French Property Inheritance After Death: What Happens to Real Estate and Rentals
Real Estate Triggers Mandatory Notaire Involvement
If the deceased owned any French real estate — an apartment, a house, a rural property, even a parking space — hiring a notaire is legally mandatory. There is no workaround and no small-estate exemption for property.
The notaire drafts an attestation de propriété immobilière (property transfer certificate) and registers it with the regional Service de Publicité Foncière (SPF), France's land registry. Until this registration is complete, the heirs cannot sell, mortgage, or lease the property. The process typically takes one to six months.
The notaire's fee for the property transfer certificate is set by state decree on a progressive scale: 1.935% on the first €6,500 of property value, dropping to 0.532% on value above €30,000. For a property valued at €200,000, expect roughly €1,500-€2,000 in notaire fees (plus 20% TVA and administrative disbursements).
Forced Heirship: You Can't Just Leave Everything to Your Spouse
French succession law reserves a guaranteed share of the estate for children — the réserve héréditaire. One child gets 50%, two children share 66.67%, and three or more share 75%. The testator can only freely distribute what's left (the quotité disponible).
Foreign nationals can opt out by electing their home country's law under EU Regulation 650/2012 (Brussels IV). A British or American testator can specify in their will that English or US state law governs their estate, bypassing forced heirship entirely. But the 2021 French Droit de Prélèvement Compensatoire (DPC) may still allow disinherited children to claim compensation from French-situated property if the foreign law provides no child-protection mechanism at all.
What Happens to a Rented Property
The rules depend entirely on whether the lease was furnished or unfurnished.
Unfurnished rentals (location nue): Under the Loi ALUR, if the tenant lived alone, the lease terminates automatically on the exact date of death. No notice period is required. Heirs don't owe further rent — but they do owe an indemnité d'occupation (occupancy indemnity) equal to the daily prorated rent for every day the deceased's belongings remain in the property until the keys are returned.
Furnished rentals (location meublée): The lease does not end. It transfers to the estate under Article 1742 of the Civil Code. The heirs become joint tenants of a lease they never signed. To terminate, they must send a formal registered letter (lettre recommandée avec accusé de réception — LRAR) to the landlord, then wait out the statutory one-month notice period while remaining liable for rent.
In both cases, notify the landlord immediately in writing with a certified copy of the acte de décès.
Free Download
Get the Death in France — Expat Emergency Checklist
Everything in this article as a printable checklist — plus action plans and reference guides you can start using today.
Selling Inherited French Property
Heirs can sell inherited property, but only after the notaire completes the attestation immobilière and registers it with the SPF. Before that, you have no legal title to sell.
Capital gains tax on property sales in France applies to non-residents at a flat 19% (plus 17.2% social levies), though EU/EEA residents may be exempt from the social contribution portion. Primary residence exemptions apply only if the deceased or heir actually lived in the property. Non-EU sellers must also appoint a fiscal representative for sales above €150,000.
Vacant Properties and No-Heir Scenarios
If the deceased died with no known heirs — or all heirs formally reject the inheritance — the landlord (for rented property) cannot enter or clear the unit. They must petition the Tribunal Judiciaire to appoint a judicial curator from the Service des Domaines, who inventories the estate, pays debts, and returns the keys. This process takes four to six months.
The Someone Died in France: English Speaker's Emergency Guide includes bilingual landlord notification templates (for both furnished and unfurnished leases) and a complete property transfer timeline.
Get Your Free Death in France — Expat Emergency Checklist
Download the Death in France — Expat Emergency Checklist — a printable guide with checklists, scripts, and action plans you can start using today.