Exclusive: Joseph Pascual, President of the Superior Council of the Order of Expert Surveyors, analyzes the leading judgment of the Court of Cassation of June 29, 2022

Batinfo: Can you remind us of the history and prerogatives of the Order of Surveyors?

Joseph Pascual: L'Order was created by the law of May 7, 1946 and today represents nearly 2000 expert surveyors. Distributed throughout France, they implement the provisions of article 1-1 of our ordinal law, “only expert surveyors set the limits of landed property”. Concretely, to know the limits of a property, whether you own a piece of land or a lot of co-ownership, you must therefore call on a surveyor. Due to the territorial network of the members of the Order, an expert surveyor should be present within a radius of 30km around your home.

Our missions consist of:

• to regulate the profession. Surveyor-expert is a regulated profession that depends on a supervisory ministry, the one in charge of town planning, to which we report. To be registered on the roll of the Order, and thus be able to practice, there are conditions in particular of diploma and a training obligation. The Regional Councils of Surveyors are responsible for ensuring that our members regularly participate in continuing education.
• to ensure compliance with ethics and the rules of the art to ensure a level of excellence and uniformity of the services of our members throughout France.

Batinfo: What did this judgment of the Court of Cassation of June 29, 2022 highlight for you?

Joseph Pascual: For me, this stop recalled that there is no "sub-owner" in France. Whether you own land or own a condominium lot, it is always land. The guarantees provided by expert surveyors to owners are always the same and at the same level. This decision of the Court of Cassation only confirms this vision which has always been that of the Order, as indicated by our ordinal law, and thus establishes the right that the plans annexed to the descriptive statements of division which delimit the goods land must be carried out exclusively by surveyors.

Batinfo: Does the Court of Cassation offer you a monopoly through its judgment?

Joseph Pascual: This is not a new monopoly. The law of May 7, 1946 effectively entrusted us a conditional monopoly. In my opinion, it is the counterpart of a fair protection of the right of property, which I remind you, is framed by the constitution. This judgment of the Court of Cassation does not create anything new, it only recalls the legislation in force for 80 years.

Batinfo: The fears concerning the increase in your prices with this monopoly situation are therefore unfounded in your opinion?

Joseph Pascual: Given that for us, the situation has not changed and that the Court of Cassation has only recalled the provisions of the 1946 law, our fees will not suddenly increase. Following this order, I commissioned a survey of 250 colleagues and based on copies of their statements of fees to estimate the cost of producing a plan attached to a descriptive statement of division. We continue to feed this database even now. This first survey shows that the average cost of producing a plan appended to a descriptive statement of division is around 400 euros including tax. I would also like to point out that the profession of surveyors is subject to competition and each surveyor therefore applies their own tariff.

Nevertheless, for 400 euros including tax, we provide a strong legal guarantee: the opposability of the limits of the property and the attached rights.

Batinfo: Some thought that until now these measures were feasible by all types of measurement professionals and that this decree came to remove this freedom, what do you think?

Joseph Pascual: According to the decree of October 14, 1955, which defines the way in which a co-ownership lot must be identified, "Each fraction of a building must be identified by its location, itself determined by its location in the building or by reference to a plan or a sketch appended to the minute of the act”. Based on this decree, one might think that certain co-ownership lots would not be identified by a plan appended to a descriptive statement of division but by a single literal description. However, since the publication of this decree, no more notary publishes a co-ownership regulation with a descriptive statement of division without an attached plan, because it is about the guarantee of the limits of the co-ownership lot and the attached rights.

Batinfo: In your opinion, the level of quality of the service and guarantee provided by the expert surveyors therefore technically and legally justifies this monopoly?

Joseph Pascual: For me, the level of education and training that surveyors receive as well as the growing presence of technology and law in our activities justify this monopoly. The more technology there is, the greater the need for experts capable of legally qualifying the data produced by new technologies. Knowing how to control and qualify the data, such is the role of a surveyor-expert. Our monopoly is justified by our ability to guarantee the limits and the rights attached to a piece of land or a co-ownership lot. This decision of the Court of Cassation therefore guarantees the rights of all owners and recalls that there are no sub-owners.