The seller of real property in France who sold it for less than five twelfths of its value (lésion of more than seven twelfths) may apply for rescission of the sale, that is, to have it set aside (article 1674 of the Civil Code). But the appraisal by three experts is ordered only if the facts put forward are plausible and serious enough to raise a presumption of lesion. A company that had sold land to an établissement public foncier (a public land agency) relied on the compulsory purchase (expropriation) award for its retained plots, more than three times the price per square metre. On 16 March 2023, the Third Civil Chamber of the Cour de cassation (the French supreme court for civil and commercial matters) held that this evidence had to be examined.
The facts
By a preliminary agreement of 25 November 2011, completed by notarial deed on 31 January 2012, a Canadian company sold to the Ain public land agency eight plots totalling 7 hectares 56 ares 10 centiares, at €32.15 per square metre. It kept three neighbouring plots, further north.
On 29 January 2014, it sued the buyer under articles 1674 and 1678 of the Civil Code, asking the court to find plausible and serious facts raising a presumption of lesion and to appoint a panel of three experts. During the proceedings, it sought primarily annulment for fraud (dol) and alternatively rescission for lesion.
By an order of 22 July 2016, the prefect issued a declaration of public utility for the acquisition of the land needed for the Ferney-Genève-Innovation ZAC (zone d’aménagement concerté, a public development zone), including the three plots kept. According to the Cour de cassation’s ruling, the expropriation judge compensated the seller on the basis of €103 per square metre at the reference date (date de référence) of 11 February 2014, with a 5% reduction (abattement) for the plots within the aircraft noise exposure plan, i.e. €97.85 per square metre.
On 8 June 2021, the Lyon Court of Appeal dismissed all claims. On lesion, it relied on the buyer’s documents: €40 per square metre adopted by the State property valuation service (service des domaines) for a neighbouring plot, and €2,505,000 for the plots sold according to an expert. It rejected the seller’s two expert reports, based on future and uncertain prospects of urbanisation, whereas at the date of the sale the land was agricultural and unbuildable, burdened with planning easements linked to a nearby airport and bordered by a stream. The seller appealed.
The decision
The Cour de cassation quashed the ruling, but only insofar as it dismissed the claim for rescission for lesion (Cass. 3e civ., 16 March 2023, appeal no. 21-23.702, unreported); the quashing does not extend to the dismissal of the fraud claim.
Citing article 1677 of the Civil Code, it recalled that “proof of lesion may be admitted only by a judgment and only where the facts alleged are sufficiently plausible and sufficiently serious to raise a presumption of lesion” (translated from the French). It faulted the Court of Appeal for ruling “without examining, as it had been asked to do, whether the values adopted by the expropriation judge”, €103 and €97.85 per square metre, “whereas the lesion threshold in this case stood at 77.16 euros per square metre, did not raise a presumption that the sale involved lesion”. The Court of Appeal “did not give a legal basis to its decision”.
The Court says neither that lesion is established nor that it is plausible: it sanctions a failure to examine, without ruling on the seller’s two expert reports. The Lyon Court of Appeal, differently composed, to which the case is sent back on the whole question of lesion, those reports included, will decide whether the facts alleged justify the article 1678 appraisal.
What this changes for valuation
Two stages, two uses of the report. At the article 1677 stage, the seller produces a private valuation, comparable sales and values fixed by an authority; the three experts only come in afterwards. A compulsory purchase award relied on before the court cannot be set aside without examination. The threshold calculation and the two-year time limit are explained in the article on cancelling a sale at a low price.
Placing each figure against the threshold. The threshold is the price multiplied by twelve fifths (32.15 × 12/5 = €77.16). The figures in the file fall on either side: the €2,505,000 valuation represents about €33 per square metre over the 75,610 m² sold, the State property service adopted €40, the expropriation judge €97.85 and €103, about three times the price (neither calculation appears in the ruling).
A compulsory purchase award is not a value at the date of sale. Lesion is assessed according to the condition and value of the property at the time of the sale, or on the day of completion where there was a unilateral promise to sell (article 1675): here late 2011 or 31 January 2012, the ruling not specifying the nature of the preliminary agreement. A compulsory purchase award applies prices at the date of the first-instance judgment to the use and planning rules frozen at the reference date (article L. 322-2 of the Expropriation Code), here February 2014, and it concerns other plots. The valuer therefore adjusts for the date (movement in the land market), the planning rules at each date and the differences between plots. The gap may also stem from classification as building land, which the ruling does not specify and which follows rules of its own in a development zone.
The condition of the land at the date of sale. Value at the date of sale includes the prospects the market took into account at the time, not the project adopted later. The report describes the plots in their legal and physical condition at that date, as the Charte de l’expertise en évaluation immobilière (the French property valuation charter, 6th edition, November 2025, Title III, § 1.2) provides, and includes hope value only if sales of the period demonstrate it.
After the filter. If lesion is found plausible, the three experts assess the value at the date of sale; if it is established, the buyer chooses between returning the property and paying the balance of the fair price, within a time limit set out in a ruling of 5 January 2022 discussed separately.
What the valuer takes from it
- The threshold is calculated from the price: value at the date of sale must exceed twelve fifths of the price, or 2.4 times.
- A compulsory purchase award fixed for neighbouring plots from the same landholding must be examined when relied on; it does not on its own prove lesion.
- The report brings that award back to the date and condition of the sale before comparing it with the threshold.
- A valuation based on future urbanisation rather than on the condition of the land at the date of sale may be rejected, as the Court of Appeal did in the quashed ruling, a point on which the Cour de cassation did not rule.
- The report sets out all the figures in the file, for or against lesion, and explains the gaps.
Further reading
The Market value page describes the assignment, its timescale and its fee. The guide Producing a valuation in a French court: which format to choose? and the glossary entries lésion, valeur vénale and date de référence complement this article. On the next stage of the action: Rescission for lesion: buyer must opt within a reasonable time. On the same theme: Cancelling a property sale in France for a price far too low? and Undervaluation by the estate agent: the value gap must be proved. The decision is available on Légifrance.
What next
Do you think you sold well below the value, or is a seller claiming you bought too cheaply?
I reconstruct the market value of the property at the date of the sale, in its condition at the time, and set it against the seven twelfths threshold and against values fixed since, such as a compulsory purchase award: this is the document that allows your lawyer to argue that lesion is plausible, or to contest it.
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).
