A farmer sells to his son, who already farms his land as tenant, all the leased plots. He dies two years later. His daughter argues the price was understated and claims that the advantage be brought back into the estate (rapport, the mechanism by which gifts to an heir are added back to the estate for equal division). Should the price paid be compared with the value of the land as let, or with its value as vacant, since the buyer was the tenant and the lease ended with the sale? The Amiens court of appeal chose vacant value. On 26 March 2025 the Cour de cassation (the French supreme court for civil matters), in a reported decision, quashed: the understatement “must be assessed against the real value of the land at the date of its sale, taking into account the existence of a lease, regardless of whether that lease was granted to that heir”. For the valuer, the instruction is clear: value as let, at the date of the deed.
The facts
By notarial deed of 1 June 2012, a farmer sells to his son and the son’s wife a set of agricultural plots of which the son is the tenant under a farm lease. The same day, he gives the son the bare ownership of two houses, and a holograph will of 17 February 2012 names that son legatee of the disposable portion. He dies on 12 November 2014, leaving two children.
His daughter sues her brother for the opening of the accounts, liquidation and partition. She contends the land was sold at an understated price and that the advantage must be brought back. The Amiens court of appeal, on 26 April 2022, orders an expert report and instructs the expert to determine the value of the plots at the date of sale, assessed as free of any occupation: by the purchase, the lease the son held came to an end, he became owner of vacant land, and the case law on the tenant farmer’s right of pre-emption, which protects the tenant’s establishment, does not apply to inheritance rapport, which guarantees equality between heirs. The son appealed.
The decision
The first civil chamber quashed, under article 843 of the Civil Code (Cass. 1re civ., 26 March 2025, no. 22-23.937, reported). “It follows from that provision that only a gift, which presupposes an impoverishment of the disposer with the intention of benefiting his heir, is subject to rapport to the estate.”
Then the rule: “The existence of the material element of a gift subject to rapport that may result from the understatement of the sale price of farmland to a presumptive heir must be assessed against the real value of the land at the date of its sale, taking into account the existence of a lease, regardless of whether that lease was granted to that heir.” By holding that the land had to be valued as vacant because the lease had ended through the purchase, the court of appeal breached the provision. The ruling is quashed on that point, and also on a finding of concealment of 7,850 euros made although the sister had not asked for it, and the case is sent back to the Douai court of appeal.
What this changes for valuation
The question put to the valuer is the seller’s impoverishment. Rapport presupposes a gift, hence an impoverishment of the disposer. What the father transferred was a let property: at the date of sale he could only have sold it to a third party as let, subject to the tenant’s right of pre-emption, and it is that value he exchanged for the price. That the buyer happens to be the tenant, and that the lease disappears in his hands by merger, enriches the buyer but does not further impoverish the seller. The valuer therefore compares the price paid with the value of the land as let, and any understatement is read in that gap.
Value as let: the discount is reasoned. The value of land under a farm lease is derived from the vacant value, to which a discount is applied depending on the remaining term, the tenant’s age, the return on the farm rent and the local market for let land, where one exists. The indicative scales of farmland market values published each year distinguish vacant from let land and give a first order of magnitude; the report checks them against actual sales in the area at the date of the deed. The glossary describes the décote pour occupation and its components.
The date is the deed, not the death or the partition. The material element is assessed “at the date of its sale”. The valuer therefore works with the references of 2012, not with the market at the date of the expert report; it is the same discipline as for any rapport of a gift, where the date at which the advantage is measured drives the result. If an understatement is established, the amount to be brought back then follows the rules of article 860 of the Civil Code, with its own dates, and the expert’s report must let the notary make both computations.
Consistency with preferential allocation. This solution matches the one adopted for the preferential allocation of a farm let to the heir’s company: the property is valued as let, even where the occupant is the allottee or his business. In both cases the farming heir pays or brings back on a let value, and the other heirs cannot claim the vacant value on the ground that the lease will end in his hands.
The intention to benefit remains to be proved. An understated price is subject to rapport only if it stems from a donative intent. The gap quantified by the valuer is the material element; by itself it says nothing about intent. A small gap, within the uncertainty of an estimate, proves nothing; a large gap, on a property whose value the seller knew, carries more weight. The report gives the gap and its margin of uncertainty, and leaves the characterisation to the judge.
What the valuer takes from it
- The understatement of the price of farmland sold to an heir is assessed against the real value of the land at the date of sale, lease included.
- It does not matter that the lease was granted to that heir and ends with the sale: the value remains that of let land.
- The occupation discount is reasoned with the lease term, the farm rent, the market for let land and the annual scales.
- The valuation date is that of the deed, with the references of the time.
- The quantified gap is the material element; the intention to benefit is for the judge.
Further reading
The Market value page describes the assignment, its timescale and its fee. The guide Lifetime gift partition: valuing the lots between children and the glossary entries rapport des donations, décote pour occupation and date de valeur complement this article. On the same theme: Gift rapport: property given on again is valued at that date and Preferential allocation: the farm let to one’s company stays let. The decision is available on Légifrance.
What next
Farmland sold to a child who farms it, a price contested by the other heirs, and a value to establish at the date of sale?
I value the plots at the date of the deed, as let or as vacant as the judge directs, with the farm rent and sale references of the time, in a report the liquidating notary can rely on.
Free quote, by email or by phone. No commitment before the quote is accepted. Fees are never linked to the value of the property (Charte de l’expertise, Title I, §2.1).
