Liv Rowland

Liv Rowland focuses on how France’s rules, taxes and bureaucracy shape the experience of owning property and building a life in the country, with a particular emphasis on foreign homeowners and residents. She is chief reporter at The Connexion and her core subject area is real estate and the policies and practicalities that surround buying, holding and financing homes in France. Her coverage stands out for its mix of detailed legal explanation, reader case studies and close tracking of policy changes, linking decisions on mortgages, social charges and residency rules to the day-to-day choices facing people with homes and lives in France.

French property, tax and mortgages

Rowland’s property coverage runs from capital gains taxes for non-resident owners to the impact of climate change on where buyers choose to purchase homes. She explains technical shifts such as changes in social charges on property capital gains for owners outside Europe, spelling out rates and the scope of proposed increases and how these were ultimately avoided. She reports on how heatwaves and concerns over insulation and air-conditioning are reshaping demand across different parts of France, using estate agency testimony to show how climate has become a factor in pricing and location decisions. Her reporting includes reader-led accounts of equity release products, detailing how complex prêt viager hypothécaire structures and heavy paperwork shape the experience of couples trying to unlock housing wealth. She also covers legislative efforts to make French mortgages easier to obtain, tracing how parliamentary debates on lending rules translate into practical access for prospective buyers.

Residency cards, visas and post-Brexit rights

Rowland devotes extensive reporting to residency cards, visas and the rights of Britons and other non-EU nationals in France after Brexit. She covers group legal actions against prefectures accused of blocking residency card renewals, setting out the arguments against administrative practices and the impact on residents whose renewals are stalled.

She tracks efforts by the interior ministry to cut residency card backlogs, reporting specific national processing times and percentage reductions in applications pending over defined periods. Her pieces follow readers through real cases, such as couples facing residency problems linked to marriage documentation or families using emergency permissions to extend stays beyond the usual 90/180-day Schengen limits. She reports closely on problems with Withdrawal Agreement cards and wider post-Brexit rights, showing how administrative errors and ongoing uncertainties still affect long-term residents in France.

This strand of her work also covers visa routes for self-employment, including projects to open gîtes, where she sets out the financial, regulatory and practical hurdles involved.

Inheritance, forced heirship and notaires

Rowland covers French inheritance law in depth, focusing on how forced heirship rules and recent legislative changes affect foreign-law wills and cross-border estates. She reports on legal challenges to France’s 2021 heir’s levy provisions, explaining how these cases could clarify whether compensatory levies apply to wills governed by the EU Succession Regulation.

Her coverage follows government updates to official guidance, including changes to the Service-Public website that make complex inheritance provisions clearer for the public.

She highlights practical support structures, such as English-speaking notaires with experience in forced heirship issues, presenting them as a way for families to navigate intricate property and succession questions. In related pieces, she examines equity release schemes and other approaches to accessing housing wealth in later life, documenting how legal complexity and administrative burden can deter homeowners from using these products.

Travel, infrastructure and environmental pressures

Alongside property and residency, Rowland reports on travel rules, transport links and environmental crises where policy changes directly affect foreign residents and visitors.

She has explained the EU ten-year passport rule for British travellers to France, breaking down passport issuance and expiry requirements and illustrating them through concrete cases of passengers refused boarding. She covers airport concerns over upcoming EES border checks and kiosk readiness, focusing on how incomplete infrastructure could create long queues during peak holiday periods. Her reporting extends to ferry projects, such as funding pledges for a Scotland–France route, where she links investment decisions to future connectivity for travellers and regional economies.

On environmental issues, she has reported on France’s water crisis, using departmental restriction counts and expert analysis to show how tap-water stoppages and usage limits affect tens of thousands of people and could persist beyond the summer.

Reader case studies and practical guidance

A defining feature of Rowland’s work is the way she builds articles around readers’ experiences, using individual stories to illuminate wider rules and systems. She has written about homeowners deciding to sell their French properties because of changing pet passport rules, showing how regulatory shifts can carry emotional as well as financial consequences for long-term residents.

She profiles court rulings that restore rights, such as an order returning a Briton to the EU electoral roll, and connects these decisions to broader debates on political participation for expatriates.

In health emergencies and other crises, she reports on how local officials and prefectures respond, documenting instances of rapid assistance and the mechanisms that allow families to stay longer in France when serious illness strikes. Across topics, she combines detailed references to laws, administrative practices and official statistics with straightforward explanations, making France’s complex systems more navigable for property owners and residents managing real-world problems.