To compel the buyer or the seller to sign, there are conditions

Not only must the deadline for signing the notarial deed set by the promise or the sales agreement be exceeded, but the claimant must also be certain of the definitive refusal of the other, specified the Court of Cassation. .

Justice had been seized by a seller because his buyer did not appear before the notary although there is no longer any obstacle to the sale, the deadline for signature having been reached and all the conditions precedent of the compromise of sale having been made.

This seller could, at his choice, ask the judge to pronounce the rescission of the sale, that is to say its cancellation accompanied by indemnities to be paid by the defaulting buyer, or ask the judge to pronounce the forced realization of the sale. sale since it had legally become "perfect".

Having chosen the first solution, the seller argued that the sale was made when the two parties agreed on the thing and on the price, that all the conditions precedent had disappeared, and he therefore claimed its cancellation, with compensation for the unjustified evasion of its purchaser.

But to exercise this legal action, to formulate this request, it is not enough to note this situation after the deadline for signature, it is necessary to provide proof that the other party has indeed withdrawn without valid reason and definitively, has explained the Court.

It follows that the five-year period open to seize the judge does not run from the day scheduled for the signature and not respected but from the day when one of the contracting parties learned that the other would not respect his commitment, concluded the Court of Cassation.

(Cass. Civ 3, March 1.10.2020, 19, U 16.561-XNUMX).