French mortgage deposits: how much cash does a non-resident buyer need?

Your contribution starts with the purchase price less the mortgage funds available towards it. Add acquisition taxes, professional fees and financing costs, then deduct payments already made and credited to those amounts. That gives the cash still required to complete. Any assets the lender requires you to retain or pledge need their own place in the plan.

There is no deposit percentage that answers all of those questions for a non-resident buyer. A quotation for 70% financing leaves 30% of its stated lending base to fund, but you still need to establish that base, confirm the loan amount and account for costs. The percentage is useful only alongside the actual proposal.

BlueVectis advises on financing from €1M for prime property in Paris, the Côte d'Azur and the French Alps. For UK and US buyers, the practical objective is to identify both the total contribution and the assets available on each payment date. A substantial net worth can coexist with a shortage of accessible completion funds.

Ask which value the bank uses for its loan-to-value calculation: the price, its appraisal or another agreed basis. Also establish whether accepted income, existing commitments or the proposed term impose a lower borrowing limit. A property valuation is one part of the decision; it does not establish the entire credit approval.

For home lending within the HCSF rules, the standard effort-ratio limit is 35%, with a 25-year term principle and limited bank-level flexibility. The income basis is net before income tax, and borrowing charges include required borrower insurance. Existing loans matter too. A large contribution can reduce the new repayment, but does not create an entitlement to an exception.

If the loan supported by the file is lower than expected, identify the reason before changing the contribution. Missing evidence of recurring income, a valuation discrepancy and a lender's unwillingness to accept the ownership structure require different responses. Clear presentation can resolve uncertainty where the underlying facts support the request; it cannot make inaccessible funds available.

The word deposit is used for two different figures. The apport personnel is your contribution to the financing plan. The sum paid under a compromis or promesse is an early contractual payment, held according to the agreed arrangements. Service Public explains that the qualifying early payment is deducted from the price when the purchase completes.

If your total price contribution is €1.05M and €300,000 has already been paid towards the price, €750,000 remains for that purpose. Adding the €300,000 again would overstate the contribution. Fees and other unpaid costs are then accounted for separately.

Have the notaire explain the payment's legal classification, escrow arrangements and refund conditions before it is made. Where you rely on a financing condition, the requested amount, terms, application steps and deadlines must match the contract. Keep evidence of compliance. A preliminary indication from a lender is not the firm offer described in the official guidance.

The amount commonly called frais de notaire includes taxes, formalities and the notaire's remuneration. Obtain a transaction-specific estimate. Confirm the price and tax base, the seller's status, whether the reduced new-property regime applies, and who bears any agency fee. An agency charge already included in the agreed budget should not appear twice.

France's temporary departmental tax increase is not uniform. The tax authority's latest listed schedule at this article's research date, effective 1 June 2026, shows 4.5% for Alpes-Maritimes and 5% for Paris, Savoie and Haute-Savoie. The table illustrates ordinary transfer taxation on the same €3M taxable base, without a concession. It does not represent the full acquisition bill.

Calculation: departmental tax + 1.2% communal tax + collection charges equal to 2.37% of departmental tax. The resulting combined rates are 5.80665% and 6.3185%. Excluded: the separate 0.1% property-security contribution, notarial remuneration, formalities and financing costs. Confirm the applicable rate and base for the signing date.

The €15,355.50 difference between the two transfer-tax illustrations is material, but location alone should not decide a financing budget. The transaction's legal and tax treatment also matters. Do not apply the resale calculation to a purchase that qualifies for the reduced regime, or assume that a recently renovated home has the same tax treatment as a qualifying new-build sale.

The temporary departmental increase can run through March 2028. The statutory exception concerns a qualifying first acquisition for use as the buyer's principal residence. Buying your first French holiday home does not establish that entitlement. If relocation is planned, ask the notaire to confirm the relevant conditions before assuming a saving.

For a developer purchase, confirm whether the stated price includes VAT and obtain the staged payment schedule. Keep any projected VAT recovery or other tax benefit outside the available-cash column until its eligibility, timing and financing treatment have been established. A later recovery cannot automatically meet an earlier contractual payment.

Ask for the bank's arrangement charge, valuation fee, security costs, borrower-insurance schedule and any intermediary or advisory fee. The Notariat identifies these as additional financing items. Establish what is payable before completion, at drawdown and over the life of the loan. A monthly insurance premium should not also be entered as an invented annual upfront payment.

A mortgage guarantee and the purchase taxes are different items even when the notaire handles both. Ask whether each estimate includes VAT, formalities and the exact security being used. If charges are deducted from the advance, use the net mortgage funds in the purchase calculation and avoid adding the same deduction again.

Record any additional acquisition adjustments or professional bills outside the estimate, including agreed property-tax or co-ownership adjustments. Keep works, furnishings and the ongoing cost of ownership visible in a separate budget. Otherwise, a fully funded acquisition may consume money needed immediately afterwards.

Consider a fictional existing Cannes home priced at €3M, with a proposed €1.95M mortgage fully available towards the price. Assume no additional agency fee outside that price. The €240,000 acquisition-cost allowance includes all purchase taxes, notarial charges and formalities; it is a planning assumption of 8%, to be replaced by the notaire's estimate. Do not add the earlier tax-table amount again.

Assume a separate €45,000 for financing and advisory costs, all paid outside the loan. The buyer has already paid €300,000 towards the price and none of the other costs. This example is not a completed client case or a quoted financing offer.

The reserve and pledge are independent fictional conditions used to illustrate the calculation, not standard non-resident requirements. Works, furnishings and any costs outside the stated allowances require additional funding.

Suppose the buyer in the example currently holds €1.2M of accessible cash, after paying the contract deposit, plus the separate €600,000 portfolio accepted for the assumed pledge. Paying the remaining €1.035M leaves €165,000 in cash. That meets the hypothetical €150,000 reserve with €15,000 to spare, before any excluded expenditure.

Now reduce the mortgage by €100,000, holding the other assumptions constant. The unpaid acquisition amount becomes €1.135M, leaving €65,000 cash. The purchase can still be paid for, but the retained-cash requirement is short by €85,000. The pledged portfolio cannot fill that gap unless the lender agrees to a change in the collateral arrangements.

A portfolio transfer, a formal pledge and a cash reserve carry different restrictions. Ask which applies, how assets are valued, when they must arrive and what can be withdrawn. Société Générale's asset-financing explanation notes that falling collateral values can trigger demands for additional funds. That explains the mechanism; it does not establish that its particular facility is suitable or available for your acquisition.

Additional portfolio security is also not universal. CCF states that its described Mortgage in France range takes security only over the French property being financed. Compare the complete commitments of each actual proposal before deciding that a higher loan percentage leaves you with more usable liquidity.

Prepare a schedule of funds by owner, account, currency, source and expected availability. Sterling savings, a US brokerage account, company cash and proceeds from an unfinished property sale are not interchangeable. Explain the steps needed to turn each proposed source into money available for this purchase.

If you plan to sell investments, allow for settlement, transfer costs and any tax provision identified by your advisers. For money coming from a company, distinguish the company's balance from a properly documented personal payment. A proposed dividend or distribution should not appear as cleared personal cash before the relevant steps have occurred.

Disclose any borrowing used to provide the contribution. It creates repayment and security commitments that the French lender must assess. For gifts or sale proceeds, obtain the evidence the bank and notaire request. A clear chain from source to receiving account helps them reconcile the funds without relying on an unexplained large balance.

Keep the euro amount due visible alongside the sterling or dollar funding source. Exchange-rate movements change how much home-currency cash must be converted. Use an agreed conversion and transfer plan with time for funds to arrive, and assess any later mortgage repayment exposure separately.

Record the early contractual payment, valuation and application costs, contribution requested by the notaire, lender's release date and the deadline for any asset transfer. Mark each line as paid, available or dependent on another event. Include the person responsible for confirming it. An investment sale that settles after the notaire's deadline cannot be treated as available on that deadline.

For covered French mortgage offers, the ten-calendar-day reflection period starts the day after receipt; acceptance is possible from the eleventh day. That timing is separate from withdrawal rights under the property contract. The lender and notaire must also coordinate the release of funds after the offer is accepted.

Use the notaire's completion statement to reconcile the price, credited deposit and required provision for costs. Confirm receipt of your contribution and the expected loan funds before the signing arrangements are finalised. Service Public describes a later reconciliation of the provisional notarial costs, so retain the final statement and account for any refund or additional amount due.

Ask what the actual facility is permitted and approved to fund. A proposal described as full financing may refer to the property price while excluding taxes, fees or separate collateral commitments. Establish its net proceeds and conditions before treating it as a reduction in the cash you need.

Where an additional facility is considered, include its repayments, fees, security and release conditions in the combined plan. Changing the source of funds can change the lender's assessment. If the purchase only works after a larger loan, an investment sale or a revised bank commitment, resolve that dependency before relying on the original budget.

BlueVectis prepares the financial case and coordinates it with the acquisition for borrowing from €1M. Bring the property details, target loan, available assets and existing commitments. The useful outcome is a coherent proposal showing the price contribution, costs, retained assets and payment dates, with the remaining uncertainties identified early.