When a French municipality or a public land agency exercises its right of pre-emption (préemption, a public body’s right to buy in place of the intended buyer) over a co-ownership lot and the seller refuses the price offered, the expropriation judge fixes the price. What is a lot worth in a building left without works since a deferred development zone (zone d’aménagement différé, ZAD, an area in which a public body can pre-empt with a view to future development) was created? In a reported decision of 3 April 2025, the Third Civil Chamber of the Cour de cassation (the French supreme court for civil and commercial matters) held that the price takes account of the state of the private parts and of the common parts, even when the common parts deteriorated because those works stopped.
The facts
The owner of a lot in a co-owned building located in a deferred development zone served a declaration of intention to sell (déclaration d’intention d’aliéner, the notice of sale that triggers the pre-emption right) on the municipality. The local public land agency of Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, to which the pre-emption right had been delegated, exercised it. Failing agreement on the price, it asked the expropriation judge of the Alpes-Maritimes department to fix the purchase price.
In a judgment of 5 October 2023, the Aix-en-Provence Court of Appeal fixed the price. According to its reasons, as reported by the Cour de cassation, “the run-down state of the building and of the common parts need not be taken into account, since that state does not result from a failing of the expropriated owner but from the creation of the deferred development zone with a view to building up a land reserve and to the acquisition of the co-ownership lots by the expropriating authority, which led to the halt of all renovation and maintenance works” (translated from the French, as are all quotations below).
The public body appealed: in its view, the judge had to take into account the physical condition and composition of the property (its consistance) at the date of the first-instance decision, whatever the origin of the deterioration. The decision gives neither the floor area of the lot nor any amounts.
The decision
The Cour de cassation quashed the judgment in its entirety (Cass. 3e civ., 3 April 2025, appeal no. 23-23.206, reported in the Bulletin), under article L. 213-4 of the French Planning Code and article L. 322-1 of the Code of Expropriation for Public Utility.
It recalled that, under the first text, “failing an amicable agreement, the purchase price of a pre-empted property, exclusive of any ancillary compensation, is fixed according to the rules applicable to expropriation”, and that, under the second, the judge fixes compensation according to the consistance of the property at the date of the order transferring ownership. It derived the rule: “the price of the pre-empted property, which must be fixed according to its consistance on the date of the first-instance judgment, takes into account, for property located in a co-owned building, the state of the private parts and of the common parts, even if the deterioration of the latter results from the halt of all renovation and maintenance works after the creation of the deferred development zone”.
By setting the run-down state aside because of its origin, the Court of Appeal “violated the above-mentioned texts”. The case was sent back to the Aix-en-Provence Court of Appeal, differently composed, which must fix the price again.
The decision settles a single question: the origin of the deterioration cannot justify disregarding the condition of the property. It does not say how to measure the effect of that condition on the price, and does not rule on any other remedy the owner might have. Another pre-emption price, quashed on 25 September 2025 for a contradictory calculation, raises a separate question.
What this changes for valuation
Two dates, two questions. The actual use and classification of the property are assessed at the reference date (articles L. 322-2 and L. 322-3 of the Expropriation Code), set for pre-emption by article L. 213-4 of the Planning Code; the consistance and physical condition, on the date of the first-instance judgment. The report keeps the two apart.
Condition is proved at the right date. The report describes the private and common parts as they stand on the date of the first-instance judgment, even on appeal, with supporting documents: minutes of general meetings (works voted, postponed or rejected), the maintenance log, surveys, quotes, dated photographs, an official report of findings. The French property valuation charter (Charte de l’expertise en évaluation immobilière) provides that the property is valued taking account of its legal, rental and physical condition at the valuation date (6th edition, November 2025, Title III, §1.2).
The effect is quantified, not presumed. The decision requires the condition to be taken into account, not a percentage to be applied. The report either uses sales of lots in buildings in comparable condition (Charte, Title III, ch. 2), or starts from lots in good condition and deducts what an informed buyer would take off, beginning with the lot’s share of the necessary works, based on quotes and the lot’s co-ownership shares (tantièmes), which is better than a flat-rate deduction. The pre-emption price, which carries no ancillary compensation, is akin to the principal compensation (indemnité principale), which the Charte wants as close as possible to the market value of the property in its state of occupation (Title III, §1.20).
Common parts go through the price of the lot. On 9 April 2026, the same chamber approved, in an unreported decision, the refusal to compensate separately the share of common parts of an expropriated lot, as the Carrez price per square metre (surface Carrez, the statutory floor area) already reflected it. The two decisions decide different questions and fit together: for the report, both the extent and the condition of the common parts go through the unit price of the lot or a quantified adjustment of it, without double counting.
Actual condition works both ways. On 30 January 2025, the Court quashed the deduction, from the value of expropriated lots, of the cost of works estimated in 2013 when the co-ownership had since carried out structural works. Improvements also form part of the consistance, unless it appears that they were made in order to obtain higher compensation (article L. 322-1), as the decision of 12 March 2026 on works carried out under a danger notice illustrates. The law disregards speculative improvements, but the origin of the deterioration, here the halt of works after the ZAD was created, does not erase the condition found.
What the valuer takes from it
- The price of a pre-empted lot is fixed according to its consistance on the date of the first-instance judgment, common parts included.
- That the deterioration stems from the halt of works after the ZAD was created does not justify disregarding the condition of the property.
- The report proves the condition on the date of the judgment with dated documents.
- The effect is quantified with comparables in equivalent condition or with the lot’s share of the works based on quotes, without counting twice in the price per square metre.
Further reading
The Compulsory purchase and pre-emption page describes the assignment, its timescale and its fee. The guide Pre-emption by a public body in France: setting a defensible price and the glossary entries droit de préemption, date de référence and date de valeur complement this article. On another point: Pre-emption price: an inconsistent total, a distorted judgment. On the same theme: Expropriated co-ownership lot: common parts are in the m² price and Pre-emption in France: comparables under the same planning rules. The decision is available on Légifrance.
What next
A co-ownership lot pre-empted in a building falling into disrepair?
I value the lot in the condition it is in on the date of the first-instance judgment, private and common parts included, from dated documents and sales of properties in comparable condition. The report gives the expropriation judge a calculation that can be followed line by line, whether you are the seller or the holder of the pre-emption right.
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).
