Valuation date (date de valeur)

A value only makes sense at a date. The valuation date is the date at which the valuer places himself to answer the question: it is at that date that he assesses the condition of the property (legal, letting, physical) and to which he relates the market data. It is often the date of the inspection, but not always: an estate is valued at the date of death, a partition at the date closest to the partition, a sale challenged for lésion (gross undervalue) at the date of the sale. The valuer may therefore have to value a property at a past date, from the transactions of that time and from the condition of the property as it can be reconstructed.

The Charte de l’expertise en évaluation immobilière (French property valuation charter) and the European Valuation Standards distinguish three dates: the inspection date, the valuation date and the date the report is written. The report can never predate the valuation date; the Charter specifies that a valuation produced before the valuation date can only be a draft.

Where the rule comes from

Title III § 1.1.3 of the Charter (6th edition, November 2025) explains that the valuation date and the date the report is issued may differ; § 1.2 requires the condition of the property to be assessed at the valuation date. Title II § 9.1 lists the valuation date among the compulsory terms of the engagement contract, and § 10.2 requires the report to state the dates of inspection, valuation and drafting. EVS 1 § 4.5 says the same. The French Civil Code sets specific valuation dates: article 829 for partition (date closest to the partition), article 922 for the abatement of gifts (value at the opening of the succession, according to the condition at the time of the gift).

In a valuation report

I state the valuation date in the engagement letter, then at the head of the report. For a past date, I select sales concluded around that date, reconstruct the condition of the property from the photographs, surveys, invoices and witness evidence available, and flag the uncertainties. Where a statute imposes a combination of dates (condition at one date, value at another), I present both and explain the reasoning. A recent inspection does not excuse me from reasoning at the date requested: what I see today is a starting point, not a conclusion.

Example

A death occurred on 12 September 2023; the inheritance tax return must state the value of the house at that date. I inspect in February 2026, find the house in fair condition and gather six sales concluded between March and December 2023 in the same area. I adopt €232,000 at 12 September 2023. The same house would be worth about €245,000 at February 2026 conditions: that second figure is not the one the return calls for.

Not to be confused with

The reference date, in compulsory purchase and pre-emption, serves to classify the property (actual use, development potential), not to fix the date of the value. The inspection date is a fact; the valuation date is a choice imposed by the engagement or by the law.