Service · heading C.18.1
Know the market value of your French property, with a report that holds up
House, flat, building, land, commercial premises or business property in France: a reasoned market value for an inheritance, a divorce, a gift, a tax audit or a dispute.
- Expert registered with the RENNES Court of Appeal
- Charte de l’expertise 2025
- EVS 2025 TEGOVA
- Professional indemnity insured
Market value, valeur vénale in French, is the price at which a property could reasonably be sold, at the valuation date, between an informed seller and an informed buyer, after normal exposure to the market. That is the definition used by the Charte de l’expertise en évaluation immobilière (the French property valuation charter) and by the European Valuation Standards 2025. It is not the asking price in a listing, nor the insurance value, nor the cadastral value.
My report serves one purpose: that the person reading it (notaire, lawyer, tax inspector, judge) can follow the reasoning and check it. Every comparable is identified, every adjustment is justified, every assumption is written down.
Your situation
- You are settling an inheritance and the notaire (French civil-law notary) needs a value at the date of death that will stand up to the French tax authorities.
- You are divorcing and must fix the value of the family home to calculate a soulte (equalising payment) or a récompense (compensation between spouses).
- You have received a tax reassessment notice (IFI, the French wealth tax on property, inheritance duties, capital gains) and must demonstrate a different value.
- You are the guardian of a protected adult and the judge asks for a value before authorising the sale of their home.
- You are buying, selling or contributing an unusual property (Breton longère, manor house, land with planning permission, commercial premises, common parts of a building) whose value calls for a demonstration rather than a simple comparison.
What the report contains
- Legal and physical description of the property, tenancy status, planning, easements, statutory surveys
- Analysis of the local market (Finistère, southern Brittany or the area concerned) with named sources
- Detailed comparables: DVF (the French public register of property sales), notarial databases, actual sales, adjusted listings
- Cross-checked and weighted methods where the property lends itself to them (comparison, income, DCF), with explicit assumptions
- Value stated as a range and as a single figure, at the date requested (today or a past date)
- Appendices: plans, photographs, cadastral extracts, evidence for each comparable
Methods used
- Comparison (sales of similar properties, adjusted)Read the method article
- Income capitalisation (let properties, investment buildings)
- Residual method (land, developer's land budget)
- Depreciated replacement cost (properties with no market)
- Historical value and updating (inheritance, divorce, limitation periods)
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between an estate agent's estimate and a market value report?
An estate agent's estimate is an opinion of value, usually free and without commitment. A property valuation report is signed by an insured expert, under a prior written contract, and justifies and demonstrates the value by an explicit method (Charte de l'expertise en évaluation immobilière, the French property valuation charter, Title I, §1.1). It is produced before a notaire, a judge or the tax authorities.
Can you value a property at a past date?
Yes. This is common for an inheritance (value at the date of death), a divorce (value at the date the matrimonial regime ended or at the date of partition), a tax reassessment or an action for rescission. The report relies on the sales and the state of the market at the date requested.
Is a visit necessary?
Yes. The very word expertise implies a visit of the property (Charte de l'expertise, Title I, §1.1). The condition, the nuisances and the qualities that photographs do not show all weigh on the value. Without a visit, the work is a desktop opinion, which lists the documents received and missing and does not claim the rigour of a full report (Charte, §8.6).
Can a report I commissioned on my own be used in court?
It is admissible, but the judge cannot base the decision solely on a report that the other party could not challenge (Cour de cassation, Mixed Chamber, 28 September 2012, appeal no. 11-18.710). It must be corroborated by other evidence. Once the dispute is under way, a joint private valuation, to which the other party is invited, carries far more weight.
Do you work outside Finistère?
Yes, throughout Brittany without a significant surcharge and across France with travel costs itemised in the quote. For distant properties, a desktop opinion can be offered as a first step.
Describe your situation, receive a free quote
By email or by phone, as you prefer. The quote sets out the assignment, the timeframe and the price.