How do you exit joint property ownership (indivision)?

A public-policy right: demanding the division at any time

Article 815 of the French Civil Code lays down the principle: no one may be forced to remain in joint ownership, and the division may be demanded at any time. There are two qualifications. First, the fixed-term joint ownership agreement (five years at most, Article 1873-3), during which the division requires legitimate grounds. Second, the postponement of the division that the court may order for up to two years, where an immediate division would risk harming the value of the jointly owned assets (Article 820).

The amicable exits: joint sale, sale of your share, division

Three routes make it possible to exit joint ownership without litigation, provided common ground can be found:

• An amicable sale of the property: all the co-owners sign, and the price is shared according to each person's rights. This is the fastest and cheapest route.
• The sale of your undivided share: each co-owner may sell their share, to another co-owner or to a third party. In case of a sale to a third party, the other co-owners hold a pre-emption right: the plan must be served on them by a judicial officer (commissaire de justice), with the price and terms, and they have one month to take the buyer's place (Article 815-14 of the French Civil Code).
• An amicable division: the co-owners allocate the assets among themselves, with an equalization payment (soulte) where needed. It requires everyone's agreement and, for a building, a notarial deed registered with the land registry (Article 835 of the French Civil Code).

The tax cost of the division

The division triggers a partition duty of 2.5% calculated on the net assets divided (Article 746 of the French General Tax Code), a rate reduced to 1.10% for divisions of property interests following a divorce, a legal separation or the dissolution of a civil partnership (Pacs). Selling the property to a third party, by contrast, escapes this duty: each co-owner is then taxed, where applicable, on their share of the property capital gain.

Court-ordered partition: when the deadlock persists

If a co-owner refuses an amicable division or disputes its terms, any co-owner may summon the others before the judicial court (Article 840 of the French Civil Code). On pain of inadmissibility, the summons must contain a summary description of the assets to be divided, the claimant's intentions and the steps already taken to reach an amicable division (Article 1360 of the French Code of Civil Procedure).

The court orders a division in kind where the property can conveniently be split. Otherwise, it orders a licitation: the sale of the property by auction, the price then being shared among the co-owners (Article 1377 of the French Code of Civil Procedure). An auction often fetches a price below market value: that is the most effective argument for bringing the parties back to an amicable agreement.

Finally, some co-owners may request the preferential allocation of all or part of the assets, in particular the home that actually serves as their residence, subject to an equalization payment if its value exceeds their rights (Articles 831 to 834 of the French Civil Code).