Preemption Rights and the DIA
Selling a property in France often means clearing one or more preemption rights: the municipality's right in urban areas, the SAFER's right in rural areas, or the priority right of the sitting tenant. Declaration of intent to sell, two-month response period, price challenges before the expropriation judge, sanctions in the event of an oversight: this guide details every step, with the legal texts to back it up, to secure your sale from the preliminary agreement to the notarial deed.
All questions
The urban preemption right allows a municipality, or the competent intermunicipal body, to buy with priority a property put up for sale in the urban or future-urbanisation zones of its local urban plan (Article L. 211-1 of the French Urban Planning Code), in order to carry out an operation serving the public interest.
The declaration of intent to sell (DIA) is filed with the town hall, in practice by the notary, before any sale in a preemption zone. It states the price and terms of the sale. The municipality has two months to respond; silence counts as a waiver (Article L. 213-2 of the French Urban Planning Code).
If the municipality preempts at the price stated in the DIA, the sale is concluded at that price. If it offers a lower price, the seller may accept, withdraw the property from sale or stand by the price: the expropriation judge then sets the price (Article L. 213-4 of the French Urban Planning Code).
A notice to sell a dwelling let unfurnished counts as an offer to sell to the tenant, valid for the first two months of the notice period (Article 15, II of the French Law of 6 July 1989). In a sale by lots, a separate preemption right stems from the Law of 31 December 1975.
The SAFER can preempt agricultural property sold in rural areas: farmland, bare land with an agricultural vocation and certain farm buildings (Article L. 143-1 of the French Rural Code). It must pursue a statutory objective, such as helping farmers to set up, and then resell the property within a maximum of five years.
A sale concluded without a declaration of intent to sell, or on terms more advantageous than those declared, is void. The holder of the preemption right can bring an action for nullity for five years from the publication of the deed of sale (Article L. 213-2 of the French Urban Planning Code).
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