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PROPERTY

French bank lays out tougher mortgage requirements for Brits buying second homes

For British citizens wanting to buy a house in France, Brexit has brought in extra complications around visas and length of stay, but getting a mortgage to buy your dream home might also be getting tougher, as France-based mortgage broker Eddie Sammon explains.

Published: 21 January 2021 15:18 CET
French bank lays out tougher mortgage requirements for Brits buying second homes
Photo: AFP

For many people, buying a property in France to enjoy long holidays in is a long-nurtured dream and thousands do so every year.

For British buyers, Brexit has added a few complications – with the 90-day rule now meaning that second home owners must either limit the length of their visits or apply for a visa.

READ ALSO EXPLAINED: How to get a visitor visa for France

Despite this, plenty of people are still going ahead with purchases, looking ahead to a post-vaccine future when travel will again be possible.

But it seems that there may also be financial issues for Brits looking to buy second homes in France in the future.

We asked Eddie Sammon, a British mortgage broker living in France who specialises in the English-speaking market.

Have you noticed any changes in the market due to Brexit? 

Yes, firstly, there was a rush of Britons seeking mortgages in order to move to France before the end of the Brexit transition period (January 1st 2021). It is not necessary to own a house in order to establish residency in France, but many prefer to do so.

House purchase in France often takes approximately three months and I saw panic starting to creep in from Britons around September time, worried that their purchase would not complete before the January 1st.

By November, demand from UK citizens seemed to have reduced significantly as people realised that any new property purchases would be unlikely to complete before the end of the transition period, even though some managed to succeed in a two-month timeframe.

What about the start of 2021?

Now in January 2021, one of the main French banks for non-residents has contacted us with new, tougher post-Brexit criteria for UK residents.

What are the requirements?

For the bank in question, UK residents wishing to obtain a mortgage for a second home in France will have to be able to demonstrate that they satisfy the conditions to be classed as a high net-worth or high-income individual, unless they are purchasing their primary residence or a property which will be mostly rented out. UK citizens who are tax resident in France will not be affected.

To be classed as a high net-worth or high-income individual, you will need to earn at least £150,000 per year or have £500,000 in net-assets. For couples, this is required for each borrower.

If both potential borrowers do not meet the criteria then the only possibilities will be a mortgage for a primary residence or for a property which will be mostly rented out.

The bank has stated that they have introduced this criteria “in order to comply with new regulatory requirements in force in the United Kingdom”.

Is it just one bank that has said this?

So far, yes.

So will this affect the housing market in France?

From a business point of view, Brexit strengthens the need for our business to have a diverse client-base due to the drop in demand from Britons and the new tougher mortgage criteria.

UK residents currently make up a minority of our new mortgage enquiries and whilst we will always do our best for our UK resident clients, we are rapidly increasing our French mortgage offer to residents in France and across the world.

Eddie Sammon is a mortgage broker for Harrison Brook Mortgages (www.hbmortgages.fr). He moved to France from the UK three years ago and is regulated under HB Property SAS by the Autorité de Contrôle Prudentiel et de Résolution, part of the Banque de France.
 

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LIVING IN FRANCE

5 things Brits in France need to know about swapping driving licences

Now that the dust has settled from the somewhat chaotic post-Brexit period, the system for swapping a UK driving licence for a French one seems to be running fairly smoothly. There are, however, some things that UK licence holders need to know.

Published: 3 May 2024 17:20 CEST
5 things Brits in France need to know about swapping driving licences

This article is aimed at holders of a UK or Northern Ireland driving licence who are living in France – tourists, visitors and second-home owners can continue to drive in France on a UK licence and do not need an international driving permit.

British students who are studying in France on a student visa can continue to drive on their UK licence during their studies – if however they settle in France afterwards, they need to follow the below process for swapping their licence. 

1 You’re special

Well, maybe special is over-stating it, but the system for holders of UK and NI licence holders is different to that of other non-EU nationals, and also different to the system for EU licence holders.

The reason for this is that a pragmatic post-Brexit agreement was (finally) reached between France and the UK, in order to avoid the chaos that was triggered when thousands of Brits in France all tried to swap their driving licences at once.

Unlike almost all other post-Brexit agreements, this one applies both to people who moved to France before the end of Brexit transition period in 2021 and those who have moved here since. 

The below terms apply to everyone who has a UK or NI licence, regardless of their nationality or when they moved to France. 

2 But you still have to swap

It was technically always the case that Brits who were living in France should have swapped their licence for a French one, just as other EU licence holders do now, but in reality many people lived here for years or decades without ever exchanging their licence and there was little or no enforcement of the rule.

That has now changed and you must swap according to the following timetable;

If your UK licence was issued after January 1st, 2021 – you must swap within one year of moving to France.

If your UK licence was issued before January 1st 2021 – you only swap when you meet one of the following conditions;

  • The licence itself or the photocard is within six months of its expiry date. For more people the photocard expiry will come around first, but UK licences also require renewal when the holder reaches the age of 70
  • Your licence has been lost or stolen
  • You have been ordered to exchange your licence by a gendarme after committing a driving offence

For people who are exchanging because the licence is about to expire, it is important that you don’t start the process until your licence is within six months of the expiry date – early applications will simply be rejected.

3 It might not be as much of a nightmare as you think 

Unlike the old days when licence swaps were done by préfectures, the whole process has now moved online and is run through a single, central system.

The online portal for requesting a swap is known as ANTS and you can find it HERE.

If you haven’t used it before you will need to create an online account, or if you already have online accounts for French government services such as Ameli or tax declarations you can login by clicking on the France Connect button.

Once logged in, select Je demande l’échange ou l’enregistrement de mon permis de conduire étranger (I request the exchange or registration of a foreign driving licence) and fill in the details requested on the form such as name, address etc.

You might be pleasantly surprised by the fact the form itself is relatively straightforward (as French admin forms go), asking basic questions such as your personal details and the details of your driving licence.

You will have to upload supporting documents, but these are likely to be things that you already have to hand including

  • Proof of ID (passport or carte de séjour)
  • Proof of address (a recent utility bill or attestation from your utility provider)
  • If your driver’s licence is in a different name to your passport, you will need to supply your full birth certificate

You will also need to supply a photo – you can either use the internet-enabled Photomaton booths – find your nearest here – to create a digital photo with the required security code, or you can use the normal photo booths to print out a physical photo and send it by post after you have made your application. 

Once completed, you can use the ANTS site to track the progress of your application and upload any other documents that are requested.

4 But don’t leave it too late 

If you’re applying because your licence is about to expire then you cannot apply until you are within six months of the expiry date.

But it’s a good idea not to leave it until the last minute as the whole process does take time – things have improved massively since the dark days of 2020 and 2021 when people were waiting for years and their licences expired while they waited.

But it still takes time – the current average for a straightforward application with no extra documents required seems to be between four and five months, although processing times can vary, especially over holiday periods.

It’s therefore a good idea to make the application fairly soon after you enter that magic six-month window.

Once you make the application you should get an automated response acknowledging receipt – this is usually sent by SMS and/or email, it’s a good idea to check your spam folder if you don’t get the email.

Don’t panic if you don’t then hear anything for the next few weeks or even months, this appears to be normal. If your application is complete and there are no outstanding queries or other documents required, the next step will be a request to send in your old UK licence.

You send this by post (recorded delivery with a signature is strongly recommended) and at the same time you can download an Attestation de Depot de Permis de Conduire (certificate of deposit of driving licence) – you can use this to prove your continued entitled to drive in the period between sending in your old licence and receiving your new one.

Your French licence is then sent by registered post, and the window between posting the old licence and receiving the new one is usually not more than a month, you 

5 Help is out there 

If your application runs into problems or you have an untypical situation or find the ANTS website hard to use, don’t panic – help is available.

The Facebook group Driving in France – French Licence Applications is a good place to start with comprehensive guides and knowledgeable admins who are quick to respond to questions.

You can also chat to others in your situation and get updates on how long processing times seem to be.

If you have problems using the online system, your local France Services office may be able to help.

You can also head to The Local’s reader questions section, or email us at [email protected] if you have questions.

Digital licences

You might have heard about France’s new digital driving licence – unfortunately this is only available to people who have French citizenship (including dual nationals).

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