identical everywhere. If a will exists, check the French central registry (FCDDV) ; foreign heirs are often unaware a French will was deposited years earlier.

Until the estate is divided, the heirs own the property jointly in indivision — and a sale requires unanimous consent. This is where cross-border successions stall : one sibling in Australia who doesn't answer emails blocks everyone.

Ways through :

• Unanimous sale (the normal route) : all heirs sign the sale mandate, the preliminary contract and the deed — each can sign by power of attorney from abroad;
• Buy-out : one heir keeps the property and buys the others' shares at market value (licitation amiable), by notarised deed. Note the buy-out itself triggers a 2.5% partition duty on the property value in most cases;
• Court-ordered sale : heirs holding at least two-thirds of the rights can force a sale through a specific procedure (article 815-5-1 of the Civil Code) — slow (12-24 months) but it breaks deadlocks;
• « Nul n'est contraint de rester dans l'indivision » : any heir can demand partition in court as a last resort.

Practical advice : agree early, in writing, on the sale principle, the minimum price and who instructs the agent. Most blockages are about price expectations, not about selling at all — an independent, data-based valuation defuses the argument.

The value declared in the succession does double duty :

• It is the base for inheritance tax — overstate it and you overpay now;
• It becomes the heirs' acquisition basis for capital gains tax — understate it and the « paper gain » when you sell is taxed at up to 36.2%.

Because inheritance tax rates for children (mostly 20%) are lower than the top capital gains take, aggressive undervaluation is a false economy — and the French tax authority compares declared values against its own transaction database. The right approach is a genuine market valuation at the date of death, documented (agent estimates, official DVF transaction data for comparable sales).

Once title is transferred and the heirs agree, the sale follows the standard French process :

1. Mandate an agent (or sell privately) — the mandate can be signed electronically from abroad;
2. Diagnostics : the mandatory technical surveys (energy performance, asbestos, lead, electrics…) are organised locally — the agent or a neighbour can give access;
3. Preliminary contract (compromis de vente) : signable by power of attorney — a private power is usually accepted at this stage;
4. Final deed (acte authentique), about 3 months later : most notaires require an authentic power of attorney for absent sellers, signed before a local notary in your country and apostilled, or at a French consulate. Some notaires now accept remote electronic authentic powers via approved video-identification — ask early, it saves weeks;
5. Funds are paid to the notaire's escrow account and released after registration.

The only real friction for foreign sellers is document logistics (apostilles, translations, ID certifications). Start the power-of-attorney process as soon as the buyer is found, not the week before completion.

The heirs' capital gain is calculated from the value declared in the succession, plus inheritance costs actually borne, plus the standard allowances. Consequences :

• Sale shortly after death at the declared value → no taxable gain at all. This is the normal case, and why early sales are tax-efficient;
• If the market rose since the succession, the gain is taxed at 19% income tax + social levies (17.2%, reduced to 7.5% for sellers covered by an EU/EEA/Swiss — and in practice UK — social security system), with taper relief from year 6 of holding and a 2-6% surtax on gains above €50,000. Full details in our guide to capital gains tax for non-resident sellers;
• Non-EU resident heirs (including UK and US residents) must usually appoint an accredited fiscal representative when the sale price exceeds €150,000 and the property has been held under 30 years — cost roughly 0.4-1% of the price, arranged by the notaire;
• The notaire withholds all French taxes at completion — you receive the net proceeds and have no separate French filing for the sale itself in most cases.

Do not confuse this with the inheritance tax already paid on the succession : the two are separate, and there is no French tax on simply repatriating the money afterwards.

The notaire wires each heir's share directly to their bank account, anywhere in the world — a French account is not required. Practical points :

• Currency : the notaire pays in euros. On six-figure amounts, a specialised FX provider typically saves 1-3% versus a high-street bank's exchange rate — worth arranging before completion;
• Home-country tax : France has taxed the gain (if any) at source. The UK taxes residents on worldwide gains with a credit for French tax under the treaty ; the US likewise for citizens and residents (with its own basis rules — US basis is generally the date-of-death market value, mirroring the French approach). Declare the sale at home even when no additional tax is due;
• Anti-money-laundering checks : expect your home bank to ask for the notarised completion statement — keep the décompte vendeur the notaire provides.

For a straightforward estate with cooperative heirs :

Cost side, beyond inheritance tax : notaire's succession fees (regulated, typically 0.8-1.5% of the estate for the property formalities), diagnostics (€300-600), agency commission if used (3-6%), fiscal representative if applicable (0.4-1%), power-of-attorney and apostille costs (€100-400 per heir).

The single best accelerator is preparation : civil status documents gathered early, one heir mandated as coordinator, a realistic asking price set from actual transaction data rather than sentiment. Estates that drag for years are almost always blocked by heir disagreement — not by French bureaucracy.