Inherited property sales made simpler

Drawn-out legal battles between the heirs of French property could be a thing of the past thanks to a change in the law.

A situation of indivision (shared ownership) often arises when children inherit a property such as a French home that was owned by an expat. In the past this often caused long delays trying to sell the property.

Fortunately new rules have simplified the procedures for doing this, says notaire Laurent Cozic, a partner in the Groupe Monassier, Dinard (www.notaires-dinard.com).

Traditionally, when indivision owners (such as heirs who have inherited a house) wanted to sell they had to come to a unanimous agreement both to sell it and on the price.

If there was no agreement it was necessary to apply for an action en partage (division by a court) so the property could be sold off at auction by the court (called une vente à la barre du tribunal).

This was long, costly, affected the final price and was not widely used. The new rules have brought in a procedure using a notaire, which aims to speed things up.

The people wanting to sell have to declare this intention in front of a notaire, who then notifies the owner or owners who do not want to sell, using a huissier (bailiff), within two months.

The minority owners have three months to react. The notaire then makes an official record of their silence or opposition. He or she then applies to the local tribunal de grande instance to authorise the sale of the property if they consider this does not cause any excessive harm to the rights of the other owners.

If the court authorises it, the sale takes place and the money is distributed among the owners after any debts on the property are paid off.

For example: a Briton who owned property in France and the UK dies leaving his property to four children in the UK. Previously it was necessary for heirs who wanted to sell the French property to wait until all other inheritance proceedings were finalised before taking out an action en partage against an heir who was opposed to the sale. Now, once inheritance proceedings are over in France the new notaire procedure can be used for French property.

Under the new rules an owner who remains silent will have notice of the others’ intention to sell via the notaire. If they do not react then this counts against them. Under the old rules, by doing nothing they could hold a sale up.

The aim is to avoid situations of forced co-ownership where there is often bad feeling and the property may not be properly managed and maintained. The new rules also avoid an auction sale, which made the final price very uncertain.

Instead the owners who want to sell simply agree a price with a buyer.

The request to start this new procedure to sell the house must come from people (or a person) with at least two-thirds ownership of the property.

It applies to any indivision, apart from the following cases:

- When one of the co-owners is considered by the juge des tutelles (a court official at the tribunal d’instance) to be legally absent (ie. no news of them is available), is not in a state to express their wishes or is under a legal protection order such as curatelle or tutelle (guardianship or wardship).

- Where the property is held in an arrangement of usufruit and nue-propriété (that is legal right to use a property over which another person owns the freehold).

Apart from in the case of inheritance, ownership in indivision can also arise in some other cases such as when a property is given to several people or in some cases after divorce where the husband and wife had a shared assets marriage regime.

It also occurs where friends buy together without another, more formal, legal arrangement for ownership, such as creating a société civile immobilière.