Expropriation Lawyer

The assistance of lawyers throughout an expropriation procedure is essential to preserve the rights of private owners affected by the cessibility order; moreover, representation by a lawyer is mandatory before the expropriation judge. The Expropriation area of intervention may concern owners of urban, suburban or rural real estate (including subsurface rights) or tenants, craftsmen, traders, liberal professions or industrialists or farmers, regardless of your activity.

• Public inquiry
• Declaration of Public Utility (DUP)
• Parcel survey
• Cessibility order
• Setting of compensation
• Assistance in negotiation phases

Our lawyers carry out the valuation of assets with the client and manage the operations of all ancillary compensation that may be claimed during an expropriation, such as depreciation of the surplus, lengthening of routes, moving, business disruption, loss of clientele, various damages, reinstatement costs, restoration of fencing, etc.

Depending on the specificity of the client's assets, the various heads of damages that may be claimed must be adapted.
Accustomed to procedures before expropriation judges and administrative courts, and knowledgeable about the real estate market, using a lawyer helps to best determine a claim for compensation.

Lawyer for Declaration of Public Utility

The Declaration of Public Utility (DUP) is the administrative act by which the Prefect authorizes the expropriating authority to expropriate properties and evict those holding rental rights to these properties. The DUP can be contested and challenged through a non-suspensive administrative appeal or judicial review before administrative courts (Administrative Tribunal and Administrative Court of Appeal within two months of its publication).

Contesting a Declaration of Public Utility (DUP)

For the expropriated party, the interest in contesting a DUP by engaging in proceedings is to obtain better compensation. This result is the culmination of a good knowledge of the file and a public inquiry prior to the issuance of the DUP. It is on the basis of the DUP and then the cessibility order, which can also be contested within the same two-month period as the DUP, that the expropriation judge transfers ownership by way of an expropriation order in favor of the expropriating authority.

Our lawyers can also explain to you how to still challenge the DUP if the two-month deadline has expired.
Finally, after being expropriated and compensated, the expropriated party has a right of retrocession for thirty years from the expropriation order if the property has not received the purpose announced in the DUP or has ceased to receive it.

Opening of the public inquiry prior to the DUP

The inquiry generally lasts a month or more, and it is important at this stage to review the public inquiry file either by consulting it, downloading it if it is online on the prefecture or expropriating authority's websites, or by requesting a copy - which the law allows.
After reviewing this inquiry file with the assistance of your lawyer, you will need to meet, if applicable, the Investigating Commissioner and/or, failing that, send them your comments and observations.

Throughout the duration of the public inquiry and at dates and times set by decree, an Investigating Commissioner is available to all persons interested in the inquiry file: it is important to make them aware of your observations, comments, and requests.

After the public inquiry

Once the investigation is closed, the Investigating Commissioner has one month to submit their report and conclusions, which may be favorable or unfavorable. The Investigating Commissioner may also attach reservations or recommendations to their opinion.

However, the opinion of the Investigating Commissioner is not a binding opinion, so the expropriating authorities may choose not to follow it.
But, in the event of an unfavorable opinion, any interested parties, and in particular the expropriated person, may refer the matter to the administrative court for an interim suspension order with a view to obtaining a stay.

Avocat indemnisation expropriation

In the context of expropriation procedures, the expropriating administration generally begins by making amicable offers with a view to initiating amicable negotiations during which our lawyers can advise and/or represent their clients. The administration may also notify its offers in order to refer the matter to the expropriation judge, which does not prevent the continuation of amicable negotiations, the expropriation judge being able, where applicable, to ratify an agreement or, failing agreement, to set the price.

The procedure begins with notification by registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt of a memorandum of offer or an offer, to which the expropriating authority invites the expropriated party to respond within six weeks, which is why it is important to contact your lawyer as soon as the expropriated party becomes aware of the expropriation project they will face.

In general, the expropriating authority's offer is made based on the opinion that the expropriating authority must request from the state property services (Services de France Domaine or DNID). It is recommended, at this stage, not to accept without having contacted a lawyer. Indeed, it is then necessary to prepare a response memorandum accompanied by the documents and comparison elements that one intends to rely on.

Drafting of a brief

Drafting a brief is mandatory, as the procedure before the expropriation judge is a written procedure. In addition to the expropriating authority and the expropriated party, the procedure before the expropriation judge involves a representative of the state property department called the Government Commissioner, who must submit his conclusions, on pain of inadmissibility, eight days before the site visit.

Expropriation judge

Indeed, the expropriation judge is a judge who travels to visit the expropriated properties; he hears the parties' observations following this visit or sets a hearing date before the Tribunal de Grande Instance of the department in which the properties are expropriated. At the end of the hearing, the expropriation judge indicates the date on which he will render his decision; the expropriation judge sets a price or compensation increased by reinstatement costs and ancillary compensation according to the rules provided for by the expropriation code, particularly for real estate after determining the reference date.

Bailiff's Act

This decision must be served by bailiff's act at the initiative of either party, and an appeal may be filed within one month of such service. The proceedings then take place before the Court of Appeal: the appellant must file their appeal brief within three months of their appeal declaration, and the respondent as well as the Government Commissioner must respond within two months of notification of the appeal brief sent to them by the expropriation registry, on pain of inadmissibility.