Jean-Baptiste is investing in Tréguier from the UK
How do you invest in France when you are told you need a 30 to 50% deposit because you live in London? Jean-Baptiste, an architect and engineer, negotiated two flats in Tréguier for €176,000. Split into four homes after €140,000 of works, they target a 12% yield.
United Kingdom
Jean-Baptiste’s flats in Tréguier
BeforeProjection
BeforeProjection
BeforeProjectionWhat Jean-Baptiste had to overcome from the UK
FinancingA 30 to 50% deposit, he was told
Before ImmoPourExpat, a broker specialising in non-residents told him he would need a 50% deposit at least, 30% at best. In the UK, a buy-to-let needs at least a 25% deposit. Over the summer came another hurdle: his wife is not a French tax resident, and most banks asked her for a 50% deposit. Jean-Baptiste set up the SCI with his brother and secured a 25-year loan and a two-year full deferral.
LettingStudents in winter, holidaymakers in summer
Of the four homes, one will be let furnished all year round. The other three will house students from September to early June, then holidaymakers on short lets from June to August. His market study gives €36,000 of rent a year in the pessimistic scenario and €42,000 in the realistic one, about 40% of it from short lets. As long as the town’s secondary school is there, he reckons, there will be students needing a place to live.
Remote managementA purchase run from London
His point of contact visited the property first. In April 2025, Jean-Baptiste travelled to France for a second viewing and opened four bank accounts in a single weekend. The summer holidays then held up the banks’ replies. He admits that without the programme he would have got the tax side wrong, a decisive point for a UK tax resident.
Renovation worksWorks timed around a shop
The two flats are in the town centre, above a shop, in a tourist area. Insulation, wiring, heating: everything needs redoing. Demolition can only happen while the shop is closed, for two weeks in February. An architect by trade, he filed the planning declaration for the works. He is budgeting €140,000 of works and aims to finish on 1 June.
How Jean-Baptiste is investing in Tréguier from the UK
London, since 2020
Architect and engineer
Jean-Baptiste moved to London for a master’s in environmental engineering, a specialism that was rare in France. He met his wife there and stayed. A qualified architect and engineer, he advises the English equivalent of the Ministry of Education on building schools. After four years of saving, the couple realised they had some capital to invest.
February 2025
He joins ImmoPourExpat
The couple first looked at England: a large deposit, fees paid in cash, leasehold flats. They turned to France. A turnkey company offered him 8 to 10% yields in towns he did not know, and his non-resident broker demanded a 30 to 50% deposit. Convinced there was another way, he found ImmoPourExpat on Instagram and joined the programme in February 2025.
Tréguier, in northern Brittany
Two flats spotted in the first modules
He chose a town he knows very well, ten minutes from his grandparents’ home, where prices are around €2,100 per m². During the module on choosing a town, he spotted two flats, then the listing disappeared. It came back just as he was ready to view: a buyer had pulled out. By calling the agent, he found out that both flats belonged to the same owner.
The negotiation
An offer of about €170,000 for both
Each flat had had around twenty viewings and two or three offers, all withdrawn because of the works. None of those offers had gone more than €5,000 below the asking price. Jean-Baptiste cross-checked market data, including DVF, and offered about €170,000 for both. The seller came back at €181,000: they agreed on €176,000.
April to June 2025
Four accounts opened in one weekend
He contacted many banks in March and April. In April, he travelled to France for a second viewing of the property, already visited by his point of contact, and opened four bank accounts in a single weekend. The preliminary contract was signed in June, with three or four agreements in principle. The banks asked his wife, a non-French resident, for a 50% deposit: he set up the SCI with his brother.
The loan
A 25-year loan and a two-year deferral
The €375,000 loan covers everything: purchase, fees and works. He secured a 25-year loan plus a two-year full deferral, at 3.8% through the SCI. The summer holidays held the banks up for several weeks. Completion at the notary’s is planned for early January, once the tenant has left.
February
Two flats split into four
The 68 m² and 63 m² flats become four homes: two of 38 m², one of 30 m² and one of just over 20 m². Insulation, wiring and heating all need redoing. Above a shop, in a tourist area, demolition has to happen during the shop’s two-week closure in February. He is budgeting €140,000 of works and aims to finish on 1 June.
Today
Letting planned from 15 June
One home will be let furnished all year round, the other three to students from September to early June, then on short lets in summer. Rents are estimated at €3,440 a month on average, for cash flow of about €1,250 a month and a 12% yield. Jean-Baptiste is already thinking about his next investments.
Jean-Baptiste raconte the story
“If I hadn’t done the programme, I would have got it all wrong.”
Jean-Baptiste, who lives in the UK
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