In brief. French property transactions use a vocabulary of their own; many terms have no exact English equivalent. The table below explains 58 of those you are most likely to meet on the Côte d'Azur, in alphabetical order. The definitions are general information, not legal advice; your notaire will explain how each applies to your purchase or sale. For the process as a whole, start with how to buy property in France and buying costs.
The glossary
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Abattement | An allowance or relief that reduces a taxable amount, such as the relief for years of ownership on a capital gain or the €100,000 allowance per child on inheritance. |
| Acte authentique | The final deed of sale, drawn up and signed before a notaire. It transfers ownership and is registered with the land registry. Also called the acte de vente. |
| Agent commercial | A self-employed negotiator who works under the licence of an estate agency rather than holding his or her own. |
| Assainissement non collectif | An individual sewage system, such as a septic tank, used where a house is not on mains drainage. It is inspected before a sale. |
| Association syndicale libre (ASL) | An owners' association that manages the private roads, gates, lighting and shared areas of a private estate or lotissement and charges its members for them. |
| Audit énergétique | An energy audit with a programme of works, required when selling a house rated E, F or G on its DPE. |
| Avis de valeur | An estate agent's written opinion of market value, based on comparable sales. See how a valuation is reached. |
| Bastide | A traditional Provençal country house, usually stone built and of square plan, often with a symmetrical façade. |
| Bornage | A formal survey by a géomètre-expert that fixes the boundaries between neighbouring plots. |
| Cadastre | The land survey that maps every plot and gives it a reference. It serves for tax and identification and is not in itself proof of ownership. |
| Carte professionnelle | The licence an estate agent needs under the Loi Hoguet, issued by the local Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI). The transaction card is known as the carte T. |
| Compromis de vente | The usual preliminary contract in which seller and buyer both commit to the sale, subject to the agreed conditions. |
| Condition suspensive | A condition that must be met before the sale goes ahead, such as obtaining a mortgage or planning permission. If it fails, the buyer recovers the deposit. |
| Copropriété | A building or estate divided into lots, each with private parts and a share of the common parts, run by a syndic. |
| DAACT | The déclaration attestant l'achèvement et la conformité des travaux: the owner's declaration that authorised works are complete and match the permit. |
| Déclaration préalable | A simpler planning application for smaller works, such as many pools, small extensions or changes to a façade. See pools, extensions and planning. |
| Délai de rétractation | The ten-day cooling-off period during which a private buyer of a home may withdraw from a signed preliminary contract without giving reasons. |
| Démembrement | The split of ownership between usufruct and bare ownership, often used in gifts within a family. |
| Diagnostics (DDT) | The reports a seller must provide, collected in the dossier de diagnostic technique. See property diagnostics. |
| Donation-partage | A lifetime gift by which parents divide assets among their future heirs, which reduces later disputes over the division. |
| DPE | The diagnostic de performance énergétique, an energy rating from A to G, valid for ten years and shown in every advertisement. |
| Droits de mutation | The transfer duties on a purchase, collected by the notaire. They make up most of what is loosely called notaire's fees on a resale. |
| DVF | Demandes de valeurs foncières, the public file of property sales published by the tax administration, covering the last five years. See prices per m² by town. |
| Emprise au sol | The footprint of a building on the ground, used by planning rules to limit how much of a plot can be built on. |
| État des risques | The statement of natural, mining and technological risks affecting a property, given to the buyer where the property lies in a listed risk zone. |
| Expert immobilier | A professional valuer who produces a formal valuation report, used for example in inheritance, tax or disputes. |
| Géomètre-expert | A chartered surveyor, the only profession authorised to fix boundaries. |
| HCSF | The Haut Conseil de stabilité financière, whose binding rule caps a borrower's total loan repayments at 35% of income and loan terms at 25 years, with limited exceptions. See mortgages for non-residents. |
| Honoraires | An agent's fees. Every agency must publish its fee schedule and say in each advertisement who pays. See our fees. |
| IFI | The impôt sur la fortune immobilière, an annual tax on net real estate wealth above €1,300,000. Non-residents are liable on their French property. |
| Indemnité d'immobilisation | The sum a buyer pays when signing a promesse unilatérale de vente, kept by the seller if the buyer does not proceed for reasons outside the agreed conditions. |
| Indivision | Joint ownership in undivided shares, the default when two or more people buy together without a company. |
| Loi Carrez | The rule requiring the private floor area of a lot in a copropriété to be stated in the sale contract, excluding areas with a ceiling under 1.80 m. |
| Loi Hoguet | Law no. 70-9 of 2 January 1970, which regulates estate agents: licence, financial guarantee, written mandates and fees. |
| Lotissement | A subdivision of land into building plots, often with its own rules on what can be built. |
| Mandat de recherche | A search mandate under which an agent acts for a buyer to find and negotiate a property. See search mandate. |
| Mandat exclusif | A mandate giving one agency the sole right to sell a property for an agreed period. |
| Mandat simple | A non-exclusive mandate: the seller may instruct several agencies and may sell privately. |
| Mas | A Provençal farmhouse, typically long and low, built in stone and often extended over the generations. |
| Meublé de tourisme | A furnished holiday let. It must be declared to the town hall and is subject to specific tax rules. See holiday letting rules. |
| Notaire | A public officer appointed by the State who drafts and authenticates the deed of sale, checks title and planning, collects taxes and registers the transfer. |
| Nue-propriété | Bare ownership: the right to own a property without the right to use it or receive its income, which belongs to the usufructuary. |
| Offre d'achat | A buyer's written offer stating the price and conditions. Once accepted, it leads to the preliminary contract. |
| PACS | The pacte civil de solidarité, a registered civil partnership under French law. |
| Permis de construire | Full planning permission, needed for new houses and larger extensions. |
| Plus-value immobilière | The capital gain on selling a property. See capital gains for non-residents. |
| PLU | The plan local d'urbanisme, the town's zoning plan that sets what may be built and where. |
| Procuration | A power of attorney, often used by buyers who cannot attend the signing in person. The notaire prepares it. |
| Promesse unilatérale de vente | A preliminary contract in which the seller alone commits to sell, granting the buyer an option for an agreed period. |
| Quotité disponible | The part of an estate that the owner may leave freely, outside the reserved shares. |
| Représentant fiscal | A representative accredited by the tax administration whom many non-resident sellers must appoint to answer for capital gains tax. |
| Réserve héréditaire | The share of an estate that French law reserves for children: one half, two thirds or three quarters depending on their number. See inheritance and French property. |
| Restanque | A dry-stone terrace on a hillside, typical of the hills behind the coast and often found in older gardens. |
| SCI | A société civile immobilière, a company used to hold property, owned through shares. See buying through an SCI. |
| Servitude | An easement: a right over one property for the benefit of another, such as a right of way or a drainage channel. |
| Taxe foncière | The annual property tax, due from whoever owns the property on 1 January of the tax year. See French property taxes. |
| Usufruit | Usufruct: the right to use a property and receive its income for life or a set term without owning it outright. |
| Viager | A sale in which the buyer pays part of the price as a life annuity to the seller, who often keeps the right to live in the home. |
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a compromis and a promesse de vente?
In a compromis both seller and buyer commit to the sale. In a promesse unilatérale only the seller commits; the buyer holds an option and pays an indemnité d'immobilisation, which is lost if the buyer does not proceed without a valid reason.
Are notaire's fees the notaire's income?
Mostly not. On a resale most of the amount is transfer duty collected for the State and local authorities; the notaire's own emoluments are a smaller part. See buying costs.
What does a carte professionnelle prove?
That the agent is licensed under the Loi Hoguet by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry. An agency must show its number on its documents and advertisements.
What is the difference between a mas and a bastide?
Both are traditional Provençal houses. A mas is a farmhouse, usually long and low; a bastide is a more formal country house, usually square with a regular façade.
Last updated: 11 October 2026