Designed to protect buyers of real estate, the law requires sellers Carrez a number of rules must be respected to avoid litigation. Whether the method of calculating the surface or endorsements to be made to contracts of sale ...
Since June 18, 1997, the law Carrez (1) requires the seller of a strata lot (or a portion of lot) with mention of private land in all documents relating to the sale: preliminary contract (promise of sale or sales agreement) or bill of sale. If the concept of "strata lot" mainly apartments, however it also applies to houses forming joint property units called horizontal (2).
Two types of disputes may arise under the legislation. First, if the area is not mentioned in the deed of sale, the purchaser may, within one month after the signing, bring an action for nullity of the deed of sale. On the other hand, if the actual area of the property is more than a twentieth (5%) than indicated in the preliminary contract or the deed of sale, the purchaser may, within one year after the signing of the act, request a price reduction (or refund) proportional to the square meter reported in excess (3).
In both cases, the penalty is therefore the exclusive benefit of the purchaser. The law specifies that "if the area is greater than that expressed in the act, the surplus measure does give rise to any surcharge." (4)
An Efficient Measurement
To comply with the obligations Carrez law, it is important to respect a way of calculating the surface quite specific. In this case, the Carrez law is to measure the surface unit, not the living space. The surface unit, as defined by Article 4-1 of the decree of May 23, 1997, "is the floor area of buildings closed and covered after deduction of the surfaces occupied by walls, partitions, stairs and shafts stairways, pipes, doorways and windows. It is not considered the portions of floor space with a height less than 1.80 meters. "
Section 4-2 says about him "lots or portions of lots with an area less than 8 m2 were not considered for the calculation of area deprivation. "It may be, for example, a maid's room. Similarly, basements, garages, parking spaces, boxes or squares parking sold in separate lots are not counted.
To make these measurements and perform this calculation, the seller is not obligated to hire a professional. This option is recommended, however if he wants to ensure any measurement error.
(1) Law No. 96-1107 of 18 December 1996.
(2) On the other hand, the Carrez law does not apply in the case of buying off plan, which is subject Article R 261-13 Code of Construction or purchase of land for development.
(3) The calculation of this price difference can be expressed as: (Purchase price of the property / area mentioned) x (Area mentioned - Area real)
(4) Article 46 of Law No. 65 - 557 of July 10, 1965, as amended by the Loi Carrez.
When to call a professional?
In some cases, the owner may proceed himself to the measurement of the surface to sell without undue risk. This is particularly true when the plan is simple, either because it has fewer parts, either because they are rectangular. Caution, however, is much more smaller, the risk of error is likely to exceed the 5% allowed. In the case of a studio of 18 m² for example, this represents more than 0.9 m², or the surface of a recess or a few steps ...
