Renovating your French property without being there

Which works actually gain ratings?

The diagnosis does not reward effort, it measures theoretical consumption and emissions. Three levers weigh far more than the others, and they are not the ones people think of first: changing the windows improves comfort but rarely shifts a rating on its own.

The order matters as much as the list. Insulating before changing the heating allows a smaller unit to be specified, so cheaper and more efficient. Changing the heating before insulating leads to oversizing, and then to a heat pump too powerful for a home that has become frugal. It is the first thing an energy audit puts in order, and the first thing quotes taken in isolation ignore.

How do you run a building project from abroad?

A project run remotely is not managed by messages: it is managed by milestones. The question is not to see everything, it is to decide at the right moments and to have someone on site who opens up, observes and signs. The rest can be handled by video call and dated photographs.

1. The condition survey before works. Photos, measurements, diagnosis, asbestos and lead survey if the building is old. It is the reference against which everything will later be compared, and it cannot be reconstructed afterwards.
2. Quotes compared line by line. Three quotes are not compared on their totals but on their content: type of materials, quantities, removal and disposal, finishes, what is excluded. A cheaper quote is often a less complete one.
3. The calendar and the authorisations. General meeting, prior declaration, equipment delivery times. This is where months are lost, never on the site itself.
4. Opening the site. Starting survey, access, keys, managing disturbance with neighbours, and for a co-ownership informing the managing agent.
5. Progress checkpoints. A visit on site at each technical milestone, with a photo and video report the same day: before partitions are closed, before tiling, before painting. What is closed cannot be rechecked.
6. Handover. It takes place on site, with the report and written reservations. It is what triggers the three guarantees, and a careless handover weakens all of them.
7. Clearing the reservations. A second visit checks that each reservation has been dealt with, before the balance is paid.

One payment principle protects better than any contract: never pay more than what has been done. A reasonable deposit on ordering, payments tied to observed milestones, and a balance after the reservations are cleared. A serious tradesperson accepts this without argument; one who demands the whole amount up front is telling you something about themselves.

What authorisations are needed before starting works?

Works halted by a neighbour, a managing agent or the town hall cost more than well-prepared works, and restoring an unauthorised installation is paid for twice. Three authorities may have a say, and they do not rule on the same things.

The most frequent trap in a co-ownership is not the ban, it is the calendar. A general meeting is held once a year, so a heat pump whose outdoor unit is fixed to the facade sometimes waits eleven months to be voted through. When the constraint is an energy decency deadline, you have to count back from the meeting, not from the quote.

What does a renovation cost, and where does the money actually go?

No price list makes sense here: the same item doubles depending on the property's state, the floor, the access and the region. What can be stated is the structure of the cost, because it is stable. Two items are almost always underestimated by an owner abroad, and they are the ones that blow budgets.

The deposit asked on signing a quote is capped by no statutory limit, but a professional demanding the whole sum before starting departs from practice. Stage the payments against verified progress, and keep the last instalment for the clearing of snags: it is the only moment when you still hold leverage.

How long does a renovation take, permits included?

The visible part, where people actually work in your property, is rarely the longest. Before it come the permits, whose timings are set by the Planning Code and are not negotiable, and the co-owners' approval, which is only voted at a general meeting, once a year in most buildings.

The third-party challenge period is the one people forget, and it is the most dangerous: starting before it has run out means risking a demolition ordered by a judge on works already paid for. Two months of waiting costs less than a challenge won against you.

What does non-residence change about a renovation?

Not planning law, which ignores your address, but everything else: who signs, who opens the door, who verifies, who pays and who reclaims value added tax. A site run from abroad is not an ordinary site followed by video call, it is a site where every act of presence must have been delegated in writing before starting.

Value added tax at 10 %, and at 5.5 % for energy-improvement works, applies to homes completed more than two years ago, whatever the owner's country of residence. It is not automatic: it requires a certificate signed by your own hand and handed to the contractor before invoicing. Forgotten, it cannot be recovered.

How do you read a works quote, and spot what is missing?

Three quotes for the same job can vary twofold without either being dishonest: they simply do not describe the same work. Comparing totals is useless; comparing lines is everything. A complete quote must state the identity and registration number of the company, the detail of the services with quantities and unit prices, the period of validity, the timescales, the payment terms and the professional insurance.

One last check is worth every comparison: the ten-year insurance certificate, in force, whose list of activities covers exactly the works ordered. It is asked for before signing, never after, and a company slow to provide it has answered the question.

What risks does a renovation place on an absent owner?

The risk is almost never the defect itself: it is discovering it too late to have it fixed without paying twice. Every protection under French construction law runs from a single date, the handover, and that date is set by a document you must sign.

Hence the risk peculiar to an absent owner: with no signed handover report, none of these three warranties starts to run, and the contractor can argue the works are unfinished. Conversely, a handover signed with no reservations amounts to accepting whatever was visible that day. Both mistakes cost, and they are symmetrical.

Structural damage insurance is compulsory for a client commissioning works covered by the ten-year warranty, under article L242-1 of the Insurance Code, and it is taken out BEFORE the site opens. After that moment, no insurer will issue it. It is what lets you be compensated without waiting for a judge to name a liable party.

Where does your property stand in the letting-ban calendar?

This is the question that governs all the others, and many owners abroad discover it late, often through a tenant or a manager. The Climate and Resilience Act of 22 August 2021 added an energy performance criterion to the definition of a decent home: a home that consumes too much can no longer be let, and the switchover date depends on its rating in the energy performance diagnosis.

Two clarifications avoid misunderstandings. The ban targets letting, meaning a new lease, a renewal or a tacit extension: a running lease is not cancelled overnight, but it becomes impossible to renew. And the rent freeze is distinct from the ban: since August 2022, the rent of a home rated F or G can no longer be increased, neither on reletting, nor at annual review, nor after works.

One nuance has saved many small units: since 1 July 2024, the calculation method of the diagnosis was corrected for homes of forty square metres and under, which were penalised by the weight of domestic hot water. Tens of thousands of studios moved up a rating without any works at all. If your diagnosis predates that date and the property is small, redoing it costs a few hundred euros and may be enough.

What grants can a non-resident owner obtain?

Contrary to a stubborn belief, renovation grants are not reserved for French tax residents. What counts is the use of the home and its location, not the owner's residence. A landlord living in London, Dubai or São Paulo whose Paris flat is let as a primary residence falls within the scope of the main schemes.

• The public renovation grant, open to landlords for a home completed more than fifteen years ago, let as a primary residence, with a multi-year letting commitment and a rent cap for the most heavily supported routes.
• The zero-rate eco-loan, which finances a package of works interest-free, combinable with the renovation grant, and accessible to a non-resident provided a French bank agrees to grant it.
• Reduced value added tax: 5.5 % on energy performance improvement works and induced works, 10 % on other improvement, conversion and maintenance works in a home completed more than two years ago. It applies automatically, but only if the company supplies and invoices the materials.
• Energy saving certificates, paid by energy suppliers and combinable with the rest, often as a bonus deducted from the quote.
• Local grants, voted by regions, départements and some intercommunal bodies, found only on the relevant authorities' websites.
• The property deficit, for an unfurnished let: deductible works exceeding the rent are set against total income within an annual limit of 10,700 euros, the surplus carrying forward against property income for the following ten years.

Two practical obstacles await a non-resident, and neither is legal. The first is the bank account: grants are paid into a French account, and applications are filed with a tax identifier. The second is cash flow: most grants arrive after the works are paid for, which means advancing the funds for several months, currency transfer included.

What guarantees and insurance protect the owner?

An owner having works carried out becomes the client, with rights and one obligation that almost nobody abroad knows about. The rights are three statutory guarantees, running from handover, which the company must grant you without you having to ask.

The obligation is called damage-to-works insurance. The client must take it out before the works begin for anything covered by the ten-year guarantee. It exists to compensate you quickly, without waiting for a court to identify who is liable, after which the insurer turns against whoever is responsible. It is very widely ignored by private individuals, and its absence only shows the day a defect appears or at resale, since the buyer asks for it within ten years.

Before signing a quote, one check takes ten minutes and avoids most disputes: ask for the company's ten-year insurance certificate, verify that it is in force and that the declared activity genuinely covers the works ordered. A company insured for plumbing is not insured for electrical work, and the certificate says so in black and white.

Do you need an architect, a project manager, or neither?

Three roles blur in owners' minds, and they cover neither the same obligations nor the same costs. Knowing which one your project requires avoids both paying for nothing and standing alone in front of a project that is too big.

For a flat renovation without structural work, most owners need none of the three: tradespeople by trade and someone coordinating are enough. As soon as the project touches a load-bearing wall, changes the external appearance or exceeds the floor-area thresholds, the architect becomes useful, sometimes compulsory, and brings professional insurance covering the design.

French Realty replaces neither. We coordinate, we are present at the milestones and we report back; design belongs to an architect, project management to a project manager, and execution to the companies. When the project calls for one, we direct you to the right professional rather than pretending.

Which mistakes cost the most?

1. Starting works without a dated condition survey. Without starting photographs, no argument about a defect can be won, and restoring a common part becomes your problem.
2. Changing the heating before insulating. The equipment is then oversized, more expensive to buy and to run, for a smaller gain in rating.
3. Forgetting damage-to-works insurance. It is taken out before the works begin, never after, and its absence is paid for at the first claim or at resale.
4. Not checking the ten-year insurance certificate. A company insured for a different trade from the one it carries out leaves the owner without recourse for ten years.
5. Paying in advance. Payments are tied to observed milestones; paying everything up front removes the only lever the client has.
6. Counting the calendar from the quote. It is counted from the co-ownership general meeting and from the town hall's deadlines, which often add several months.
7. Taking delivery without written reservations. A handover with no report weakens all three statutory guarantees, including the ten-year one.

What does French Realty do on your works, and what does it not do?

A building project puts to work people who do not coordinate spontaneously: tradespeople from different trades, a managing agent, sometimes an architect, a town hall, an insurer. French Realty holds that thread. We coordinate and run the project; the works are carried out by partner tradespeople and companies, under their own insurance and their own guarantees, and they invoice you directly.

Before: framing and costing

We start from your diagnosis, your plans and a few photographs, and we set out several works scenarios with their estimated effect on the energy rating and their cost ranges. This projection exists to decide before spending, and it is often what makes people abandon a badly ordered package of works. We then identify the tradespeople in the network, obtain the quotes, and hand them to you compared line by line, with what each one includes and excludes.

During: being on site in your place

Your dedicated concierge opens the property, carries out the starting survey, attends the technical milestones and reports back the same day in photographs and video, with what they saw and what remains to be decided. They chase the companies, manage access and the neighbours, and warn the managing agent when disturbance is foreseeable. It is an execution service, individually quoted by time spent.

At the end: taking delivery properly

Handover is the most important moment of the project, and the most often rushed. We attend it, we list the reservations in writing, and we return to check they have been cleared before the balance is paid. Finally we collect the documents that matter later: handover report, ten-year insurance certificates, invoices for the grants and for calculating the capital gain on resale.

What we do not do: carry out the works, guarantee a deadline or a price in the company's place, or stand in for a project manager or architect when the project requires one. The introduction to tradespeople is offered; their quotes and services are drawn up and invoiced directly by them.