Le Télégramme: as a notary in Côtes-d'Armor, you regularly receive owners wishing to sell a piece of their land to a buyer wanting to build. How do these meetings go?
Nicolas Bosquet: “The classic pattern is: the seller and the buyer present themselves to sign the promise of sale, and nothing has been anticipated. So we tell them that they must start by obtaining a town planning certificate, so as not to generate costs, in the event that it is not possible to build. Often, these are poorly understood situations and, moreover, difficult to understand. The land division is almost the most complicated thing to sell at the moment. And longer. »
Are these operations relatively complex?
“Much more than they seem. From a legal point of view, any division of land with a view to building constitutes a subdivision lot and is treated as such. That is to say, if you buy a plot of garden with a view to building, you must first submit an application for a planning certificate – it takes around two months to obtain it. Then, you must make an appointment with the surveyor, who will be responsible for filing the preliminary declaration of division; it takes a month to obtain it. Which is the subject of a non-opposition order. Which prescribes or not work to be the responsibility of the owner. If there is work to be done, he must contact Enedis, GRDF, the water service, etc.
Then comes the stage of perimeter demarcation, so a surveyor must have all the neighbors sign in order to establish the property limits. Most often, the seller must also have equipped the land, created the networks… Because in principle, we should only obtain a building permit from the moment the land is serviced. All this takes a lot of time and generates costs, obviously. In the end, it takes nine months to a year to sell such land. This is a point that is important to emphasize. »
“If you sell land with a view to building without having complied with the work obligations, the act is potentially voidable. There is a criminal fine of 15,000 euros. »
What if these steps are not followed?
“In principle, there are criminal sanctions behind all of this. If you sell land with a view to building without having complied with the work obligations, the act is potentially voidable and normally, the town hall should not issue a permit until the work is done, there is a 15,000 euro cost. criminal fine at stake. In practice, however, some municipalities do it. »
However, despite the wait and the difficulties, some people still resort to dividing land…
“Yes, because we must remember that there are two ways to obtain building land today. Either you buy from a developer who is developing a plot with a view to building – a practice today almost doomed to disappear in many sectors given the regulations on Zero Net Artificialization (ZAN). Or you buy land from an individual, and regularly, it is a piece of their property. Or a division of land he owns. Now, as subdivision type operations are becoming rarer, proportionally, there are surely more diffuse sales. Afterwards, in general, these lands are well located, rare… They are therefore often sold very expensive. And therefore, reserved for people who have certain means. »
The regulation of these sales depends on the local town planning plan of each municipality… But in general, is there a minimum surface area of land to be respected?
“It would be quite the opposite. Today, we will instead limit the area of land for sale. For example, we sell plots of less than 200 m². Because the idea is to densify. So if I have a plot of land of 1,000 m² and I wish to sell it in a single lot, it is likely that the municipality or the agglomeration will require me to make at least two lots. In any case, I could not locate a house right in the middle, so as to preserve the land reserve for the future, to maintain the possibility of redividing and reselling the garden later. »
