Expropriation: what remedies are available?

You are being expropriated and wondering how to challenge it? As an owner threatened with expropriation by a public entity, you have rights and remedies are available. We explain everything about the expropriation procedure and how to defend yourself.

What is expropriation?

Expropriation is a procedure that allows a public entity (the State) to compel a private individual or legal entity to transfer their real estate property, in order to carry out public works or urban development projects (construction of railways, highways, social housing, etc.), in exchange for the payment of compensation.

The expropriation procedure

– Administrative phase

Before any expropriation, the administrative authority must organize an investigation whose dates are relayed in the local press as well as by the town hall of the city concerned. It cannot be less than one month in most cases.

At the same time, it may conduct a so-called "parcel" survey aimed at informing owners of the properties from which they are being expropriated; this survey cannot be less than 15 days.

– How to contest at this stage?

You can find the documents related to this inquiry at the town hall; at the sub-prefecture or prefecture as well as on the websites of these administrations. You are permitted to express your various arguments against the project in the inquiry register provided and to the inquiry commissioner, whom you can meet and to whom you can write.

Arguments you can put forward include, for example:

· noise nuisances (caused by a highway, an airport…);

· nuisances affecting quality of life (pollution, resident safety…) ;

· threats to surrounding fauna and flora;

· the loss of earnings for certain professionals (desertion of villages…);

· the disproportionate interference with private property.

At the end of the inquiries, the investigating commissioner has one month to deliver their conclusions and opinions, which may be favorable, favorable with reservations, or unfavorable.

The administrative phase ends with the prefect issuing a declaration of public utility, which may also serve as a cessibility order.

These administrative acts can be challenged in court before the competent Administrative Court. As an owner affected by the project, you have the right to take action against these acts before the Court. The deadline for filing an appeal is two months from the publication of the order declaring the public utility. You can precede this appeal with a preliminary administrative appeal to the competent authority; this preliminary appeal extends the deadline for the contentious appeal.

The arguments to present to the judge may be:

· Is the project justified by a genuine public interest?

· Does the local authority not already have land where it could carry out the operation under equivalent conditions without resorting to expropriation?

· Is the infringement on the property of the expropriated person disproportionate to the objective pursued?

– Judicial phase

The judicial phase can be opened as soon as the order opening the inquiry is issued.

This is the phase where the transfer of ownership of your property to the public entity actually takes place through an expropriation order issued at the end of a non-adversarial procedure.

– How to contest at this stage?

The expropriation order may be subject to an appeal in cassation.

The judicial phase also includes the determination of the compensation due to the expropriated parties.

Negotiating the expropriation compensation

This may begin with an amicable phase where the expropriating authority seeks an amicable agreement;

They then notify an official offer that you may refuse.

At this stage, you must seek assistance to understand the rules for setting compensation and the stakes of a procedure before the expropriation judge.

Indeed, resorting to the expropriation judge often makes it possible to improve the compensation offered by providing a real estate expert certificate and by establishing, for example, the price generally practiced for an equivalent property in the same city.

You can also assert before the expropriation judge all ancillary damages caused by the expropriation (depreciation of the remainder, loss of fencing, etc.).

Note that the expropriating authority can only take possession of your property after this procedure and one month after having paid you the compensation.

To conclude

The expropriation procedure includes an administrative phase followed by a judicial phase. At each phase, appeals are possible to challenge the project, first before the Administrative Court (against the prefectural decree establishing the DUP and the prefectural decree of cessibility), then before the Judicial Court. Since 2020, a lawyer is mandatory and is in any case strongly recommended in such a complex procedure.

Me Claudine Coutadeur and Me Henri de Lagarde, partner lawyer and counsel lawyer in real estate law, will know how to defend you to assert your rights during your expropriation.

Article written with the help of Clara Marniesse, apprentice jurist.

 

Expropriation