Notaire may have made an error in house purchase - what should I do?

Reader Question: I recently purchased a house and large plot of land only to find that a section I thought was mine, surrounded by a hedge, does not belong to me but the neighbour. They want to sell it to me but I was under the impression it was part of my plot, and the notaire did not inform me otherwise. What can I do about it?

There is a process for complaining about a notaire that has made an error, but you should first ensure that the notaire is indeed responsible for the issue in question. 

For issues regarding a home sale, it is possible that the estate agent should be the focus of complaints, or in some cases the error will fall on the buyer’s side.

For property sales, notaires are not required to visit properties, but simply confirm that legal documentation is correct and conduct an investigation to ensure all documents match and are correct.

You should check yourself whether the deed of sale (acte de vente) matches information about the property held by France’s land registry (available to view for free here), including total surface area of the land being purchased, before signing any document. 

If the information matches, then the notaire has not made a mistake and this parcel of land was never set to be included in the sale.

If the estate agent gave false information in the property listing, however, you may be covered under commercial clauses, allowing you to cancel the sale or seek compensation.

Estate agents in France should have professional insurance (Responsabilité Civile Professionnelle) in case of this.

Mediator, notaire council, court cases

In the event that the notaire has made an error with the documents during the sale, you should contact them immediately, with evidence showing the mistake.

Use a registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt (lettre recommandée avec accusé de réception) to ensure you have proof of making your request as well as your demands for restitution of the error, which can change depending on the situation.

In a case where the legal documentation contained false information about a property size, you may be entitled to compensation, calculated based on the error.

In the example above, this may be equivalent to the price being offered to purchase the land, with the compensation known as the perte subie. Alternatively, compensation known as perte de chance may be offered, based on the estimated loss from the error. 

However, the notaire may also propose their own restitution to you as part of an amicable exchange.

Any claim is ultimately handled by the notaire’s insurer however, so is subject to change.

If the notaire has not replied to your letter within two months, refuses your terms, or offers you an alternative that you believe is unsatisfactory, you can make a complaint to one of two higher authorities, asking them to preside over an amicable resolution between you and the notaire.

This can be made either through the official mediator for notaires (médiateur du notariat) or you can make a complaint about the notaire’s behaviour through the Conseil régional des notaires. 

If the council believes your complaint is valid, they can preside over a conciliation process between you and the notaire, including compensation for the error. 

They may also call the notaire for a disciplinary hearing with the chambre de discipline des notaires, and you are able to request this if the conciliation process fails.

Information on these steps can be found in our article here.

You will also be able to attempt to sue the notaire or open a civil liability case against them over the issue, through your local tribunal court.

This can also be advised by the Conseil régional des notaires if the conciliation process is unsuccessful. 

Note for cases where you are seeking more than €10,000 in damages, representation through a lawyer is mandatory.

For amounts of €5,000 or below, a prior attempt at an amicable settlement before going through the courts is necessary, but an attempt at an amicable proceeding is a generally a good first step even for higher amounts, to avoid a drawn out legal battle.

Full information can be found on the government’s official Service public information website.