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Rulings of the French Cour de cassation read in full, and method guides, to understand what matters when valuing a property, a rent or an indemnity. Each article points to the corresponding valuation service.

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Practical guides that start from a concrete problem and say which report answers it, in what timeframe and at what fee.

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French valuation terms, defined and sourced

Market value, uncapped rent, eviction compensation, equalising payment, discount: the definition, the source, a worked example.

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Latest article · Case law · Compulsory purchase and urban pre-emption

Pre-empted land resold: no lost added value for the seller

Cass. 3e civ., 6 October 2016: the seller of land pre-empted and later resold, who took the initiative of selling, cannot recover the lost added value.

2 October 2026 · 7 min read

Case law and methods

Your case, in your own words

French valuation terms, defined and sourced

Pre-empted land resold: no lost added value for the seller

Inheritance, partition and divorce

Property tax on occupied joint property: borne by all co-owners

Matrimonial compensation: no extra award for acquisition costs

Matrimonial compensation: separate funds proved by any means

French estate partition: no discount for joint or split ownership

Sole enjoyment in joint ownership: keeping the keys is enough

Rental investment for savings: not a marriage expense in France

Occupation indemnity after divorce: runs from appeal withdrawal

Gift partition and reserved share: real value, not deed figures

Reinvestment: early repayment penalty is not an acquisition cost

Reduction: the fruits to return, less the donee's own work

Gifted money bought a property: reduction bears on the property

Compensation: community paid the equalising sum on bare ownership

Compensation: separate property partly sold, the profit is shared

Hidden gift of money used to buy a property: value at partition

Loan for use of a home: no indirect advantage to bring back

Participation in acquisitions: added value from work counts

Partition for lesion: the claim for works is the added value

Housed free by the usufructuary: an advantage to bring back

Co-owner as tenant: a low rent is not an occupation indemnity

Reduction indemnity: value at partition, not at the opening

Reduction indemnity: without partition, valued at liquidation

Reduction indemnity equals the excessive fraction of the gift

Separation of property: paying for the home creates a claim

Gift with a charge: rapport covers only the net benefit

Gift with a care obligation: net benefit in the reserve estate

Claim between spouses: only the creditor spouse's funds count

Preferential allocation: renouncing while the partition is open

Reduction of gifts: an asset sold after death is valued at death

Joint shares sold alone after divorce: apparent price, real value

Farmland sold to the tenant son: rapport is measured as let

Court auction: only if division in kind is impossible

Gift partition with undivided shares: it is a simple gift

Disguised gift through a share sale: proving the impoverishment

Notice to sell a jointly owned home: all co-owners, or nothing

Farm held in bare ownership: allocation in bare ownership only

Preferential allocation: the farm let to one's company stays let

Land sold by a signed note between relatives: no just title

Occupation indemnity: until partition or return of the property

Partition fees: gross assets include the concealment claim

Gift rapport: property given on again is valued at that date

Joint ownership: a loan repaid by one owner and article 815-13

The surviving spouse has a usufruct over bare-ownership assets

Gift of money invested in a company: rapport at share value

Matrimonial compensation: personal account funds presumed common

Matrimonial compensation: no personal benefit, nothing owed

Preferential allocation: the soulte is due only at partition

French life annuity sale: the risk is judged on the day of sale

Usufruct of SCI shares and French wealth tax: a possible discount

Divorce in France: compensation for works on one spouse's house

Divorce in France: home valued at partition, even if run down

Inheritance in France: gifted land is valued as bare land

Divorce in France: when to value the house, who pays the expert

Property sales and warranties

Asbestos or termites missed: the surveyor owes the full loss

Hidden defect: no double recovery of price refund and rebuilding

Polluted, unbuildable land: a hidden defect, not non-conformity

Fire-destroyed building not rebuildable on site: market value

Sewer under the house: the condition clause excludes nothing

Loan requested below the agreed rate: condition deemed fulfilled

Hidden defect: the cost of works is judged before the price cut

Hidden defect known to the seller: market value caps nothing

Water main under the house: hidden easement, indemnity owed

Hidden defect: a court appraisal suspends the two-year limit

Public domain land sold: void sale, property tax compensated

Flood plan approved between promise and deed: an update is due

Hidden insulation defect: time runs from the expert's report

Hidden defect: the damages claim also has two years

Concealed foundation works: sale annulled, use to be paid for

Sale annulled for noise: a lost capital gain must be certain

Seller's fraud: claiming the excess price without annulment

Hidden defect fixed by a third party: price reduction still open

French social housing rent surcharge: ELAN Act and the 30% cap

Rescission for lesion: a compulsory purchase award as evidence

Rescission for lesion: buyer must opt within a reasonable time

Occupier with no right to stay: indemnity owed until departure