French notary fees for first-time buyers in 2026: the 5% increase does not apply to you
Two years without owning your main home is enough: there is no income test.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy
A first-time buyer purchasing a resale main home in France does not pay the transfer tax increase to 5% voted since April 2025. They stay at the 4.50% départemental rate, which brings the overall transfer tax back to 5.807 % instead of 6.319 %. The rule, from article 116 of the 2025 Finance Act, applies in the 88 tax areas that raised their rate. A first-time buyer (primo-accédant) is someone who has not owned their main home in the two years before the purchase, regardless of income or nationality. On a €220,000 house in Toulouse, the saving reaches €1,126. Savoie goes further: 4.00% for a first property lived in for five years. Expats renting in France before buying usually qualify. The mini-calculator below shows your own saving.
Your first-time buyer saving
Saving on transfer tax
€1,126
| Fees, standard case | €17,614 |
| Fees as a first-time buyer | €16,488 |
| Départemental rate used | 4.50 % |
The three conditions
The first concerns your past: you must not have owned your main home during the two years before the purchase. What matters is the home you lived in, not your wealth: a studio let to a tenant or a holiday cottage does not count. The second concerns use: the property you buy must become your main home, the one you live in at least eight months a year. The third concerns the type of purchase: buying a resale property in a département that voted the 5% rate. Elsewhere the rule has no effect.
No income, price or size limit applies. That is the main difference with the zero-interest loan, which uses the same first-time buyer definition but imposes income ceilings and geographic zones. It also means that a foreign national moving to France, who rented before buying, qualifies on exactly the same terms as a French buyer.
The saving by price
| Price | Tax, standard case (5%) | Tax, first-time buyer (4.50%) | Saving |
|---|---|---|---|
| €150,000 | €9,478 | €8,710 | €768 |
| €200,000 | €12,637 | €11,613 | €1,024 |
| €250,000 | €15,796 | €14,517 | €1,280 |
| €300,000 | €18,956 | €17,420 | €1,536 |
| €400,000 | €25,274 | €23,227 | €2,047 |
The saving depends only on the price and the département: it is nil in the eleven départements still at 4.50% and in Indre, where the 3.80% rate is already lower than what a first-time buyer pays elsewhere. It affects only the tax: the notary’s emoluments, the land registry contribution and disbursements stay the same.
Savoie, one notch lower
Article 1594 F septies of the General Tax Code gives départements a further option: to reduce or even abolish the tax on a property that is the buyer’s first property, provided they live in it continuously as a main home for at least five years. As of 1 June 2026, only one département uses it according to the DGFiP table: Savoie, at 4.00%. The calculator applies it when you choose “first property” and a property in Savoie; elsewhere that choice gives the first-time buyer rate.
Mind the difference in wording: “first property” is not the same as “first-time buyer”. The text targets the property that is the buyer’s first property, a notion distinct from the two-year rule; have the notary confirm your situation before counting on the 4.00%. The five-year undertaking is written into the deed, and breaking it without an accepted reason exposes you to a tax recovery.
Common mistakes
The most common is thinking first-time buyer status is assessed over a lifetime. A former owner who sold their home three years ago and has rented since becomes a first-time buyer again for transfer tax. Conversely, a buyer who sold their main home six months ago is not one, even if they rent today. The second mistake is forgetting to tell the notary: the statement must appear in the deed, and the notary cannot guess it. The third is assuming the advantage applies to new builds, where the reduced tax already applies to everyone.
And financing
A first-time buyer’s fees remain close to 7% of the price on a resale. As banks often want them covered by the deposit, they are frequently the first hurdle for a first purchase. The guide to financing notary fees works out the deposit needed and the cases where a bank agrees to finance part of the fees.