90-day rule: How long can British second-home owners stay in France after Brexit?

France has long been a popular second home destination for British people and many of them, especially retirees, spend many months at a time at their property in France, while still maintaining a home in the UK.

Britain's membership of the EU has meant there is no limit on how many months of the year they can spend in France. But Brexit is set to change that.

The British citizens advice group France Rights puts it quite simply: "Make no bones about it. Brexit will change the life, and the lifestyle, of anyone with a second home in an EU27 country or who spends more than three months at a time in an EU27 country."

READ ALSO

• So you're living in France but are you legally resident here?
• France set to launch online residency portal in July

Until now British people in France have been able to come and go without visas and residency permits. Photo: AFP

We have written extensively on the situation for people living in France but what about those who want to carry on living in the UK but also spend time in France?

At present we are in a transition period, and people can continue to move freely (allowing for coronavirus-related border restrictions) until that ends.

The transition period is currently agreed to run until December 31st, 2020 (although it may be extended if both sides agree before July 2020) and during that time the EU and UK will negotiate on what the rules for the future will be - in between attempting to negotiate a trade deal and many other aspects of the future relationship.

So everything stays as it is for the next 6 months but after that we don't know what will happen.

This is one of the things still to be negotiated, but it seems likely that the rule will follow one of the models that currently exists for visits between non-EU countries.

At present the majority of EU countries operate the 90 day rule for people who do not have residency or a work or study visa.

Americans, Australians, Indians and other non-EU nationals in France will already be familiar with the 90 day rule - people who are not resident here can spend up to 90 days out of every 180 in the EU (with or without a visa depending on the country you are visiting from) but after that must either apply for residency or a work or study visa.

A Facebook group aimed at second home owners called Living in both the UK and France notes that applying for a visa is not a straightforward affair.

"It's fairly complex and costly and involves an interview and proof of medical insurance," reads a message on the site.

"In neither case do we retain any automatic right to travel to Schengen countries, but only the opportunity to request permission to travel. Ownership of property in France is not relevant to travel authorisation."

Over a year you could spend 180 days in total in France but not consecutively, you would have to spend time outside the EU (such as back in the UK) in between.

You can do your 90 days as one block or as several shorter trips, but in every 180 days the total number of days must not exceed 90.

It's worth pointing out that the 90 day rule applies to the total number of days for all countries in the Schengen area. So it's no good spending 89 days in France then popping over the border to Spain for a few days, the 90 day clock will only stop ticking once you leave the EU.

The EU offers this Schengen Area calculator to allow you to calculate your stay.

READ ALSO How Britons in France should make the most of the Brexit delay

It's possible that the UK will seek to negotiate longer access to EU countries such as France for its citizens, but any such arrangement would have to be reciprocal and given the UK's hard line on freedom of movement in negotiations to date that may well not happen.

Either way, it remains TBC despite several campaigns to allow a 180 day rule that doesn't require people to divide their 180 days into two portions of 90 (so that people could, for example, spend the summer in France and the winter in the UK).

So what happens if you overstay your allowed period?

Well there are strict rules on visa overstaying, but until now some countries have been more rigorous than others in how they apply them.

Overstaying your welcome can result in a fine or deportation. You may also find that your passport gains an 'illegal immigrant' or 'illegal overstay' stamp which is likely to make it very hard for you to re-enter the country (or potentially other countries) at a later date. 

Germany, the Netherlands and the Scandinavian countries are all strict about entry and exit dates, but among Australian and American visitors France gained itself a reputation for being fairly relaxed about the precise date that people leave.

However there is no guarantee that this will continue after Brexit and there are penalties should you be caught.