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SECOND HOMES

Brexit: What has changed for British second-home owners in France?

Brexit has ushered in a host of new restrictions for Brits visiting France, and keeping up with them all can be hard. Here's our guide to everything that British second-home owners need to know about the new reality.

Published: 23 November 2021 17:20 CET
Brexit: What has changed for British second-home owners in France?
Visits to France are now a little more complicated for second-home owners. Photo: Clement Mahoudeau/AFP

Its convenient location, good transport links, comparatively cheap property market – not to mention the stunning countryside and great food and wine – have long made France a popular destination for Brits looking to buy a second home.

Many thousands of people have invested in French property and travel regularly to spend time in their home-away-from-home.

But following the end of the Brexit transition period there are new rules that second-home owners need to be aware of.

90-day rule

This is probably the one that has the biggest impact – since Brits are no longer citizens of the EU they are restricted to spending only 90 days (three months) out of every 180 within the EU or Schengen zone.

You can find a full breakdown of how the rule works HERE.

In recent weeks it has become clear that French border police are strictly enforcing the limit, and several Brits have been stopped at the border and fined for overstaying their limit.

Visas

The 90-day rule means that second-home owners can spend up to 180 days in France over the course of a year, but not all at once, since the maximum stay limit is 90 days.

This means that spending the summer in France and the winter in the UK, or vice versa, is no longer possible and this is likely to affect second-home owners more than other visitors.

Those who want to spend more than 90 days at a time here, need to get a visa.

You can find a full breakdown of the French visa system HERE, and a guide to the visitor visa – the visa type suitable for people who want to pay longer visits and are not working – HERE.

Travel paperwork

Travelling to France also has some extra post-Brexit complications.

Your British passport is of course still valid, but needs to have at least three months left until its expiry date and if you have decided to get a visa you will also need to show this on arrival.

Non-EU arrivals can be asked at the border to provide extra information such as proof of accommodation while in France, proof of means during the stay and proof of medical cover.

READ ALSO Travel to France: What has changed since Brexit

Pets

It’s not only people who have extra travel hassles, if you regularly bring your dogs, cats or ferrets with you to your French property, remember that they can no longer travel on EU Pet Passports.

Instead UK resident pets need a new Animal Health Certificate for each journey. UK vets charge an average of around £100 per certificate, so if you make multiple journeys in a year and have several pets, prepare for a hefty annual vet’s bill. 

Food

You’ve probably already heard of the ‘ham sandwich rule’ but in fact there are a lot of food items that can no longer be brought from the UK to France, including animal products such as meat or cheese, or fruit and veg and even flowers or plants for the garden are covered by this ruling.

Full details of what is and is not allowed HERE.

Furniture/DIY items

While some items are banned altogether, there is also a value limit on the items you can bring with you from the UK.

Second-home owners involved in renovation projects frequently bring over items of furniture, DIY tools or fixtures and fittings, which tend to be cheaper in the UK, for their French home.

However you need to be careful that these don’t exceed the value limit otherwise you will have to pay duty on them.

Full details on the rule HERE.

Having friends to stay

If you have invited friends and family to visit your French property, they may be asked for an attestation d’acceuil in addition to the normal travel paperwork – here what that means.

Residency

While some people keep their second-home as a holiday property, others might have a long-term plan to retire to France and live in it full time.

This is of course still possible, but it’s more complicated since Brexit since you will require a resident’s visa when you intend to make the move.

There’s a popular misconception that owning property in France makes getting a visa easier, but that is in fact not the case, you still need to apply through the normal channels – find out more HERE. 

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For members

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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