Selling or Keeping Your UK Home When You Move to France (2026)

Your UK home is probably the biggest financial decision attached to a move to France. You can sell it, keep it and let it, or keep it empty. Each choice has its own rules in two countries. This guide explains what the official pages say and who decides, so you know which questions to put to HMRC, the French tax office or an adviser. It does not work out anyone’s tax, and it is not personal tax advice.

For the wider move, start with our guide on moving to France from the UK.

Sell, let or keep: what actually changes

While you live in the UK, a sale of your main home is often simple. Once you move, two things can change:

• Your UK tax status. HMRC’s pages treat people who are not UK resident differently, both for selling and for letting.
• A second tax system. Once you live in France, the French tax office looks at your worldwide situation as well.

Which country taxes what depends on your residence for each tax year and on the tax treaty between the two countries. Our guide on the UK France tax treaty and HMRC covers the treaty. The rest of this page covers the property-specific points.

If you sell: reporting the disposal to HMRC

GOV.UK’s guidance on Capital Gains Tax for non-residents selling UK property says that non-UK residents who dispose of UK property or land must report it. That applies even if they owe no tax, made a loss, or already use Self Assessment.

The deadline for residential property is the part people miss:

• 60 days from the sale, if completion was on or after 27 October 2021.
• 30 days from the sale, if completion was between 6 April 2020 and 26 October 2021.

The page says late reporting or payment can lead to interest and penalties. Note that the clock runs from the sale, not from your move or from the end of the tax year.

What counts as residential property

The page describes residential property as dwellings, properties being built or adapted as dwellings, their gardens and grounds, and the right to buy a UK dwelling off plan. Commercial property, agricultural land and forests are non-residential. The page says different rates apply to residential and non-residential disposals but does not state the percentages, so check the current rates with HMRC.

How you report

You use the online Capital Gains Tax on UK property account, or the paper form for that service, after which HMRC issues a 14-digit payment reference starting with “x”. The page lists the details you will need: the property address and postcode, the dates of acquisition, exchange and completion, the acquisition and disposal values, buying, selling and improvement costs, any reliefs claimed, and the property type. If you use a tax agent, the page explains how the agent is given access to your account.

Gather those figures before you complete the sale, because the 60 days are short when the buying and selling paperwork is spread across two countries.

The Annual Exempt Amount

The page mentions the Annual Exempt Amount for individuals. It can be used only once per tax year, even in a split year. The page does not state the amount, so look it up on GOV.UK for the year of your sale.

Private Residence Relief and living abroad

Private Residence Relief can exempt a main home from Capital Gains Tax. HMRC’s helpsheet HS283 (the 2025 edition covers disposals between 6 April 2024 and 5 April 2025) sets out the main points.

• Full relief applies where the home has been your only or main residence throughout ownership, with no absences beyond those allowed, a garden within the permitted area, and no part used exclusively for business.
• The final 9 months of your period of ownership always qualify for relief, if the home was your only or main residence at some point. Disabled people and care home residents may get the final 36 months, subject to conditions.
• Some absences still count as residence. The helpsheet lists absences for any reason totalling not more than 3 years in all, absences while employed with all duties performed outside the UK, and absences of up to 4 years where distance from work prevents living at home or the employer requires working away.

The helpsheet also says that a home outside the UK may still qualify for relief, and that from 6 April 2015 extra rules apply when you nominate a residence in a country where you are not tax resident. On non-residents selling UK property, it points back to the 60-day reporting rule above.

So the relief may reduce or remove the tax, but the same helpsheet says that a non-resident who disposes of UK residential property must tell HMRC within 60 days of completion, so the duty to report is a separate question. Whether your particular absence qualifies is for HMRC, or an adviser reading your dates, to decide.

If your move to France starts mid-year, the guidance also refers to split years and to “temporary non-residents”, who follow separate rules for disposals. Ask HMRC or an adviser how those apply if you plan to return to the UK within a few years.

If you keep it and let it: the Non-resident Landlords Scheme

Many people keep the UK home and let it. GOV.UK says the Non-resident Landlords Scheme “taxes the UK rental income of people whose ‘usual place of abode’ is outside the UK”. HMRC normally treats an absence from the UK of 6 months or more as meaning that your usual place of abode is outside the UK. The page adds that a person can be UK resident for tax purposes and still have a usual place of abode abroad, so the two tests are not the same.

Who deducts tax

• A letting agent of a non-resident landlord must deduct tax from the rent and pay it to HMRC, whatever the rent.
• A tenant paying rent of £100 a week or less does not have to use the scheme unless HMRC tells them to.
• Agents and tenants account for tax quarterly, for periods ending 30 June, 30 September, 31 December and 31 March.

Receiving rent without deduction

An individual landlord can apply on form NRL1 to receive rent with no UK tax deducted. GOV.UK says HMRC will normally approve if the form is complete and correct and HMRC is satisfied that you will follow all your UK tax obligations. It can refuse, and a refusal can be appealed in writing within 90 days of the notice. Approval usually takes effect from the first day of the quarter in which HMRC received the application.

The page ties approval to your UK tax obligations: HMRC approves if it is satisfied you will follow all of them, and it can withdraw approval later if it is not. Approval lets the rent be paid without tax deducted. It does not say the rent is exempt, so report it as the Self Assessment section below describes.

Your UK tax return

GOV.UK’s page on UK income for people living abroad says you usually need to send a Self Assessment return if you live abroad and rent out UK property. Non-residents cannot use HMRC’s online services to report income. The options the page lists are a posted return with an SA109 form, commercial software that supports SA109 reporting, or a tax professional. The deadline is earlier if you post the return: 31 October. You may be eligible for a Personal Allowance, and the page says to use form R43, or your return, to claim a refund if you overpaid.

The French side

When you become a French tax resident, a UK property does not disappear from your French tax picture. The points below come from impots.gouv.fr.

Rent from the UK property

The tax office defines foreign-source income as all the income, profits and gains you receive outside metropolitan France and the overseas departments (DOM). Its page on foreign rental income says to check the tax treaty between France and the country concerned first. The treaty decides whether the income is taxable or exempt in France and whether it must be declared. If no treaty applies, the income is taxable in France.

The page describes two usual approaches:

• Rent is taxed where the property is. It is then exempt in France but still declared, and it is used only to set the rate applied to your French-source income.
• Under some treaties the income is taxed in France and double taxation is avoided through a tax credit.

The tax office’s page on foreign-source income (impots.gouv.fr) says to look first at the convention between France and the country the income comes from. For rental income from a property abroad, its general principle is that the income is taxed in the country where the property is: it is then exempt in France but must be declared so that it counts for the effective-rate method. Some conventions instead let France tax it, with a tax credit that is most often equal to the French tax. For this income the page says to fill in form 2042 and, where applicable, form 2044. The same page says, more generally, that foreign-source income to be declared in France is reported first on form 2047, with its notice, and it names form 2047 for several other kinds of income. The rental-income section is marked as updated on 5 March 2021, so follow the notice for the year you are filing. Article 6 of the UK-France convention says that income from immovable property may be taxed in the State where the property is (text read on GOV.UK), and Article 24 deals with relief from double taxation. Which method applies to a UK property is a question for the French tax office or an adviser.

Declaring accounts and assets held abroad

If you keep a UK bank account, for example the one that receives the rent, impots.gouv.fr says individuals must declare accounts held abroad on form 3916, at the same time as their income tax return. The page lists bank accounts, digital asset accounts, and life insurance or capitalisation contracts taken out outside France. Check the current notice for the exact scope.

What this guide could not confirm

The tax office’s page on foreign-source income says that treaties tax a gain on property in the same way as the rental income from it, but it does not say how the UK-France convention applies to a gain on selling a UK home once you are French resident, which form carries it, or what French tax results. The pages read do not cover French wealth tax on property at all. Do not assume either is nil. Put both questions to the French tax office or an adviser before you sign a sale.

Moving the money

If you sell, the proceeds usually need to cross the Channel. See sending money from GBP to EUR for France. Keep your completion statement and your costs records: you need them for the HMRC report and, likely, for the French side. If you plan to buy in France with the proceeds, see buying property in France as a British buyer.

Related guides for British readers

• Our guide to renting in France as a British citizen sets out what a French landlord may ask a British tenant for, the deposit, the lease and whether the Visale guarantee is open to you.

FAQ

Do I have to report the sale to HMRC if I make a loss?

Yes. GOV.UK says non-UK residents who dispose of UK property or land must report it even if they owe no tax or made a loss.

What is the deadline for reporting a UK residential property sale?

For completion on or after 27 October 2021, the page gives 60 days from the sale.

Does Private Residence Relief still apply if I have moved to France?

It can, but it depends on your dates of residence. The final 9 months of ownership always qualify if the home was your main residence at some point, and some absences abroad count as residence. HMRC or an adviser decides your case.

Can I let my UK home without tax being taken from the rent?

You can apply to HMRC on form NRL1. If approved, agents and tenants pay the rent without deducting tax. HMRC approves only if it is satisfied you will follow all your UK tax obligations, and GOV.UK’s page on UK income for people living abroad says you usually need to send a Self Assessment return if you rent out UK property.

Can I file my UK return online from France?

GOV.UK says non-residents cannot use HMRC’s online services to report income. You post a Self Assessment return with an SA109 form, use commercial software that supports SA109, or hire a tax professional.

Do I need to declare my UK bank account in France?

Impots.gouv.fr says accounts held abroad are declared on form 3916 with your income tax return.