French law protects the seller of real property who has parted with it for less than five twelfths of its value. The seller may apply for rescission of the sale for lésion (article 1674 of the Civil Code), within two years of the sale (article 1676). Lesion, in this sense, is a sale for less than five twelfths of the property’s value, in other words a shortfall of more than seven twelfths. The whole procedure turns on a question of valuation, for which the law provides an appraisal by three experts. Two rulings of the Third Civil Chamber of the Cour de cassation (the French supreme court for civil and commercial matters) illustrate the two stages of the action: the likelihood of lesion, then the buyer’s option.
How the mechanism works
- The threshold. The lesion must exceed seven twelfths of the price: the property must be worth more than 2.4 times the price paid. Value is assessed “according to the condition and value of the property at the time of the sale” (article 1675, translated from the French).
- The filter. Proof of lesion is admitted only by a court judgment, “and only where the facts alleged are sufficiently likely and sufficiently serious to raise a presumption of lesion” (article 1677). The court then orders an appraisal by three experts, who draw up a joint report (article 1678).
- The option. If lesion is established, the buyer chooses: return the property and recover the price, or keep it and pay the balance of the fair price, less one tenth of the total price (article 1681).
First ruling: the buyer chooses, within a reasonable time
On 26 December 2008, a couple had sold their house to an SCI (société civile immobilière, a French property-holding company) for €120,000, with a right of occupation. A judgment of 8 November 2012 rescinded the sale for lesion, leaving the buyer the choice between returning the property and keeping it against payment of a price supplement. The company then went into receivership and then into liquidation. On 8 November 2016, the liquidator announced that it would keep the property and pay the supplement. The sellers argued that the option, exercised more than four years after the judgment, was out of time.
The Cour de cassation dismissed the appeal (Cass. 3e civ., 5 January 2022, appeal no. 20-18.918, reported decision): “The exercise of the option provided for in article 1681 of the Civil Code belongs to the buyer, who alone has the initiative and who must exercise it within the time set by the decision that found lesion or, failing that, within a reasonable time” (translated from the French). The Nîmes Court of Appeal had found, within its discretion, that the buyer’s declaration was not out of time.
Second ruling: compulsory purchase compensation as evidence of lesion
A company had sold to a public land agency, by a preliminary agreement of 25 November 2011 and a deed of 31 January 2012, eight plots with a total area of 7 hectares 56 ares 10 centiares, at €32.15 per square metre, while keeping three plots. In 2016, a public development zone including the plots retained was declared to be in the public interest, and compulsory purchase compensation was fixed at €103 per square metre. The seller applied to have the sale set aside for fraud (dol) and, in the alternative, rescinded for lesion. The Lyon Court of Appeal rejected both claims.
The Cour de cassation quashed the decision on lesion (Cass. 3e civ., 16 March 2023, appeal no. 21-23.702). Citing article 1677, it criticised the Court of Appeal for not having examined whether the comparison between the compulsory purchase compensation, €103 per square metre, and the lesion threshold, €77.16 per square metre, made lesion likely enough to justify the expert appraisal. The €77.16 threshold is €32.15 multiplied by twelve fifths.
What the expert brings
A value at a past date, in a past condition. Lesion is assessed at the date of the sale, in the condition of the property at that date, regardless of any later increase in value. For land, this means reconstructing the zoning, the building rights and the market of the time, and not reasoning with the prices of a later development project. Compulsory purchase compensation fixed four years later is an indication of likelihood, as the 2023 ruling accepts, not a value at the date of sale.
A figure that can be compared with the threshold. The report expresses the value as a range and then as a single figure, and sets it against the price and the seven twelfths threshold. In the 2023 case, a value of €80 per square metre at the date of sale would establish lesion. A value of €70 would not, whatever price has been reached since.
The fair price supplement is calculated too. When the buyer chooses to keep the property, the supplement is the difference between the fair price and the price paid, less one tenth of the total price. The 2022 ruling also recalls that the court may order an appraisal of the rental value to fix an occupation indemnity. The Charte de l’expertise en évaluation immobilière (the French property valuation charter) defines market value (6th edition, November 2025, Title III, § 1.1) and requires the valuation date and the assumptions adopted to be stated in writing (Title I, § 2.2). The European Valuation Standards 2025 deal with valuations at an earlier date in EVS 4, on the valuation process.
Further reading
The Market value page describes valuation at a past date, its timescale and its fee. On the same theme: Can a property sale in France be cancelled because you were “had”? and The seller is deemed to know the value and the area of the property. The rulings are available on Légifrance: 5 January 2022 and 16 March 2023.
What next
You think you sold, or bought, well below the value?
I reconstruct the market value of the property at the date of the sale, in its condition at the time, with the references of the period: this is the document your lawyer needs to assess whether the seven twelfths threshold is reached, or to contest it.
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