Buyers win compensation for collapsed French chimney

Property buyers are advised to ensure that estate agent marketing descriptions accurately reflect a building’s condition, after responsibility for a chimney that collapsed days after a house sale became the subject of a long-standing legal battle.

An appeal court in Douai (Nord) eventually ruled on the side of the buyers, saying that the agent failed to make clear the chimneys were in a dangerous state, and ordering the agents to pay partial compensation.

This amounted to €18,000, plus €4,000 in costs. The buyers had initially sought the full €24,000 in fees paid to the agents for the sale, plus €4,500 in costs.

Judges ruled that the description of the building, which stated that “the exterior is in good condition”, was inaccurate, and that as property professionals the agents should have recognised that the two chimneys were in poor condition and leaning. The estimated cost of repairs was €106,000.

An exclusive mandate to sell the house – an 18th-Century property next to a cathedral – was given to the estate agents in March 2018. The acte authentique (also known as the acte de vente) was signed on June 29 of that year.

The new owners did not move in immediately, and on July 17, the sellers told them that municipal officers had discovered part of a chimney had collapsed into the road.

In an initial case brought against the sellers, the new owners tried to get the sale annulled because of a vice caché (hidden defect).

However, the lower court hearing the case dismissed it, reasoning that chimneys which were already leaning and close to collapse could not be regarded as ‘hidden’.

The buyers then sued the estate agents for the fees they had paid, arguing that the agents had failed, as professionals, to warn them about the state of the chimneys and how much it would cost to repair them.

Again, the lower court dismissed the case, but this time the buyers appealed, and won a partial compensation order.

In their defence, the agents argued that although the poor condition of the roof was known, no one could have foreseen that the chimneys would collapse.

Several professional builders had visited the property during the sale process, and none had highlighted the danger from the chimneys.

The estate agents added that the buyers had visited the house several times before signing the contract, including once with someone they introduced as a “property investor”, and therefore had a clear understanding of the building’s condition.

In an expert report presented to the court, the buyers said that while the chimneys could not be seen from the narrow streets, they could be seen through windows in the building. 

Photos taken for the report clearly showed the chimneys leaning and missing cement joints in places.

They further argued that the estate agent’s description of the property’s exterior being “in very good condition” was wrong, as shown by the photos.

It was on this final point that the appeal court judges agreed, and so ordered the agents to pay. Read the full court report.