A municipality compulsorily purchases plots to carry out a zone d’aménagement concerté (ZAC, a comprehensive development zone). The owner asks for compensation at building-land value; the municipality replies that the existing utilities are not sized for the whole zone, and that it is for the owner to prove otherwise. Between the two classifications, the price per square metre can vary tenfold or more. The reported decision of the Third Civil Chamber of the Cour de cassation (the French supreme court for civil matters) of 8 January 2026 says who must prove what.
The facts
On 22 October 2024 the Lyon Court of Appeal fixed the compensation due by a municipality to an expropriated owner and classified his plots as building land. Before that court, the municipality disputed the classification on one point only: the capacity of the utilities, which it considered inadequate for the whole development zone. The court held that the expropriating authority, responsible for developing the ZAC, was alone able to produce concrete evidence on the existence, layout and sufficient capacity of the utilities, and that it had not done so.
The municipality appealed: in its view, the owner who claims building-land compensation must show that the conditions for that classification are met, utilities included; by relieving him of that proof, the Court of Appeal had reversed the burden of proof (article 1353 of the French Civil Code) and breached article L. 322-3 of the French Expropriation Code.
The decision
The Cour de cassation dismissed the appeal (Cass. 3e civ., 8 January 2026, appeal no. 24-22.726, reported).
It first restated the statutory definition. Under article L. 322-3 of the Expropriation Code, “the classification as building land is reserved for land which, whatever its use, is both located in a sector designated as buildable by a local planning plan, and actually served by an access road, an electricity network, a drinking-water network and, where applicable, a sewerage network, provided that these various networks are in the immediate vicinity of the land in question and are of dimensions suited to the building capacity of that land” (translated from the French). And where the land lies in a zone the PLU (local planning plan) designates as requiring a comprehensive development operation, “that dimension must be assessed with regard to the whole zone”.
It then drew the rule of proof: “where the classification as building land is disputed only on the ground that the dimension of the networks is inadequate with regard to the whole zone, it is for the expropriating authority, which is responsible for developing that zone and alone holds the information from the file referred to in article R. 112-5 of the Expropriation Code, to prove that inadequacy”. The Court of Appeal, having found within its own power of assessment that this proof had not been produced, “correctly concluded, without reversing the burden of proof, that the expropriated land had to be classified as building land”.
What this changes for the valuation
Classification drives the price. Building land is compensated by reference to comparable buildable plots; land that is not building land is compensated by reference to its actual use, agricultural or natural, at best with a privileged location. The Charte de l’expertise en évaluation immobilière (the French property valuation charter) states that the principal compensation must be “as close as possible to the market value of the property in its state of occupation” (6th edition, November 2025, Title III, § 1.20); the reference date and the actual use that serve to classify the property are set by the Expropriation Code (article L. 322-2). In a ZAC, the utilities question is almost always the authority’s central argument, precisely because the comprehensive development has not yet been carried out.
What the owner must establish. The decision does not relieve the owner of everything. It remains for him to show that his plots are, at the reference date, in a buildable sector of the PLU and served by an access road and by electricity, water and, where applicable, sewerage networks in the immediate vicinity. These are facts the valuation report documents: extract of the planning regulations and zoning map at the reference date, utility operators’ plans, photographs of the works at the plot boundary, confirmation that connection is possible.
What the authority must establish. If the dispute bears only on the dimension of the networks with regard to the whole zone, it is for the authority to produce the documents of the public inquiry file and of the ZAC: capacity studies, programme of public facilities, network diagrams. Without them, building-land status is acquired. The owner’s expert does well to request these documents early, in his dire (written observations to the expert or the court), rather than attempt to demonstrate a capacity he has no means of measuring.
The price of building land in a ZAC. Once the classification is obtained, the figure remains. Raw land in a zone awaiting development is not worth the price of a serviced plot: the expert starts from building-land references in the area, then reasons in terms of land charge, deducting from the price of finished plots the cost of roads and utilities, developer contributions and the developer’s margin, with a weighting for area and actual building capacity. The difference between a report that lines up serviced-plot prices and one that reconstructs the land charge is often what separates a credible claim before the expropriation judge from one that is set aside.
What the expert takes from it
- The burden of proof is shared: the owner proves the zoning and the utilities in the immediate vicinity; the authority proves the inadequacy of the networks at zone level when that is its only argument.
- The reference date sets the frame: as a rule, one year before the opening of the public inquiry. The PLU and the utilities are assessed at that date, not at the date of the appraisal.
- The inquiry file and the ZAC documents should be requested from the start of the proceedings; they contain the answer to the utilities question.
- Building land in a comprehensive development zone is priced through the land charge, not at serviced-plot prices.
- A valuation report that separates the classification question from the price question helps the judge, and the lawyer, deal with each on its own evidence.
Further reading
The Compulsory purchase and pre-emption page describes the assignment before the expropriation judge, its timescale and its fee. The glossary entries date de référence, charge foncière and indemnité principale, and the guide Public bodies and pre-emption: setting a defensible price, complement this article. On the same theme: Compulsory purchase: three recent rulings of the Cour de cassation. The decision is available on Légifrance.
What next
Are your plots being compulsorily purchased in a ZAC or a development zone?
I check the zoning and the utilities at the reference date, gather building-land references in the area and quantify the principal compensation and the ancillary heads, in a report for the expropriation judge.
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