6 September 2026

10-Day Cooling-Off Period When Buying a Home in France

When Does the Period Actually Start?

The avant-contrat has been signed. The signatures are on the promesse de vente or the compromis de vente, and the buyer has a ten-day cooling-off period.

That much is generally well known. But anyone who signs on a Friday and then starts counting off ten days in their calendar could easily end up with the wrong date.

The statutory French cooling-off period does not automatically start on the day the avant-contrat is signed. The way in which the avant-contrat is formally notified or delivered to the buyer plays a role. And when buying an apartment, there is an additional factor: certain documents relating to the copropriété must have been provided before the period can start running at all.

Who is entitled to these ten days?

The rules are set out in Article L271-1 of the French Code de la construction et de l'habitation. A non-professional buyer purchasing a residential property has a statutory ten-day délai de rétractation following the avant-contrat.

This protection therefore applies to the buyer. The seller does not have the same ten days in which to change their mind. In principle, the seller is bound by their obligations under the promesse or compromis.

Importantly, this applies to a non-professional buyer purchasing property for residential use. The rule therefore cannot simply be applied to every property transaction. Purely commercial property, for example, and certain professional purchases are treated differently.

Building land is also different. The purchase of an ordinary building plot does not, in principle, fall within this statutory cooling-off period. Separate rules apply to certain plots within a lotissement.

For the usual private purchase of a house or apartment on the Côte d'Azur, however, the rule is a standard part of the buying process.

Signing does not necessarily start the clock

Suppose the avant-contrat is signed at the notary's office on Monday, 7 September. Is Monday day one?

No.

The law links the start of the period to the formal notification or delivery of the avant-contrat. If notification is made by registered letter, the period starts on the day after the first attempted delivery of that letter. If the document is delivered in another legally valid manner, the period likewise starts the following day.

In the past, this distinction was more visible in practice. A contract was signed, a registered envelope was then sent to the buyer, and the date on which the postal service first attempted to deliver it was subsequently checked.

Today, much of this process is digital. Electronic notification can also be legally valid, provided that the method used offers sufficient safeguards to establish the date of receipt or delivery. The moment of electronic signature is therefore not necessarily the same as the moment at which the cooling-off period starts.

The practical question remains the same: when was the avant-contrat legally notified or delivered to the buyer? The counting starts the following day.

A simple example: a buyer signs the promesse on Monday. Valid notification takes place that same Monday. Tuesday is then day one. Not Monday.

From Tuesday, ten calendar days are counted. Weekends therefore count as normal. The same applies to public holidays that fall within the period.

There is, however, one important exception at the end. If the final day falls on a Saturday, Sunday or French public holiday, the period is extended to the next working day. French notaries give, for example, the case of a notification made on 10 December: the period starts on 11 December and would normally run until midnight on 20 December; if the final date falls on a weekend or public holiday, it is extended accordingly.

With an apartment, it becomes more interesting

When buying an apartment in a copropriété, the buyer receives a considerable amount of information about the building. This includes the règlement de copropriété, information about the financial situation and, in principle, the minutes of the general meetings held over the previous three years.

These are not simply documents that need to be somewhere in the file. Some of them are directly linked to the start of the statutory cooling-off period.

Article L721-3 of the Code de la construction et de l'habitation provides that if the information required by law under Article L721-2 has not been provided to the buyer by the time the avant-contrat is signed, the ten-day period does not yet start. The period only begins on the day after the missing information is subsequently provided.

That is an important distinction. Suppose the avant-contrat is signed on 1 October, but part of the legally required copropriété information is not provided until 4 October. It cannot simply be said: "the cooling-off period started on 2 October because that was the day after the avant-contrat was signed." In such a case, the statutory rules link the start of the period to the later provision of the missing documents. It also explains why such a substantial package of documents is provided before or around the time of the avant-contrat when buying a French apartment. Those documents are not only there to inform the buyer; some also have procedural significance.

Ten days to carry out further investigations?

Legally, that is of course possible. During the statutory cooling-off period, the buyer does not have to give a reason for withdrawing. Even so, it is not the best way to look at this period.

The ten days are not a substitute for carrying out investigations before signing the avant-contrat. Anyone who wants to know, for example, whether a swimming pool was built legally, whether an extension was properly declared or whether an apartment may be rented out in the way they intend should investigate this as early as possible.

The same applies to the copropriété. It is still possible to read three years of minutes after the promesse has been signed, but it is preferable for a buyer to know before signing that a façade renovation costing several hundred thousand euros has already been under discussion for two years.

The cooling-off period is a final statutory protection, not an ideal investigation phase.

Does the buyer have to give a reason?

No.

That is perhaps the strongest element of the rule. During the délai de rétractation, the buyer does not have to explain why they are withdrawing from the purchase. Financing does not have to have been refused. No hidden problem with the property needs to have been discovered. Nor does the buyer have to demonstrate that a condition suspensive has been triggered.

This distinguishes the cooling-off period from the period that follows. Once the ten days have expired, a buyer can no longer simply withdraw from the transaction. At that point, among other things, the conditions suspensives included in the avant-contrat become relevant.

How does a buyer withdraw?

Article L271-1 requires the withdrawal to be made using formal procedures that provide certainty as to the sending and the date. The traditional method is a registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt. The law also permits other methods that provide equivalent guarantees.

A phone call to the estate agent saying, "we've thought about it again", is therefore not the way to exercise a statutory right of withdrawal. The same applies to an informal WhatsApp message.

Follow the procedure specified in the avant-contrat to ensure that it can be demonstrated when the withdrawal was sent. In the case of a registered letter, the date of dispatch is decisive when determining whether the cooling-off period has been respected.

What happens to the amount already paid?

When the avant-contrat is signed, an amount is normally paid which is ultimately credited against the purchase price. As discussed in the previous Academy article, it is advisable to have this amount paid into the notary's client account.

If the buyer validly exercises their statutory right of withdrawal, the seller cannot retain this amount as compensation simply because the buyer has changed their mind. The buyer is, after all, exercising a statutory right. This is different from a situation in which the cooling-off period has expired and the buyer subsequently decides not to proceed with the purchase without a valid contractual or legal basis.

What if there is no promesse or compromis at all?

This is uncommon in an ordinary French residential property transaction, but the law does provide for it. If an acte authentique is signed directly without a prior avant-contrat, there is no délai de rétractation afterwards, but instead a délai de réflexion beforehand. The buyer must receive the draft deed and then be given ten days to consider it. The final authentic deed may not be signed during that period. The result is similar, but legally it takes place at a different stage.

Ten days to change your mind, certainly. But first, you need to establish when day one actually is.