Declaration of public interest (déclaration d'utilité publique, DUP)

The déclaration d’utilité publique (declaration of public interest, DUP) is the decision that makes compulsory purchase possible. Before it, the public body has a project; after it, it has the power to compel owners to sell. It is taken after a public inquiry during which anyone may consult the file and submit observations, and after the opinion of the inquiry commissioner. It may be challenged before the administrative courts, which check that the interference with property and the cost are not excessive in relation to the benefit of the scheme.

For the owner, the DUP has two practical consequences. It opens the period during which the compulsory purchase may be pursued, and it indirectly fixes the reference date at which the use of the property will be assessed for the calculation of compensation.

Where the rule comes from

Article L. 1 of the French Expropriation Code makes compulsory purchase conditional on a public interest formally established beforehand following an inquiry. Article L. 121-1 provides that the public interest is declared by the competent State authority, that is the préfet by order, or by decree in the Council of State for the largest schemes. The decision fixes the period within which the compulsory purchase must be carried out, which the Code limits to five years, renewable once.

Article L. 322-2 links the reference date to the DUP: properties are valued according to their actual use one year before the opening of the public inquiry that preceded the declaration of public interest. This rule prevents the owner from profiting from a change of use or zoning brought about by the announcement of the project.

In a valuation report

I reproduce in the report the dates of the order opening the inquiry and of the DUP, and derive the reference date from them. I then research what the actual use of the property and its zoning under the planning document were at that date: agricultural land, building land, dwelling, commercial premises. I also note the content of the scheme declared to be in the public interest, because gains linked to the scheme itself are excluded from the compensation. Finally, I check whether the taking is total or partial, which determines whether a loss of value of the retained land has to be quantified.

Example

A prefectoral order opens the public inquiry on 12 March 2024 for the development of a business park; the DUP is issued on 30 October 2024. The reference date is 12 March 2023. At that date, the 4,000 m² plot was zoned agricultural and under cultivation. Even though the local plan rezoned it as future development land in 2025, I value it as agricultural land, at €1.20 per m² from sales of farmland in the area, or €4,800, unless a privileged situation at the reference date can be demonstrated.

Not to be confused with

The transferability order (arrêté de cessibilité), which designates plot by plot the properties to be expropriated after a parcel inquiry, and the expropriation order, the judge’s decision that transfers ownership.