Controversy after a decision by the Court of Cassation which will cost the co-owners at least 10 billion euros

This market, which concerns the 10 million condominium lots in France, required by the Elan law of November 23, 2018 to update their deeds, can be valued at around 10 billion euros and was completely open to competition. Thus any measurement professional was free to carry them out, whether architects, topographers, diagnosticians, or design offices.

From now on, only the 1.800 expert surveyors registered with the Order would have the monopoly on drawing up these plans. As with any monopoly the prices will explode. To date, a topographer charges an average of €600 to €1.000 excluding tax for this type of service and surveyors nearly double that, or even more.

This doubled price will thus become the norm, which will lead to a loss of purchasing power for the co-owners of at least 10 billion euros.

Attributing this new monopoly, which only the law should be able to define, to expert surveyors is in no way legally justified. The Competition Authority, in an opinion dated February 28, 2018, also invited the Government to legislate on this issue.

For 4 years the government has still not initiated the reform of the profession of surveyors which was nevertheless supposed to put an end to the legal and economic insecurity linked to the current regulations.

This inertia will therefore cost 10 billion euros to the co-owners.

At a time when the cost of living is increasing at a worrying rate, this decision makes things even worse.

It therefore seems essential that the government and Parliament finally take up this question, and in general the monopoly of expert surveyors, established almost 80 years ago, which is no longer justified, neither technically nor legally.

The context of the case

In a case which opposed two co-owners on the subject of a common access road, the question of the alleged monopoly of the surveyors on the establishment of the plans annexed to the co-ownership deeds, particularly secondary, even anecdotal, was, in a fortuitous, found at the heart of the decision of the Court of Cassation.

This is how a co-owner wishing to prohibit part of the common access road to his neighbor co-owner, used the argument that the plan appended to the co-ownership deeds had not been drawn up by an Expert Surveyor, to pretext that this plan was not opposable to him. As a result, he would be justified in contesting the passage of his neighbour.

The judges of the 1st chamber and even though the reporting judge had decided to reject the appeal in a manner not specially reasoned, decided to quash the appeal judgment and to proceed with its publication on this question alone, extending by one stroke of the pen a monopoly, which for 80 years, had no bearing on acts of co-ownership.

A decision of the Court of Cassation having value of jurisprudence, it is to be feared that it obliges to make redo all the plans annexed to the acts of joint ownership.

How do you arrive at 10 billion euros?

• A surveyor-topographer charges between €600 and €1.000 excluding VAT for this type of plan attached to the deeds of co-ownership. This is an average, the operations can be more or less complex. A surveyor charges almost double this type of service.
• Thus, with 10.000.000 condominium lots, the potential turnover is between 6 and 20 billion euros, depending on whether the cost of the operation is 600, 1.000 or 2.000 € excluding tax.
• The expert surveyors being granted de facto the monopoly of the realization of the plans annexed to the deeds of co-ownership by the Court of Cassation, will obviously not lower their prices and, at best, will continue to price these deeds at 2.000 € HT room.

In addition, with this decision it is to be feared that all the plans annexed to the deeds of co-ownership will become unenforceable or quite simply void, which will require their repair at monopolistic rates.

Similarly, any new co-ownership will be forced to pay for the plans appended to these deeds at a monopolistic rate, which is, moreover, unregulated.

Definition

In a co-ownership, there are two types of deeds.

1. The co-ownership regulations (RCP) govern the operation of the co-ownership and define in particular the share of each co-owner in the charges as well as the voting rules within the General Assembly of the co-owners. In general, the RCP includes the Descriptive State of Division (EDD), which defines the common and private parts of the co-ownership and describes the lots and their shares.
2. The amendments to the descriptive statement of division (EDD) and to the co-ownership regulations (RCP) amend the RCP and the EDD when modifications are made to the co-ownership (creation of a lot on common portions, division of a lot, elevation/extension of a lot, etc.). Subject to the votes of the co-owners in AG, the amendments must then be published by a notary so that their objects become effective.