British buyer: what you need to know to purchase on the Promenade des Anglais

Why does the Promenade bear the name of the English?

It is a story I enjoy telling, because it explains a great deal. In the 1820s, the English colony that wintered in Nice financed the construction of a path along the coast. It would be called the Promenade des Anglais. Two centuries later, the address still tells this story, and our British clients rediscover it with pleasure.

This familiarity is not merely anecdotal. It explains the presence of an established English-speaking community, known landmarks, a way of living the Riviera that speaks immediately to a buyer from London or Edinburgh.

Has Brexit changed the right to purchase?

No. A British citizen purchases in France exactly as before, and like any foreigner: nationality has never conditioned the acquisition of property. In full ownership, without prior authorisation.

What Brexit has changed is the stay. Without specific status, a British national now falls under the Schengen short-stay rule: ninety days in any period of one hundred and eighty days. Owning a residence in Nice does not lift this limit. To remain longer, the route passes through a visa, a matter distinct from the purchase, to be prepared with an adviser.

What does the purchase cost, compared to the United Kingdom?

The mechanism differs from that known to British buyers. In France, the sale is signed at the notaire, a neutral public officer who secures the transaction and collects duties for the state. On an older property, acquisition costs represent approximately seven to eight per cent of the price: this is not a commission, it is the total of duties and fees.

Regarding financing, French banks lend to non-residents, with their own conditions. Many buyers also consider the pound-euro exchange. These choices are prepared upstream, before the offer, never in the urgency of signing.

The comparison in figures is worth making, because it often surprises. In France acquisition costs run to about 7 to 8 % of the price for an older property, and they are the same for everyone: resident or not, first purchase or second home, there is no surcharge of any kind. In England a non-resident buying a second home stacks the Stamp Duty Land Tax bands, the 5-point additional-dwelling surcharge and the 2-point non-resident surcharge. On a one million pound property that comes to roughly £113,750 in duty, 11.4 % of the price, before the solicitor's fees. The same budget on the Promenade des Anglais carries 7 to 8 %, everything included.

One honest qualification, though. The Alpes-Maritimes kept their transfer duty rate at 4.50 % as at 1 February 2026 (DGFiP), where most French departments moved to 5 % after the 2025 Finance Act: the gap with the United Kingdom is therefore slightly wider in our favour here than elsewhere in France. And on resale, French capital gains tax fades with the holding period, full income tax exemption after twenty-two years, full social levy exemption after thirty.

What taxation for a British owner?

Property tax is due each year. Depending on the value of property assets held in France, wealth tax on property may apply. On resale, capital gains taxation follows rules specific to non-residents.

A tax treaty binds France and the United Kingdom to avoid double taxation. Each situation is particular: I always refer to a tax adviser, upstream of the offer.