What annual property taxes apply in France in 2026?
Quick answer: Two. Every owner pays taxe foncière. Taxe d’habitation has gone on main residences but still applies to second homes (THRS). If you are an international buyer with a holiday home on the Riviera, you pay both every year.
France phased out the taxe d’habitation on principal residences (fully from 2023) and kept it on second homes. Most foreign-owned property on the Riviera falls in that second group. A typical La Reserve buyer therefore pays taxe foncière and the taxe d’habitation sur les résidences secondaires (THRS), often with a local surcharge on top. Both are local taxes, calculated on the property’s notional rental value (valeur locative cadastrale). Both belong in the full cost of owning in France, next to the one-off purchase costs.
Check with your tax office or notaire
This is general information for foreign owners, not tax advice. Each commune sets its own rates, and they change every year. Confirm the exact bills for your property with the local tax office (centre des finances publiques) or your notaire. Verified 29 June 2026.
How does taxe foncière work?
Taxe foncière is an annual ownership tax. Whoever owns the property on 1 January pays it, whether the house is a main home, a second home or a rental. The base is half the cadastral rental value, multiplied by the local rates. It has been rising because those values are revalued every year.
According to impots.gouv.fr, the owner on 1 January owes the full year, even after a sale in February. Buyer and seller often split it pro rata between themselves in the deed. The bill arrives in autumn. Two things have pushed taxe foncière up across France in recent years: the national revaluation of valeurs locatives, which follows inflation, and local rate decisions. Budget for it as a recurring holding cost, next to co-ownership charges and insurance. For local figures, we list the rates commune by commune, from Valbonne to Grasse.
Why do second homes still pay taxe d’habitation?
The 2018–2023 reform removed the taxe d’habitation on main residences only. Around 3.7 million second homes still pay it (the THRS). The base is the cadastral rental value multiplied by the communal rate, before any local surcharge.
Most international buyers do not live in their Riviera property as a principal home. In that case you receive a THRS bill every year, on top of taxe foncière. The tax office assesses it on the same notional rental value, at the commune’s rate. Foreign purchasers underestimate this tax more than any other, because it falls only on second homes. It is also the base for the zone-tendue surcharge described below.
What is the zone-tendue surcharge, and does it hit the Riviera?
A commune in a "zone tendue" (a tight housing market) is entitled to add a surcharge of 5% to 60% to the second-home habitation tax. Many Riviera communes, including much of the Alpes-Maritimes coast, are classified as zones tendues and apply it. A second-home owner there pays well above the base THRS.
The surcharge is a deliberate tool against under-occupied second homes in high-demand areas. Each eligible commune votes its own rate, up to the 60% ceiling. Coastal and tourist communes on the Côte d’Azur adopt it often. Hinterland villages vary on whether they apply it and at what rate, so check the commune before you buy, whether you are looking at homes in Valbonne or property in Grasse.
Check the commune
Each commune’s zone-tendue status and surcharge rate are set locally and change over time. Before you commit, ask the notaire or the mairie whether your target commune levies the THRS surcharge, and at what percentage. On a high-value home, 60% on top of the habitation tax is a real annual cost.
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