We search, negotiate and complete your home in France, bought or leased long term, then make it work for daily life: banking, insurance, healthcare, vehicle and household staff. France places no nationality restriction on buying property, and every sale completes before a notaire. For expatriates and their families, one senior interlocutor runs the whole file from Paris and Dubai.
France places no nationality restriction on owning property, and ownership does not depend on residency, so a family based abroad can buy freely. The purchase runs before a notaire, a public official who secures title, which makes it safe to complete from a distance, and the deed can be signed under power of attorney from Dubai. We run the search, the negotiation and the completion as one file, with a single senior interlocutor answering for all of it.
An offer, then a signed purchase agreement (the compromis de vente) with a ten day cooling-off period reserved to the buyer, then completion before the notaire, who verifies title, liens and planning. The notaire is a neutral public official, not the seller's agent, and funds move through the notaire's escrow account.
About 7.5 to 8.5% of the price in existing property and 2 to 3% in new build, covering transfer duties, the notaire's emoluments and registration. Advertised prices usually include agency fees. We model the full cost of each shortlisted property before you commit to any of them.
Around three months separate the signed agreement from completion, and a financing condition can add a few weeks. The search is the real variable: two to six months for a precise brief. How a purchase is held and structured is a matter for regulated counsel, whom our Wealth & Tax Advisory practice selects and coordinates.
For the rarest briefs, our partner property hunters open the off-market: homes that sell before they are ever listed. We lead the negotiation and keep the acquisition discreet from the first visit to completion.
Two decisions shape most property files: how much French debt to carry, and whether to rent before buying. We settle both with you in the first weeks of an engagement, because they steer the search rather than follow it.
Typical loans reach 50 to 70% of the purchase price for non-resident buyers as of 2026, depending on income, profile and the banking relationship; private banks can extend further against assets under management. Rates are generally fixed for the full term of the loan, a French particularity worth weighing. We prepare the banking file, put two or three banks in competition and hold the calendar so financing never endangers the purchase agreement.
Many families we serve take a one year furnished lease near the shortlisted schools, live through one school run and one winter, then buy once they know the area. The rent is modest against the cost of buying in the wrong place. Ownership and residency remain separate tracks: our Residency & Visas practice runs the permit file in parallel. For the search itself, our Journal guide to finding a home to rent in France shows how the rental market actually works.
For most families the school sets the address. We shortlist schools first with our Schools & Education practice, then draw the property search around the campuses, the commute and the life your family leads day to day. The neighbourhoods below are where the families we serve most often land.
Paris's classic family quarter: calm avenues, the Bois de Boulogne, and a dense cluster of international and bilingual schools. Apartments run larger than the Paris average, and the family-sized ones remain the most contested.
Just west of the city line, Neuilly offers embassy-district calm, quick access to the La Défense business district and several of the region's most sought-after private schools. A frequent first choice among the families we serve.
Ministries, gardens and long views of the Eiffel Tower. The 7th combines institutional Paris with genuinely residential streets, and sits within easy reach of the leading bilingual programmes of the Left Bank.
The literary heart of the Left Bank, where families trade a little space for the most walkable daily life in the city: schools, bookshops, gardens and food markets within a few hundred metres of the front door.
On the Côte d'Azur, from Cannes to Cap Ferrat, most families we serve buy a secondary home rather than a main residence; the same notarial process applies, and we run those searches with local counsel. Wherever the search lands, it begins with the school shortlist, not with the listings.
From a Paris apartment to a house in Provence or on the Riviera, we run the search, the purchase and the installation the same way, on one calendar.
Getting the keys is the midpoint of the work. In the weeks around completion or lease signature, we set up the accounts, covers and services a household runs on, so your family lands in a home that already works.
French current accounts for the household, opened with the right documentation the first time, and private banking set up where the relationship warrants it. Our Journal guide to opening a French bank account explains what banks ask for.
Tenants must be insured from day one, and owners in a co-owned building carry compulsory liability cover. We arrange property, contents and liability policies, documented in English, before the movers arrive.
Private cover from arrival, then registration with the French public system: PUMa opens after 3 months of stable residence, as of 2026. We sequence the two so the family is never uncovered, and we arrange English-speaking physicians and paediatricians.
Purchase or lease, registration, insurance and parking. We also establish early whether your licence can be exchanged or a French test will be required, before the question becomes urgent.
Nannies, drivers and housekeepers employed compliantly under French labour law: contracts, declarations and payroll handled by specialised providers we select and supervise on your behalf.
We plan the move itself with specialised carriers: air freight for fragile pieces and works of art, customs clearance on both sides, storage where the calendar requires it, and white-glove delivery into each room of the new home.
A single point of contact after the move: maintenance, contractors, utilities, deliveries and the small administrative tide of French life, handled in your language and on your schedule.
Property and installation is one of the five workstreams through which Al Qantara Institute settles a family in France. Taken together with residency, schools and wealth structuring, it becomes a single calendar under one interlocutor: the 360° family engagement. We remain a boutique practice and accept fifteen families and mandates a year, which keeps every search personal.
These are the points families raise first when a home in France moves from an idea to a project. Figures are stated as of 2026.
Yes. France places no nationality restriction on property ownership, and buying does not require residency. Non-residents follow the same process as French buyers: a signed purchase agreement, then completion before a notaire, the public official who secures title. A purchase can be completed from abroad under power of attorney.
Beyond the price itself, count acquisition costs of about 7.5 to 8.5% in existing property and 2 to 3% in new build, as of 2026. These cover transfer duties, the notaire's emoluments and registration. Agency fees are usually included in the advertised price.
Yes, though terms are tighter than for residents. French banks typically lend non-residents 50 to 70% of the purchase price as of 2026, depending on profile, income and the banking relationship. Private banks can extend further against assets under management. We prepare the file and put the banks in competition.
The 16th arrondissement, Neuilly-sur-Seine, the 7th arrondissement and Saint-Germain concentrate most of the families we serve, largely because the leading international and bilingual schools sit in or near them. On the Côte d'Azur, families usually buy a secondary home rather than a main residence.
No. Ownership neither requires nor confers the right to reside in France. Residency runs on a separate track, typically a long-stay visitor visa or the Talent permit, which our Residency & Visas practice prepares. Many families buy first and settle the residence question in parallel.
Typically around three months from the signed purchase agreement to completion before the notaire. Buyers benefit from a ten day cooling-off period after signing, and a financing condition can extend the calendar by a few weeks. The search itself is what varies most: allow two to six months for a precise brief.
Tell us the schools, the streets and the life you have in mind. A senior advisor will reply within one business day, in confidence and without obligation.
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