France (FR) — civil law.
Nothing on this page describes United States or Argentine practice. Read faux-amis first.
La saisie immobilière
The forced sale of an immovable in France. Governed by book III of the
code des procédures civiles d'exécution (CPCE) — articles L311-1 to
L341-1 (legislative) and R311-1 to R334-3 (regulatory).
The one-line shape
A creditor with an enforceable title serves a commandement de payer valant saisie, publishes it at the service de la publicité foncière, and brings the
debtor before the juge de l'exécution (JEX) of the tribunal judiciaire
where the property sits. The JEX decides at an audience d'orientation
whether the property is sold by vente amiable or by vente forcée. The
forced sale is an adjudication at a court hearing.
Steps
| Step | What it is |
|---|---|
commandement de payer valant saisie | The act that opens the procedure and, once published, makes the property unavailable. |
Publication au service de la publicité foncière | Gives the seizure effect against third parties. In Alsace-Moselle this step works differently — see below. |
assignation à l'audience d'orientation | Within two months of publication, the creditor summons the debtor. |
audience d'orientation | The JEX checks the procedure, resolves disputes, and orders either an amicable sale or a forced sale. |
cahier des conditions de vente | Filed at the greffe; the terms every bidder is deemed to accept. |
adjudication | The auction hearing itself. |
surenchère | A ten-day window in which the sale can be reopened — see surenchere. |
distribution du prix | The price is distributed among creditors by rank; any surplus returns to the debtor. |
Who is competent
Article R311-2 CPCE: the JEX of the tribunal judiciaire in whose ressort
the seized immovable is located.
This is worth stating plainly because it is the opposite of the Argentine position: in France the forum for an immovable is fixed by the property’s location and cannot be anywhere else. There is no national court selling property across the country.
The mise à prix
Article L322-6 CPCE: the pursuing creditor sets the mise à prix. If no
bid is made, the creditor is declared adjudicataire at that price. The debtor
may ask the judge to correct a mise à prix that is manifestly insufficient.
There is no rule tying the opening figure to any cadastral or assessed value. Anyone importing a fixed fraction-of-assessment rule from another system will be wrong.
Who may bid
Article L322-7 CPCE: subject to incapacities attaching to certain offices, any person may bid if they can show payment guarantees.
Read carefully: that is the capacity rule. It is not the procedural rule.
Bids are placed through an avocat of the local bar and in no other way — see
monopole-avocat, which is the fact that most changes how a foreign
buyer must operate.
Article L322-7-1 bars persons convicted of certain offences from bidding on residential property for the duration of the penalty.
What this procedure is not
- It does not sell a certificate, a lien, or any instrument to an investor.
- It does not run outside a court.
- It leaves no post-sale redemption window for the debtor.
needs_verification: the precise article for the réitération des enchères
(the re-auction at the defaulting winner’s risk), and the current text of the
surenchère articles, are cited from secondary sources on this page and should
be pinned to Legifrance article numbers before being relied on.