Apartment renovation in Nice
Belle Époque flats, seafront residences and Old Town apartments
Nice has one of the most varied apartment stocks on the French Riviera (Côte d'Azur): stucco-fronted Belle Époque buildings in Cimiez and the Musiciens quarter, Art Deco blocks near the port, 1960s residences overlooking the Baie des Anges and tall, narrow Old Town houses divided into flats. British and American buyers choose them as a pied-à-terre, a retirement base or a holiday let, and most need far more than fresh paint: tired wiring, galvanised pipework, dark corridors and single glazing are the norm. Apartment work in the city is one part of our wider building and renovation services on the French Riviera.
ACR Provence acts as your single general contractor. We survey the flat, deal with the building's managing agent, coordinate every trade and hand back the keys once the snag list is closed. You do not need to be in Nice for any of it, and we walk you through each French document and step before you sign.
What an apartment renovation in Nice usually involves
Most flats we are asked to price in Nice fall into one of three situations. The scope below is a starting point rather than a package: the site visit decides what your apartment really needs. If your plans stop at a new kitchen or shower room, our kitchen and bathroom renovation service covers that on its own.
Flats in Cimiez, the Musiciens quarter or along Boulevard Victor Hugo often keep their mouldings, cement tiles and tall French windows, but hide wiring from several decades and old lead or galvanised supply pipes. We strip out what cannot be saved, rewire to the current French standard (NF C 15-100), renew plumbing and heating, then restore or recreate the details that give these apartments their value.
Load-bearing walls are frequent in this type of building, so any opening between kitchen and living room is calculated by a structural engineer and approved by the co-owners before a single brick comes out.
Post-war residences offer lifts, parking and balconies facing the sea, yet their interiors are often cut into small rooms around a closed kitchen. Reworking the layout around the view, swapping old aluminium frames for better-insulated windows and adding discreet reversible air conditioning are the requests we hear most.
Tiled floors in these blocks carry sound easily. When owners want wood or a new tiled finish, we lay an acoustic underlay, which many co-ownership rules insist on, to keep good relations with the neighbours below.
Smaller units near the harbour, the Libération market or Avenue Jean-Médecin are often bought to let. The brief is hard-wearing finishes, clever storage, a compact kitchen and a shower room that survives a busy season, delivered on a date you can plan bookings around.
If the flat is to be let long-term, its energy performance certificate (DPE) matters: the lowest-rated homes are being phased out of the rental market, and targeted upgrades to windows, ventilation and heating can lift a small apartment out of the bottom bands.
Rules that shape any renovation in a Nice apartment building
Two sets of rules decide what you can do and in which order: the co-ownership that runs your building, and the planning protections that cover much of central Nice.
Almost every apartment in Nice belongs to a co-ownership. Work inside your own flat is your business, but anything that touches shared parts — load-bearing walls, the facade, windows, drainage stacks, a roof terrace — needs a vote at the owners' general meeting, usually held once a year.
Most buildings also set working hours, require the lift and stairwell to be protected and expect notice before a skip or scaffold arrives. Missing a meeting deadline can hold a project up for months, so the building rules are checked before any dates are fixed.
- Written request to the syndic with drawings and method statement
- Structural engineer's report for any wall opening
- Protection of the lift, stairs and hallways throughout the works
Vieux-Nice is covered by a heritage protection plan, and since 2021 a large part of the city has been listed by UNESCO as the winter resort town of the Riviera. Any change visible from the street — windows, shutters, balcony railings, an air-conditioning unit — needs a prior declaration (déclaration préalable) and, in protected zones, the opinion of the state heritage architect (Architecte des Bâtiments de France, ABF).
Access is the other challenge: the Old Town's lanes are largely pedestrian, so materials and rubble travel by hand or small vehicle within set delivery hours.
- Colours and materials matched to the approved local palette
- Prior declaration filed before any external change
- Deliveries planned around pedestrian-only streets
From first visit to handover: how a Nice apartment project runs
Every project follows the same four stages, and owners based abroad can follow most of them remotely — our guide to managing a renovation from overseas explains how.
We visit the apartment with you, a relative or the estate agent who holds the keys, take measurements, check the state of the wiring, plumbing and floors, and note what the building allows.
- An itemised quote within 48 hours of the visit, free of charge.
- Advice on layout and on materials that cope with a coastal climate.
Before anything is demolished, we confirm which surveys the building requires and file the paperwork the co-ownership and the town hall expect.
- Asbestos and lead checks where the age of the building calls for them.
- Co-owners' vote for any work on shared structure.
- Prior declaration for changes seen from the street.
Once approvals are in hand, the flat is emptied and protected, and the heavy work begins.
- Partitions and old finishes removed, rubble taken to approved recycling centres.
- New electrical circuits, plumbing and ventilation.
- Insulated partitions, levelled floors and new joinery.
Painters, tilers and joiners complete the rooms, then we walk through the apartment with you or your representative and list any snags to close.
- Final clean so the flat can be lived in or let straight away.
- Handover report and warranty papers, detailed in our guide to guarantees and after-sales.
Nice neighbourhoods and the apartments we find there
Our teams cover the whole city from our Le Cannet agency in the Alpes-Maritimes. Each district has its own building type and its own practical constraints.
Narrow, deep apartments over one or several floors, thick stone walls, limited daylight and steep shared stairs. Work often focuses on bringing light in, treating damp in lower rooms and fitting modern services into old structures.
Generous rooms, high ceilings and parquet or cement-tile floors. These flats reward careful restoration: keeping mouldings and fireplaces while hiding new wiring, pipework and air conditioning.
Post-war and more recent buildings with terraces, lifts and parking. Owners usually want the layout opened towards the view, better glazing against summer heat and terrace floors that drain properly.
Questions foreign owners ask about renovating in Nice
Who has to approve the work in my Nice apartment building?
Purely internal work — a new kitchen, flooring, non-structural partitions — normally needs no permission, although the building rules on noise, hours and access still apply. Anything touching a load-bearing wall, the facade, windows or shared pipes must be approved by the co-owners at a general meeting, and changes visible from outside also require a prior declaration at the town hall.
Can the renovation go ahead while I live in the UK or the US?
Yes. Many owners follow their project from abroad. You approve the quote and the choice of materials, a single project manager coordinates the trades, and the decisions that need your input are grouped so you are not contacted every day. Access can be arranged through a key holder you trust, such as your estate agent or a neighbour.
What makes an apartment renovation in Nice more or less expensive?
The price depends on the floor area, how much wiring and plumbing must be replaced, whether walls move, the finishes you choose and the building's access conditions: a fifth-floor Old Town flat with a tiny lift costs more to supply than a ground floor beside a road. Our renovation cost guide explains the main budget items, and your free quote gives the exact figure.
My building is old. Which surveys are needed before work starts?
If the building permit predates July 1997, an asbestos survey of the areas to be worked on is compulsory before demolition. Buildings from before 1949 may also need a lead survey, and a structural engineer is required whenever a wall is to be opened. We tell you which apply after the first visit and can arrange them with approved inspectors.
Where we renovate apartments in and around Nice
Beyond the city itself, we take on apartment projects in the neighbouring towns of the eastern Côte d'Azur:
Apartment interiors from our recent projects
These refurbishments were carried out on the Var coast and in the Bouches-du-Rhône. They show the standard of finish we bring to apartments in Nice.
Seaside apartment refurbishment, Six-Fours-les-Plages (Var)
Second view of the same Six-Fours-les-Plages apartment
Apartment kitchen and living area, Salon-de-Provence (Bouches-du-Rhône)
Finished kitchen in the Salon-de-Provence apartment
Renovation on the French Riviera
See the towns and services we cover along the coast, or ask for a free quote for your Nice apartment.