What Is the Jeanbrun Scheme? Does It Affect Tenants and Property Owners?

If you are planning a move to Paris in 2026, you have probably seen the name "Jeanbrun" in French headlines and wondered whether it changes the apartment you can rent, or the one you own. The short answer: it depends entirely on which side of the lease you sit on.

Named after Housing Minister Vincent Jeanbrun, the scheme is one of France’s most significant recent changes to rental-property taxation following the end of the Pinel programme. And Paris, the tightest housing market in the country, is where its rules play out differently than anywhere else.

This guide explains what the scheme is, how the tax mechanism works, and who actually qualifies. It then answers the question most articles skip: what it really means for expat families, diplomats, executives and international owners, in a city where most quality rentals are furnished.

The Jeanbrun scheme is a French tax depreciation framework, created by the 2026 Finance Act (Law no. 2026-103 of 19 February 2026), that rewards private landlords for renting out unfurnished homes at below-market rents for at least nine years. It took effect on 21 February 2026 and applies to purchases completed before 31 December 2028.

One scheme, several names

If you read French property news, you will see the same mechanism under different labels. They all refer to one thing:

• Statut du bailleur privé (private landlord status): the official name written into the Finance Act
• Dispositif Jeanbrun or loi Jeanbrun: the everyday name used by the press and professionals, after the minister who championed it
• Plan Relance Logement: the wider government housing plan, of which the tax scheme is one component

Knowing this saves real confusion when you compare French sources, or when your notaire and your bank use different terms for the same rules.

Why France created it in 2026

The context is a genuine supply crisis. Rental supply in France fell by roughly 15% in five years, and new construction dropped to historic lows after Pinel closed at the end of 2024. The government's official Relance Logement plan targets 400,000 new homes per year and 2 million by 2030, with around 50,000 units per year expected directly from this scheme. In short, the state is using tax policy to pull private savings back into long-term rentals.

Instead of a flat tax reduction, Jeanbrun lets a landlord deduct a share of the property's value from rental income every year, the way a business depreciates equipment. This is the fundamental break with Pinel, which worked as a fixed tax credit.

Depreciation in plain English, with a Paris example

The mechanics are simpler than they sound:

• The depreciable base is set at 80% of the purchase price (land value, fixed at 20%, is excluded)
• For new homes, the landlord deducts 3.5% to 5.5% of that base each year, depending on the rent category. Qualifying renovated homes receive lower rates of 3% to 4%
• Annual deductions are capped at 8,000 euros for intermediate rents, 10,000 euros for social rents, and 12,000 euros for very social rents
• If deductions create a loss, up to 10,700 euros per year can be offset against overall taxable income

One precision worth having: you may see a 21,400 euro ceiling mentioned online. That doubled ceiling belongs to a separate energy-renovation regime for poorly rated properties, running until the end of 2027. It can sit alongside a Jeanbrun investment, but Jeanbrun itself does not double your deficit ceiling.

The 9-year commitment and what breaking it costs

The benefit comes with a hard condition: the home must stay rented, unfurnished, as the tenant's primary residence, for nine continuous years, within rent and tenant-income limits. Break any of those commitments and the tax authority adds every euro of depreciation already deducted back to your taxable income in the year of the breach. It is not a small penalty. It is the full unwinding of the advantage, which is why the scheme rewards planning more than enthusiasm.

The scheme applies only to apartments in collective buildings, purchased between 21 February 2026 and 31 December 2028, and rented unfurnished as the tenant's primary residence. Everything else sits outside it.

1. Eligible properties: new builds and renovated older stock

Two routes qualify:

• New-build apartments in collective residential buildings, anywhere in France, with no zoning restriction
• Older apartments, provided the works represent at least 30% of the purchase price and the project meets the applicable heavy-rehabilitation requirements

The second route matters most in Paris. New construction inside the city is rare, so the realistic Jeanbrun play here is a tired Haussmann-era apartment plus a serious renovation. With a large share of the older housing stock in the 10th, 11th, 18th and 19th arrondissements carrying weak energy ratings, that renovation route is where the capital's eligible supply will come from.

2. Key exclusions: furnished lets, existing properties, family tenants

Three exclusions come up constantly in conversations with international clients:

• Furnished rentals do not qualify. The scheme covers unfurnished leases only and is incompatible with the LMNP furnished-rental regime
• A property you already own cannot opt in. Only new acquisitions within the 2026-2028 window are eligible
• You cannot rent to close family. Tenants from your own tax household, or relatives up to the second degree, are excluded

Non-residents, on the other hand, are eligible, and for them the arithmetic is often more interesting than for French residents. More on that below.

For most expats renting furnished in Paris, the honest answer is: very little changes directly. The scheme will, however, gradually add a new category of capped-rent, unfurnished apartments to the market, and it is worth understanding who can actually access them.

Capped rents, but income ceilings most executives exceed

Jeanbrun apartments in Paris rent for well below market. The city sits in zone A bis, where the intermediate cap lands just under 20 euros per square metre before surface adjustments. Compare that with a Paris market where furnished rents averaged 38.46 euros per square metre in early 2026, and the discount is obvious.

The catch is on the tenant side. To rent a Jeanbrun home, your household's taxable income must fall under official ceilings set by zone and family size. In practice:

• Senior executives, diplomats on full packages and high-earning professionals will usually exceed the ceilings
• A relocating family living on one salary, or an entrepreneur in an early low-income year, may well qualify
• Income is assessed at lease signing, based on your French tax reference figure

Unfurnished only: what this means for relocating families

Every Jeanbrun apartment is let unfurnished, on a standard three-year residential lease. That suits families settling in Paris for the long term, who ship furniture and want stability around schools. It suits far less the classic two-to-three-year corporate or diplomatic posting, where a furnished home and a flexible exit matter more. If you are weighing the two formats, our guide to the four types of lease in France walks through the differences in notice periods, deposits and protections.

One more Paris-specific layer: these apartments do not escape the city's general rent-control system. Landlords must respect both the Jeanbrun cap and the ceilings set by Paris rent control rules, whichever is lower. For renters, that double cap is quiet good news.

For owners, Jeanbrun is a genuine strategic fork. Nine years of tax depreciation on a new acquisition, in exchange for leaving the premium furnished market that most international owners in Paris currently rely on.

The trade-off: capped unfurnished rent vs the furnished premium

The numbers frame the decision clearly. A furnished Paris rental averaged 38.46 euros per square metre in the first quarter of 2026, with more than 8 applicants competing for each home. A Jeanbrun rental in the same city is capped at just under 20 euros per square metre for the intermediate tier. The depreciation has to work hard to close that gap, and for many profiles it will not:

• If you already own your apartment, the question answers itself: existing properties are not eligible
• If your tenants are corporate or diplomatic and pay a furnished premium, keeping that strategy usually wins
• If you may need to sell or reoccupy within nine years, the clawback risk argues against opting in

When Jeanbrun makes sense for non-resident and expat owners

The scheme rewards a specific profile: a buyer acquiring a new or heavily renovated apartment within the 2026-2028 window, comfortable holding for nine years or more, and taxed at a high marginal rate.

Non-residents fit surprisingly well. French rental income of non-residents is taxed at a minimum rate of 20%, plus social charges of 17.2% (reduced to 7.5% for residents of the EEA and Switzerland). Because depreciation shrinks the taxable base itself rather than granting a credit, it bites from the very first euro of rent. There is no "you do not pay enough French tax to benefit" problem.

The obligations, however, do not manage themselves from London or New York: annual rent-cap compliance, tenant income verification at each new lease, and nine years of documentation. Our guide to managing a Paris property remotely as an overseas landlord covers what that workload looks like in practice.

Before committing, it is worth hearing how French property taxation treats non-residents more broadly. This short English-language explainer from a French tax firm gives a clear overview of the framework your Jeanbrun decision would sit inside:

If you have read this far, you probably know which side of the Jeanbrun question you are on. Most expat households will keep renting in the furnished market the scheme leaves untouched. Most owners will either stay with their furnished strategy or take on a long, rule-bound commitment. Either way, the next step is practical, and it is the part we handle.

For tenants: finding the right home for your profile

Since income ceilings keep most international professionals out of capped Jeanbrun apartments, the real competition is where it has always been: furnished homes with more applicants than keys. Our property search service works that market for you: shortlisting homes that match your brief, including off-market listings we receive directly, preparing your dossier in the format French landlords expect, and arranging a guarantor solution before you apply. Families can align the search with school calendars; clients still abroad can decide through agent-led visits with video reports.

Pricing is flat and published on our packages page: Accompagné at 1,190 euros for the search and application phase, Confié at 2,190 euros when you want installation, administrative coordination and key handover included as well.

For owners: managing the strategy you choose

Whichever branch of the trade-off you choose, the work that follows is recurring, not one-off. A capped scheme means keeping every new lease within the ceilings and every tenant file documented for nine years; a furnished strategy means finding and screening the corporate and expat tenants who pay its premium. Our property management team carries that load for owners, including those based abroad: tenant screening, rent-ceiling monitoring, and lease documentation kept in order year after year.