Unpaid loan instalments, a formal notice, then a payment order with effect of seizure (commandement de payer valant saisie): at this stage, the owner wonders whether the forced sale of the property can still be avoided. A 2018 ruling of the Orléans Court of Appeal shows what a judge expects before granting more time, and indirectly recalls that the best protection remains putting the property on the market promptly, at market value.
The facts
In 2006, Mrs Z. and her husband borrowed €130,000 to buy a property. The first missed payment occurred in 2014. In 2016, the bank served formal notice to pay, without result. In 2017, it served a payment order with effect of seizure, then summoned them before the enforcement judge in Tours.
In 2018, the judge upheld the seizure and authorised a private sale under court supervision, setting a minimum price of €250,000. He refused a grace period and ordered Mrs Z. to pay various costs. She appealed to the Orléans Court of Appeal, raised a possible limitation defence and asked for a further period of twenty-four months.
The Court rejected her claims, twice finding them made “without good faith”. It nevertheless gave useful guidance on market value and on the strategy to adopt in such a situation.
The framework: foreclosure and private sale
Property foreclosure (saisie immobilière) is governed by the French Code of Civil Enforcement Procedures. After the payment order, the enforcement judge holds an orientation hearing at which the debt is verified and the terms of the sale decided. The debtor may ask to sell the property privately, with the judge’s authorisation (article L. 322-1 of the same code); the judge then sets a price below which the property may not be sold, and a deadline for doing so. If no sale takes place within that period, the forced sale at auction resumes.
A grace period may be requested under article 1343-5 of the French Civil Code, which allows the judge to defer or spread payment over up to two years, taking into account the debtor’s situation and the creditor’s needs. It is never granted as of right.
First rule: sell as soon as it becomes necessary
The first missed payment dates from 2014; the ruling was handed down in 2018. Four years passed without the property being sold. In a foreclosure, that time works against the owner: default interest accrues, procedural costs add up, and the room for negotiation shrinks.
Selling early means keeping control of the price. Selling late means letting a third party set a minimum price, then a reserve price (mise à prix), in conditions that are no longer those of the market.
Second rule: sell at market value
The average time to sell a home in France is around three months. That period varies little between regions; what varies is the price. A property offered at its market value finds a buyer within that time, in Paris as in a rural area.
I remember many examples of houses in very poor condition, in central Finistère, sold within days at €4,000, €6,000 or €10,000 because the sellers had accepted the estimate of their notaire (French civil-law notary) or of an agency. Other comparable houses have been waiting for years at €20,000 or €25,000.
Mrs Z.’s situation follows the same logic. She had long been asking a price above the value of her property, despite the urgency. She explained that “the nature of the seized property, a seventeenth-century private mansion, takes time”. An unusual property does call for tailored marketing, but it is no exception to the rule: offered at €10,000, it would go at once; at €50,000 probably too; the question is at what price it sells within three months. That point of balance between supply and demand is what we call market value.
The Court noted that Mrs Z. “had the benefit of the four-month period granted by the first judge” without concluding a sale. Four years after her first difficulties, she was still waiting for a buyer who would cover her purchase price, her costs, her transfer duties and her works. But the market takes no account of what the seller has spent, only of what the property is worth.
Market value and forced sale
The Charte de l’expertise en évaluation immobilière (the French property valuation charter, 6th edition, Title III, §1.1) and the EVS 2025 (EVS 1) define market value as the amount for which a property would exchange between a willing seller and a willing buyer, after proper marketing, without compulsion. When the seller is subject to an imposed deadline, the price obtained is a forced sale price (Charte, Title III, §1.12): buyers, aware of the constraint, moderate their offers.
The gap between the two can be significant. The owner who sells early, at market value, keeps that gap. The one who waits for the forced sale loses it.
How to obtain more time
Mrs Z. asked for twenty-four additional months. The Court’s refusal was predictable, but its reasons show what an owner must produce.
Prove the value of the property
The Court noted that Mrs Z. “does not prove the value of her building”. A valuation report would have made it possible to discuss the minimum price set by the first judge, and to establish that the asking price was consistent or, on the contrary, that it needed adjusting. Such a report engages its author’s liability and rests on an inspection and a method (Charte, Title I, §1.1), which distinguishes it from a simple desktop opinion of value.
Prove that a sale is imminent
The Court also noted the “absence of any documents suggesting that the sale could take place very shortly”. Without a preliminary sale agreement (compromis de vente), or at least a written offer and a mortgage application in progress, it is hard to persuade a judge to wait. Which brings us back to the price: correctly priced, the property could have received an offer since the previous judgment.
Key points
- React at the first missed payment, before the formal notice, by contacting the bank and, if necessary, a lawyer.
- Put the property on the market without delay, at its market value, based on a valuation and not on the cost price.
- Come before the judge with documents: a valuation report, evidence of marketing, an offer or a preliminary agreement.
Further reading
The Market value page describes the valuation instruction, including under the assumption of a constrained selling period. Two articles complete this one: how the reserve price is set in a property foreclosure and can a sale be cancelled because you were misled.
What next
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