Three children inherit from their parents, who died in 2007 and 2009. One of them occupies the estate’s manor house. A 2016 judgment orders partition, holds that he owes an occupation indemnity to the joint estate and appoints an expert to value the assets. The Amiens Court of Appeal fixes the indemnity at 1,500 € a month “from July 2009 until partition of the joint estate”. The occupying brother appeals: what if he leaves the house before partition? On 1 July 2026 the Cour de cassation (the French supreme court for civil matters) agreed with him and ruled itself: the indemnity is owed until partition “or until the actual return, at the disposal of the joint estate”, of the house. On an occupation that has lasted seventeen years, the end date weighs as much as the monthly amount.
The facts
The parents die on 9 February 2007 and 27 June 2009, leaving three children. On 31 October 2016 a judgment orders the opening of the accounts, liquidation and partition of the estates and of the matrimonial regime, holds that one son owes an occupation indemnity to the joint estate and orders an expert appraisal to value the estate’s assets. After the report is filed and the notary draws up his record, the case returns to court at the initiative of another brother.
The Amiens Court of Appeal, on 20 June 2024, holds the occupant liable for an occupation and income indemnity of 1,500 € a month from July 2009 until partition of the joint estate, for the private occupation of the manor house.
The decision
The first civil chamber quashed in part (Cass. 1re civ., 1 July 2026, no. 24-20.085), under article 815-9, paragraph 2, of the Civil Code: “the co-owner who uses or enjoys the jointly owned property privately is, unless otherwise agreed, liable for an indemnity”. By setting the end at partition “without reserving the case of the actual return of the property at the disposal of the joint estate before partition, the Court of Appeal breached that provision”.
In the interest of the proper administration of justice, the Court rules on the merits itself, without remittal: the occupant “is liable for an occupation indemnity of 1,500 euros a month from July 2009 until partition of the joint estate, or until the actual return, at the disposal of the joint estate, of the manor house”.
What this changes for valuation
The end point of the indemnity. The indemnity pays for private enjoyment; it stops when that enjoyment stops, even if partition is delayed. An occupant who wants to stop the meter actually returns the property to the joint estate: keys handed to the notary or the co-owners, a bailiff’s report, a dated letter, proof of moving out. Without that proof the indemnity runs until partition, and on a manor house at 1,500 € a month each year of uncertainty is worth 18,000 €. The rule also applies between former spouses: in a reported ruling of 12 June 2025 (no. 23-22.003), the first civil chamber quashed a decision charging the ex-husband, who had been granted the use of the former marital home, with an indemnity running until partition “without reserving the case of the actual return of the property to the joint estate before the partition”.
The starting point and the five-year limit. The indemnity here starts in July 2009, at the death of the second parent, without that point being argued before the Court. Article 815-10 of the Civil Code provides that no claim relating to fruits and income is admissible more than five years after the date on which they were or could have been received; the starting point retained by the notary or the court is therefore checked against the claims made and their dates. The joint estate must also be entitled to the fruits: where the co-owners hold only the bare ownership, the usufruct belonging to a third party, no occupation indemnity is owed to the joint estate (Cass. 1re civ., 1 June 2023, no. 21-14.924, reported).
How the amount is fixed. The occupation indemnity is computed from the rental value of the property, what a landlord would obtain on the market, to which an allowance is applied for the precariousness of the occupation and the unavailability of the property to the joint estate, commonly in the region of 10 to 20 %. Over seventeen years rental value is not constant: the valuer fixes it period by period, with rent references from each era, and the court may retain a single amount when the series justifies it. The site’s glossary explains what an indemnité d’occupation is and how it differs from rent.
A manor house does not let like a flat. Market references for a large house are scarce; the valuer compares with character houses let in the area, adjusts for floor area, condition and grounds, and explains the reasoning, because that amount will be multiplied by one or two hundred months. The state of repair, and the works the occupant may have done or neglected, are dealt with separately, in the accounts of the joint estate.
In the partition accounts. The indemnity is owed to the joint estate, not to the brothers; it goes into the assets of the estate and the occupant, who owns a third of it, in fact bears two thirds. It is set off against what the joint estate owes him, conservation expenses, taxes, works, within the meaning of article 815-13. The expert’s report presents these accounts in the same document as the value of the assets to be divided, which lets the notary draw up the liquidation statement in one piece.
When the co-owner is a tenant. The indemnity presupposes sole enjoyment without a title. A co-owner who occupies under a lease, even verbal, granted by the deceased owes none, even if the rent is below rental value; the gap may then amount to an indirect gift subject to rapport. The article on the co-owner as tenant under a verbal lease presents the ruling of 18 March 2020 that decided it.
No need to prove a loss to the joint ownership. In a reported ruling of 11 July 2019 (Cass. 1re civ., no. 17-31.091), the Court approved a court of appeal which, having noted that a wife “had enjoyed the jointly owned property alone between the non-conciliation order and its sale, without that enjoyment having been granted free of charge”, held her liable for an occupation indemnity without examining whether the occupation had caused any loss to the joint ownership. The indemnity rests on sole enjoyment, not on a proven lost income; rental value remains the measure.
Occupying alone is not always sole enjoyment. In a reported ruling of 3 October 2018 (Cass. 1re civ., no. 17-26.020), concerning a house bought with a survivorship clause, the Court held that “the fact that one of the holders of a joint right of enjoyment occupies the building alone does not, in itself, characterise sole occupation, since it is not established that, by their doing, they would prevent another holder from exercising their concurrent right to enjoy the building”. The indemnity therefore presupposes that the occupant obstructs the others’ enjoyment, in law or in fact; the report describes that impossibility before quantifying.
What the valuer takes from it
- The occupation indemnity is owed until partition, or until the actual return of the property to the joint estate if that comes first.
- An occupant who leaves the property proves it with a dated document; otherwise the indemnity runs until partition.
- The amount is computed on rental value, period by period, with an allowance for precariousness and unavailability.
- For a large house references are scarce and the reasoning behind the rental value matters all the more.
- The indemnity enters the accounts of the joint estate and is set off against the occupant’s claims.
Further reading
The Market value page describes the assignment, its timescale and its fee. The guides Inheritance: house occupied by an heir and Leaving a family joint ownership in France and the glossary entries indemnité d’occupation and indivision complement this article. On the same theme: Joint ownership: loan repaid by one co-owner follows article 815-13 and Occupation indemnity for a dwelling: rent, surcharge and income cap. The decision is available on Légifrance.
What next
A family house occupied by one heir, and an indemnity to fix for years?
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