Can You Pay 10% Now and 90% at Completion? Why French Off-Plan Works Differently

It’s the most sensible instinct when purchasing property. Pay when you can inspect what you’re buying. In an ideal world, we’d all conduct transactions this way—preferably with keys handed over first and bank transfers sent later, rather like ordering a coffee.

But in France, when you purchase off-plan under the VEFA system (Vente en l’État Futur d’Achèvement, or “sale in a state of future completion”), that tidy 10/90 structure simply isn’t how things work. Not because developers are villains twirling moustaches, but because French off-plan property operates within a carefully regulated legal framework with statutorily defined payment stages.

Let’s examine this properly: why the 10/90 approach usually isn’t possible, what the French system actually entails, and the realistic alternatives if you want to keep most of your capital in reserve until completion.

The 10/90 Plan: Psychologically Perfect, Legally Awkward

In most early-stage off-plan purchases, developers are constructing real buildings in the real world, with real contractors who have the rather inconvenient habit of expecting payment before Christmas, not after delivery in 2027.

France doesn’t leave the payment schedule to “whatever the sales agent said sounded reassuring on a Tuesday.” The system is regulated. Under VEFA, payments are made in stages, and French law establishes maximum percentages that can be called as construction progresses.

The crucial point: in VEFA, developers are entitled to call funds as the building reaches certain construction milestones—this is embedded in the legal structure. A buyer proposing to “pay 90% at the end” is rather like telling the builder “I’ll pay you once I’ve lived here for a year and decided I like the curtains.” Understandable, perhaps, but not a standard commercial arrangement.

What French Stage Payments Actually Look Like

The commonly referenced legal caps for residential VEFA are:

Up to 35% when foundations are completed

Up to 70% when the building is hors d’eau (watertight—meaning structure and roof are complete)

Up to 95% when the building is finished

The remaining balance at delivery (with specific provisions if there’s a dispute about conformity)

These aren’t suggestions. They’re part of the framework that makes VEFA function. You can’t simply declare: “Here’s 10% now” and “Call me when the building is done for the other 90%.” The developer is legally and practically building through phases, and the system assumes payments follow that reality.

“But What If the Developer Collapses?” The Part France Takes Unusually Seriously

This is where French off-plan property is considerably stronger than the horror stories associated with certain other markets.

In France, VEFA requires a Garantie Financière d’Achèvement (GFA)—a completion guarantee issued by a bank or insurer. The core principle: if the developer becomes unable to finish, the guarantor steps in to ensure the project reaches completion.

So whilst you do pay in stages, you’re not simply “hoping the developer stays solvent until 2027.” The project is meant to be protected by a regulated completion guarantee structure.

This doesn’t mean delays never occur. It does mean the system is designed so buyers aren’t left with a half-built shell and an expensive view of reinforcement bars.

Why 10/90 Is Rare in France, Even If a Developer Wanted to Offer It

There are three blunt reasons:

Developers need cash flow to build. Contractors, materials, site costs, insurance, project management—construction isn’t a hobby funded by goodwill.

Banks funding developments don’t favour balloon payments. Developers typically have bank financing behind projects. Banks prefer predictable staged funding, not “perhaps we’ll get paid at the end if the buyers still fancy it.”

The VEFA system is designed around progress-linked funding. It’s as much a construction framework as a sales framework.

If your goal is minimum outlay now and maximum payment at completion, then early-stage VEFA is simply not your preferred approach.

What You Can Do Instead

Here are the realistic options—the ones that actually work in practice.

Option A: Buy Resale or Already-Built New Property

If you want “pay when it’s real,” then purchase something that already exists.

Resale property in French ski resorts gives you immediate visibility (what you see is what you buy), a faster timeline, and no lengthy stage-payment period.

Already-built new property (rare, but it happens) gives you new-build standards and a completion you can actually touch. This is the closest approximation to your 10/90 preference, because the “90% at the end” is essentially just “buy completed property.”

Option B: Buy Near-Complete Off-Plan (Late-Stage VEFA)

This is the intelligent compromise. Instead of buying in year zero, you purchase when the building is well advanced and the remaining timeline is shorter.

You still won’t get a pure 10/90 structure, but you can often reduce the “two-year wait” factor dramatically. It’s the property equivalent of joining a film halfway through: you’ve missed the tedious part where everyone discusses budgets, but you still get the ending.

Option C: Use a Mortgage to Reduce Early Cash Deployment

This doesn’t alter the developer’s stage calls, but it can change your cash flow significantly.

A French mortgage can fund stage payments progressively, avoid you handing over a large chunk of cash early, and in some cases limit your payments during construction (depending on terms).

It’s not magic, and it’s not always the optimal solution, but if your concern is “I don’t want my cash tied up for two years,” this is a practical lever.

Option D: Choose Projects Where First Major Calls Come Later

Some projects are already at a stage where foundations are complete, the build is moving quickly, or the first meaningful payment call isn’t “tomorrow morning.”

This doesn’t change the legal framework, but it can make the timeline feel considerably less like a long-distance relationship with a bank transfer.

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