Joint ownership: the hidden cost of a poorly orchestrated estate

Oct 6, 2026

Indivision : le coût caché d'une succession mal orchestrée

The law of 7 April 2026 gives judges new tools, but retains unanimity and the two-thirds threshold. For a Paris estate, every year of deadlock is paid for in service charges, lost rent and, from 2027, vacant property tax.

Key points

A court-ordered division takes six to seven years on average, according to the Conseil national des barreaux (June 2026).
In 2023, only 33.7% of inheritance tax returns were filed within the six-month deadline (Cour des comptes).
In Paris, from 2027, vacant property tax reaches 30% of the rental value in the first year, then 60%.

A deadlocked inherited joint ownership (indivision) costs time first of all. A court-ordered division takes six to seven years on average, according to the Conseil national des barreaux (June 2026). For an empty 60 sq m flat in Paris, our illustration puts this cost at between 3.7% and 4.7% of market value per year.

The law of 7 April 2026 does not change this arithmetic. It retains the two-thirds threshold of article 815-5-1 of the Civil Code (Code civil). Its new judicial tools depend on a decree that is still in draft.

The issue is not marginal: Insee estimates the number of deaths in 2025 at 651,000 (January 2026). Half of inherited wealth is property, according to the Cour des comptes, the French Court of Audit (September 2024). The fast route therefore remains agreement between the joint owners.

What the law says since the law of 7 April 2026

The principle and unanimity

“No one may be compelled to remain in joint ownership,” states article 815 of the Civil Code. Any joint owner may therefore apply for division. But until division, a sale by agreement requires the consent of all (article 815-3).

A joint owner may alone take measures to preserve the property (article 815-2). Holders of two thirds of the rights may manage the property, grant a general mandate and enter into a residential lease. They must inform the others, failing which these decisions cannot be enforced against them (article 815-3).

Two thirds and the judge

Article 815-5-1 allows holders of two thirds of the rights to apply for a sale. They state their intention before a notaire, who has it served on the others within one month. Failing agreement within three months, the notaire draws up an official record (procès-verbal).

The judicial court (tribunal judiciaire) may then authorise the sale, provided it does not cause “excessive harm” to the rights of the others. The sale takes place by licitation, that is, at auction. This route is closed if the property is held in split ownership or if a joint owner falls under article 836, for example an adult under legal protection.

The new article 815-6

The law allows the president of the judicial court to “authorise a joint owner to enter into a deed of sale alone”. The sale must be justified by urgency and the common interest. The text enshrines a ruling of the Cour de cassation of 4 December 2013 (no. 12-20.158).

It is therefore not a right to sell against the wishes of the others. It is a judicial authorisation, subject to two cumulative conditions that the applicant must prove.

Court-ordered division extended

The law extends court-ordered division to spouses, PACS partners and cohabitants (article 840). The appointed judge may rule on disputes and order licitation (article 841). The procedure for representing a defaulting joint owner (article 841-1) is repealed.

What has not changed

Article 815-5-1 remains in its version of 1 January 2020. Lowering the threshold to a simple majority, proposed in the National Assembly, was abandoned (ANIL, April 2026). A two-thirds sale regime without a judge, unless there is opposition, has been created for Corsica alone.

The awaited decree

The draft decree provides for a single procedure and compulsory representation by a lawyer at every stage. The appointed notaire’s assignment “must not exceed one year” (CNB, 22 June 2026). Entry into force is announced for 1 January 2027; as at 6 October 2026, we had not found its publication.

The four exit routes, from fastest to slowest

Quatre voies de sortie d'une indivision successorale, de la plus rapide à la plus lente

Route 1: sale by unanimous agreement

The joint owners sign the mandate, the preliminary agreement and the deed together. The property is offered to the market without judicial constraint, at the negotiated price. A joint owner may also sell their share: the other joint owners then have one month to exercise their right of pre-emption (article 815-14).

Route 2: sale authorised by the judge without a majority

Article 815-6 addresses urgency: the judge authorises one joint owner to sign alone. The estate administrator (mandataire successoral) offers a similar route (article 813-1). The judge appoints one in cases of inertia, disagreement, conflicting interests or complexity of the estate.

Once the estate has been accepted, the administrator may be authorised to sell, with the judge setting the price and conditions (article 814). The judgment sets the duration of the assignment and the administrator’s remuneration (article 813-9). This remuneration is borne by the heirs (Service-public.fr, July 2025).

Route 3: two-thirds sale authorised by the court

The statutory time limits mean at least four months before the matter can be brought before the court: one month for service, three for a response. Then come the proceedings and the auction, either in court or before a notaire. The proceeds may only be used to pay the debts and charges of the joint ownership.

Route 4: court-ordered division

In a complex case, the court appoints a notaire and designates a supervising judge. The notaire has one year to draw up the statement of liquidation (état liquidatif) (article 1368 of the Code of Civil Procedure). Observed durations diverge: 18 to 24 months according to the Senate (December 2025), six to seven years according to the CNB (June 2026).

Between 2018 and 2024, an average of 9,635 court-ordered divisions were requested each year (Senate, December 2025). This figure covers all joint ownerships: the Ministry of Justice is unable to isolate estates.

Costs and taxation

The judicial route combines the notaire’s fees (émoluments), partition duty and lawyers’ fees. The notaire’s fees, calculated on gross assets, range from 4.837% to 0.998% excl. VAT depending on the band (Service-public.fr). Partition duty (droit de partage) is 2.5% (article 746 of the General Tax Code).

The 1.10% rate applies only to divisions following divorce, legal separation or the dissolution of a PACS. A licitation in favour of an original joint owner also bears 2.5% (article 750 II of the same code).

The discount

We found no public study measuring the gap between auction price and market value. The legislator of 2009 expected a sale by agreement to take place “more quickly and on better terms” than at auction. The Senate recalls this objective in its December 2025 report.

What a year of deadlock costs

Box: an illustration, not a valuation. The amounts combine public data and explicit assumptions. They do not constitute a valuation of any specific property.

Assumptions

Flat of 60 sq m, three rooms, pre-1946 building, vacant, EPC rating E or better.
Market value: €9,600/sq m (Notaires du Grand Paris, first quarter 2026), i.e. €576,000.
Notional rent: €26/sq m per month, within the range of reference rents of €22.7 to €30.1/sq m (order of 12 June 2026).
Service charges: €43.34/sq m per year, Paris average (FNAIM Grand Paris, 2023 data).
Vacant property tax: the City’s example for 30 sq m in Paris 17th, extrapolated to 60 sq m (Journal de l’économie, July 2026).
Heirs: two children with equal shares, with no other assets, debts or prior gifts.
Inheritance tax: €35,794 per child after the €100,000 allowance, i.e. €71,589 (Service-public.fr scale, February 2026).
Occupancy indemnity: notional rent less a 20% precariousness discount, the reduction applied by the Paris Court of Appeal (22 March 2022).

Item	Calculation	Amount	Nature
Service charges	60 sq m × €43.34	€2,600 per year	Joint ownership expense
Rent not received	60 sq m × €26 × 12 months	€18,720 per year	Gross loss of income
Vacant property tax, first taxed year	30% rate	≈ €2,800	Tax, from 2027
Vacant property tax, subsequent years	60% rate	≈ €5,600 per year	Tax
Property tax	Municipal rate of 20.50%	Not quantified	Payable, vacant or not
Return filed 12 months late: interest	€71,589 × 0.20% × 12	≈ €1,720	One-off penalty
Return filed 12 months late: surcharge	€71,589 × 10%	≈ €7,160	One-off penalty
Total vacant, untaxed year	Charges + rent	≈ €21,320	3.7% of market value
Total vacant, first taxed year	Charges + rent + 30% tax	≈ €24,120	4.2% of market value
Total vacant, subsequent years	Charges + rent + 60% tax	≈ €26,920	4.7% of market value
Variant: property occupied by a joint owner	(€1,560 − 20%) × 12	≈ €14,980 per year	A claim of the joint ownership, not a loss

Reading the figures

Rent not received accounts for most of the cost of a vacant property. Vacant property tax then applies to a dwelling that has been empty for at least one year on 1 January. The filing penalties are one-off: around €8,880 in this example.

Late-payment interest of 0.20% per month runs after the sixth month. The 10% surcharge applies from the thirteenth month (Service-public.fr, January 2025).

In the occupied variant, the indemnity is owed to the joint ownership, not to the co-heirs (Cass. 1re civ., 15 March 2023, no. 21-15.183). The loss disappears, but the nature of the dispute changes.

Two limits remain. The tax is not due in the case of involuntary vacancy, for example a property on sale at market price that finds no taker. The order on reference rents applies until 24 November 2026, the end of the trial scheme.

The real causes of deadlock

Disagreement and inertia

The Senate describes numerous heirs, from different generations, with divergent interests (December 2025). Some joint owners cannot be found; others opt for inertia or opposition on principle. Small stakes, shared among many heirs, also fuel inertia.

The occupant

A joint owner who has sole use of the property owes an indemnity (article 815-9). Having sole possession of the keys is enough, without actual occupation (Cass. 1re civ., 20 September 2023, no. 21-23.877). The indemnity ceases as soon as the property is effectively handed back to the joint ownership (Cass. 1re civ., 12 June 2025, no. 23-22.003).

Article 815-10 bars any claim relating to income and profits beyond five years. Claiming early avoids this debate.

The disputed valuation

The Conseil supérieur du notariat considers partition procedures “too cumbersome, too long and complex, costly and ineffective”. The Senate quotes it in its December 2025 report. The judge may refer the parties to the notaire as soon as the proceedings open (Cass. 1re civ., 27 March 2024).

The EPC (DPE)

A dwelling rated G has no longer been lettable in mainland France since 2025. Dwellings rated F will follow on 1 January 2028, and those rated E in 2034 (Service-public.fr). A housing bill, adopted by the Senate on 8 July 2026, is still under discussion.

An absent heir

The two-thirds route is closed if a joint owner is presumed absent (article 836). An unclaimed estate may be declared vacant: 6,718 were entrusted to the Domaine (State property service) in 2024. The State becomes curator on average 3 years and 8 months after the death (Senate, December 2025).

What the statistics measure

The private housing stock contained more than 3 million vacant dwellings in 2022 (Cour des comptes, May 2025). A dwelling whose owner has recently died is 4.3 times more likely to be vacant over the long term. For an inherited property, this risk doubles from three joint owners upwards (SDES, 2023).

The local authorities surveyed rank inheritance second among the causes of structural vacancy. Upstream, only 33.7% of inheritance tax returns met the six-month deadline in 2023 (Cour des comptes, September 2024).

What we recommend to heirs

Month one: the inventory. List the assets, debts, occupants, leases and surveys, and appoint a single notaire. Note who holds the keys: exclusive possession may give rise to an indemnity.
Month four: the cross-checked valuation. Obtain two independent written valuations of the market value, and an up-to-date EPC. A shared value forestalls a major source of litigation.
Month six: the inheritance tax return. File it within six months of the death. If cash is short, a payment on account can be made pending the sale, a common practice according to the Cour des comptes.
Month twelve: keep or sell. A dwelling that has been empty for one year on 1 January becomes taxable in Paris. To avoid vacancy, a residential lease can be decided by a two-thirds majority (article 815-3).
If you keep it: the joint ownership agreement. It must be in writing on pain of nullity, must identify the assets and shares, and must be publicly registered where it covers real property (article 1873-2). Its fixed term may not exceed five years, renewable, and selling the property requires everyone’s agreement (articles 1873-3 and 1873-8).
If the deadlock persists: the judge. Apply for the appointment of an estate administrator (article 813-1). In an emergency, seek authorisation to sell (article 815-6).
As a last resort: article 815-5-1 or court-ordered division. Allow at least four months before the matter is brought before the court, followed by an auction. Court-ordered division, for its part, is measured in years.

What would change our reading

Publication of the decree on court-ordered division, followed by the first observed durations. A notarial assignment completed within one year would make the judge a management option.
A public study of auction prices, which would at last put a figure on the discount for routes 3 and 4.
The outcome of the housing bill for the EPC, and the fate of Paris rent controls after 24 November 2026.

This document does not constitute legal or tax advice.

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