uCan property owners have a “right of first refusal” or“ requisition”, Both have some compensation?
In principle, no: mechanisms for acquiring property through “acquired prescription”, or “usefulness”, ‘Doesn’t benefit municipalities’, Most recently (March 22, 2011 and March 8, 2012) the Ministry of the Interior was confirmed. However, the Supreme Court fully authorizes it, as the example below shows.
On March 15, 2011, Andrée X, 70, and Laurent Y, 31, inherited by inheritance the owners of a 14-acre (1,400 m2) plot in the commune of Cuges-les-Pins (Bouches-du-Rhone). This ancient wheat field, Say “where we dance », It had belonged to their family for generations; it returned to them after the death of their respective father and great-grandfather, Antoine X. They plan to build there.
Alas, they were summoned before the Grand Inquisition Court of Marseille by the municipality, which intends to declare itself the owner of the land. Under the thirty-year statute of limitations imposed by the Civil Code (in particular, Articles 712, 2258, 2261 and 2272), it argued that it had been openly the owner of the plot of land since 1971, that is, for more than three decades , with no objection: she built a parking lot there, and later, without objection from the owner, she tarred the lot and planted trees.
the court admitted her “Enjoyed peaceful, open, continuous, clear and exclusive ownership for over thirty years” She earned the title for it.
Financial counterpart
Seeing the estate escape from them without financial compensation, angry heirs appealed. They confirmed that the city government can no longer do this because 1Well In July 2006, the date of entry into force of the General Code of Public Property (CG3P), a statute of limitations was required because it was not part of the ways it enumerated to acquire property. The Aix-en-Provence Court of Appeal approved the decision on June 3, 2021.
The municipality is appealing and its lawyer Mr.electronic In Hervé Hazan’s view, the Court of Appeal ruled that it reserved the acquired statute of limitations only for private persons on the one hand, which violated the Civil Code, and on the other hand violated CG3P by ruling that its enumeration would be “exclusive”. He emphasized that case law has consistently recognized this method of access, including since 1Well July 2006.The Supreme Court agreed with him and reversed the appeal decision on January 4 (2023, 21-18.993), saying “Available by prescription to the public”.
she emphasized “income” This collection method, “Responding to the General Interest in Legal Certainty” : It grants a title deed to the owner of the property who has not contested the possession of the property for a certain period of time. Therefore, the heirs of Antoine X can only attack the deceased landowner, that is, from 1961 to 2010: he should react immediately after the municipality converted it into a parking lot.