How a French judicial property auction works
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A judicial property auction in France most often follows a property seizure (saisie immobilière), when a creditor, known as the seizing creditor, obtains from the enforcement judge an order that the debtor’s property be sold so that the debt can be paid from the price. The procedure is set by the Code of Civil Enforcement Procedures, so it unfolds in the same way from one judicial court to another, even though local practice, particularly for visits, may vary. This guide presents the steps in the order in which a buyer meets them; it describes the ordinary procedure and does not replace the advice of the lawyer you will instruct, who alone can assess a particular sale.
The timeline below summarises these steps, which the sections of the guide then take one by one.
Before the hearing
One to two months before
Publication of the sale
The sale is announced in a legal notice journal, and the conditions of sale, which describe the property and the rules of the sale, can be consulted at the court registry or at the seizing creditor's lawyer.
On the date given in the notice
The visit
A commissaire de justice organises the visit on a date fixed in advance, and there is often only one.
A few days before
The lawyer and the guarantee
You instruct a lawyer registered at the bar of the court and hand them a guarantee equal to 10% of the starting price, at least €3,000, with your financing already secured.
On the day of the hearing
Before the enforcement judge
The award
The lawyers bid upwards from the starting price, and the property goes to the last bidder once ninety seconds pass without a new offer.
After the hearing
Within ten days
The overbid
Anyone may still offer a price at least 10% higher, which leads to a new hearing.
Within two months
Payment
The successful bidder pays the price and the costs of the sale; failing this, the property is put back up for sale at their expense.
Publication of the sale and the conditions of sale
The sale is announced by a notice published in a legal notice journal between one and two months before the hearing, and it is usually repeated on specialised websites and on those of lawyers. The notice states the starting price (mise à prix), that is the amount from which bidding begins, which is set by the seizing creditor and often lies below market value, though this says nothing about the price at which the property will finally be awarded.
The conditions of sale (cahier des conditions de vente) are, by contrast, the reference document. Filed at the court registry and available for consultation at the office of the lawyer acting for the seizing creditor, they describe the property, state its chain of title, reproduce the descriptive report drawn up by a commissaire de justice (judicial officer) together with the technical surveys, indicate whether the property is occupied and on what basis, and set the conditions under which the sale takes place. Reading them carefully is the only way to learn of easements, pending proceedings or the occupation of the property, which no score and no notice can replace.
The visit
A visit is usually organised by a commissaire de justice, on a date and at a time fixed in advance and stated in the notice, and there is often only one. It is therefore hardly possible to come back with a builder or to ask for a second visit, so it is best prepared from the descriptive report and the surveys.
Choosing a lawyer and the guarantee
You cannot bid in person: bids can only be made by a lawyer registered at the bar of the judicial court where the sale takes place, whom you must instruct a few days before the hearing. The lawyer asks the client for a guarantee equal to 10% of the starting price, and no less than €3,000, provided as a banker’s cheque or an irrevocable bank guarantee, which is returned if the client does not win the auction. It is also advisable to agree in writing with the lawyer the maximum amount up to which they are authorised to bid.
The sale is subject to no condition of obtaining a loan and opens no cooling-off period, so financing must be secured before the hearing, all the more since the time allowed to pay the price is short.
The auction hearing
The hearing takes place before the enforcement judge, and bids are made by the lawyers starting from the starting price. The last offer stands once ninety seconds have passed without a new bid, and the judge then awards the property to the last bidder, who becomes the successful bidder (adjudicataire). When nobody bids, the seizing creditor is in principle declared the purchaser by default at the starting price.
The overbid period
The award is not yet final when the hearing ends, since anyone has ten days to lodge, through a lawyer, an overbid (surenchère) of at least 10% of the principal price. The overbid leads to a new hearing, at which the property is auctioned again on the basis of that new amount, and no further overbid is allowed on this second award.
Payment of the price and costs
The successful bidder must pay the price within two months of the final award, after which the price bears interest at the statutory rate, and must settle the costs of the sale at the same time. These costs include the preliminary costs, that is the expenses incurred by the seizing creditor to bring about the sale, assessed by the judge and announced before bidding, the fees of the seizing creditor’s lawyer, calculated on a scale proportional to the price, the transfer duties, charged as for an ordinary sale, and the land registry contribution; the fees of the buyer’s own lawyer, which are freely agreed, come on top.
When the successful bidder fails to pay the price or the costs, the property may be put back up for sale under the procedure known as réitération des enchères, formerly called folle enchère. The defaulting bidder then loses the guarantee and remains liable for the difference when the property is resold at a lower price.
Moving in
The judgment of award, once published at the land registry, is the successful bidder’s title of ownership. When the property is occupied by the seized debtor, this judgment serves as an eviction order against them, although eviction follows its own time limits and cannot take place during the winter truce; when the property is let under a lease signed before the seizure, the lease continues, and the successful bidder becomes the sitting tenant’s landlord.
The Enchèria app gathers the notices, places each property against its market and simulates the cost of the purchase, which helps you prepare your meeting with the lawyer. It does not, however, replace the visit or a reading of the conditions of sale.