This article is provided for general information only and does not constitute legal, tax or investment advice. Rules change and individual situations differ. Always confirm the current position with a qualified professional before acting.
Somewhere in a chambre des notaires, on a weekday afternoon, a small wick is lit on a table. A room of people watches it. When it goes out, another is lit. If nobody has spoken while the second one burned, the notaire says a word, and a flat in Paris has a new owner. There was no compromis, no ten-day cooling-off period, no loan condition and no negotiation. The price was whatever the last voice in the room said it was. This is the vente aux enchères notariale, the notarial auction, also called the vente à la bougie after the candle, and most owners abroad have never heard of it. Buying this way can be very good or very bad, and the difference is almost entirely in what you did before you walked in.
This is the first of four pieces on public sales of French property. This one is for the buyer at a voluntary notarial auction, the kind a private owner chooses. The next explains why an owner or a family of heirs might choose it. The third covers licitation, the court-ordered auction that ends an indivision, including a change made by a law of 7 April 2026. The fourth covers the sale of a protected adult’s or a child’s property. Forced sales after a creditor’s seizure are a different world, which we touched on when a small debt put a whole home on the block.
Three kinds of French property auction, and the one this guide is about
The French call any sale to the highest bidder an adjudication, and there are three families of them. The first is the forced sale, the saisie immobilière, where a creditor has the debtor’s property sold at the tribunal judiciaire. The second is the judicial sale ordered by a court for a reason other than debt: the licitation that ends an indivision, or the sale of a property belonging to someone under tutelle, a court-ordered guardianship. The third is the voluntary auction. An owner who could sell by private treaty chooses instead to sell to the highest bidder, in front of a notaire.
The voluntary auction has one feature that explains everything else in this guide. It is two things at once. It is an ordinary sale, so the ordinary rules apply: capacity, diagnostics, pre-emption rights, the notaire’s fees, the transfer taxes. And it is an auction, so a second set of rules sits on top. Those come partly from the law on forced sales and partly from the cahier des charges, the document the seller and the notaire write. The buyer who treats it as an ordinary sale gets caught by the auction rules. The buyer who treats it as a court auction expects protections that only exist in forced sales. You need both halves in your head.
No law requires a notaire for a voluntary auction. In practice one is always there, for a reason that matters to you as buyer. Under article 710-1 of the code civil only a deed in authentic form can be published at the land registry, and without that publication your ownership is not enforceable against anyone else. So the auction ends in a notarial deed, the procès-verbal d’adjudication, and the notaires have organised the market themselves. The sales take place in the chambres des notaires or near the property, and the Notaires de France publish the rules of the game in English.
The cahier des charges is the contract, so read it like one
In a private sale the contract is negotiated between buyer and seller. In an auction it is written before you arrive, by the seller and the notaire, and it binds you by the single fact of your winning bid. That document is the cahier des charges. It is drawn up as a notarial deed, signed by the seller and the notaire, and you can read it at the notaire’s office or on the sale’s web page during the weeks before the auction. Nothing you are told at a viewing, and nothing in the advertising, overrides it. The advertisement must be honest, and a notaire or seller who misdescribes the property answers for it, but the cahier des charges alone is the deal.
Part of it is what you would find in any French deed. The seller’s capacity. The description of the property in the form the land registry requires. The origin of title. The known servitudes, the easements that run with the land. The règlement de copropriété clauses if the lot is in a block. The ordinary seller’s warranties apply exactly as in a private sale. That includes article 1626 of the code civil, under which the seller must warrant you against charges on the property that were not declared at the sale.
The clause that decides whether you are buying a home or a landlord’s problem
The most important ordinary clause is the one about leases. A sitting tenant changes the value of a property and changes who can use it, and French law protects the tenant. Under article 1743 of the code civil the buyer of a let property cannot evict a tenant whose lease has a certain date, and the Cour de cassation has gone further for auctions. On 11 February 2004 it quashed a judgment that had annulled a lease at the request of a successful bidder, because the bidder had known of the lease before the auction.
A lease that is described in the cahier des charges is therefore yours to honour, however informal it was. A verbal lease mentioned in the cahier des charges binds the buyer. Read that clause twice, and if the property is occupied, read our piece on the bail à vie, the lease for life, which is the worst version of this surprise.
Forced sales have a rule of their own here. Under article L. 321-4 of the code des procédures civiles d’exécution leases granted by the debtor after the seizure cannot be relied on against the buyer. A voluntary auction has no seizure, so no such rule. Whatever lease exists, exists.
The clauses that only an auction has
Then come the auction clauses, and five of them decide your budget:
- Who pays what. The deed costs and the notaire’s fees fall on the buyer, as in any sale. The costs of advertising the auction fall in law on the seller, who benefits from them. The rule is not mandatory, though, and in practice the cahier des charges nearly always puts them on the buyer, on top of the price. Costs moved from seller to buyer count as part of the price for the transfer taxes, so they are taxed too.
- Lots. A seller with a flat and three parking spaces may sell them separately, together, or separately first and then together with a clause that keeps whichever result is higher. Know which you are bidding on.
- Price and payment. The cahier des charges says when and where the price is paid, nearly always at the notaire’s office, and usually within a deadline so that the buyer can gather the funds. A clause cancelling the sale if you do not pay in time is standard.
- Mise à prix, the starting price. Unlike a court auction, a voluntary auction need not announce one in advance. The notaire may state it just before the bidding opens. If there is none, the first bid is a firm offer that binds the seller, unless the seller has reserved the right to refuse offers that are too low. The Notaires de France say the starting price is usually set at about 75 per cent of the estimated value, which is why the room fills up.
- Consignation, the deposit. To bid you hand the notaire a banker’s draft, a chèque de banque, and receive a bidder’s number. The notaires’ standard is 20 per cent of the starting price. If you do not win, it is handed back on the spot. If you win, it is cashed at once and set against the price.
One more clause may or may not be there. In a court auction anyone may, within ten days, make a surenchère, a higher bid of at least a tenth, which cancels your purchase and reopens the sale. In a voluntary auction that right exists only if the cahier des charges creates it, and the notaires’ standard terms do create it: a ten per cent overbid within ten days of the sale. Until that window closes you own the property on paper and not in fact.
What you still get, and what you do not
Because the auction is an ordinary sale, the seller’s ordinary duties survive. The diagnostics, the dossier of technical reports on lead, asbestos, termites, energy and the rest, must be in the cahier des charges. The pre-emption rights must be purged before the sale, which means the commune, the SAFER on rural land and any tenant with a right of first refusal must have been given their chance. On a flat in a copropriété the loi Carrez measurement of the lot must be stated. The Cour de cassation decided on 3 October 2002 that the Carrez rule does not apply to forced sales, because a judgment of adjudication is not a contract. A voluntary auction ends in a contract, so the rule applies in full, and so does the questionnaire the syndic answers to settle the accounts between seller and building.
What you do not get is the consumer protection built around the compromis. There is no cooling-off period after the hammer, as the Notaires de France state plainly. There is no loan condition: article L. 313-45 of the code de la consommation excludes sales by adjudication from the rule that makes a home purchase conditional on getting the mortgage. If your bank says no on day 30, you still owe the price on day 45, and the deposit is the least you lose. Arrange the finance before the auction, not after. Our guide to French mortgages for non-residents explains why that takes longer from abroad than you think.
The day itself: who may bid, where, and what a candle has to do with it
Anyone the law does not forbid may buy, says article 1594 of the code civil, and a non-resident is not forbidden. You do not need a lawyer to bid at a notarial auction, and you may bid through someone holding your power of attorney. Article 1596 lists who may not buy, on pain of nullity, directly or through a front. Guardians may not buy the property of their wards. Agents may not buy the property they were engaged to sell. Administrators may not buy public property in their care, and fiduciaries may not buy the trust property. Add the notaire conducting the sale and his close family, and anyone obviously unable to pay. The notaire checks all this under his own responsibility before the bidding starts.
The sale takes place where the public can easily come: usually a room at the chambre des notaires, sometimes a hall near the property, occasionally the notaire’s own office with the doors open. Before the first bid the notaire summarises the property and the legal points, including anything that is not in the cahier des charges. He states the starting price if there is one, and says by what steps bids may rise. Then the wick is lit.
Bidding is usually by candle rather than by voice. Small wicks of fifteen to thirty seconds burn one after another. Each bid lights a new one. When one burns out, and then the next, with no bid during either, the notaire declares the last bidder the buyer. The exact number of wicks varies with the house rules, and the declaration is what matters, not the smoke: the sale is not made until the notaire pronounces it. If nobody bids, or the bids never reach the starting price, there is no sale and the notaire records a procès-verbal de non-adjudication.
The room is protected by the criminal law. Under article 313-6 of the code pénal keeping a bidder away or holding bids down by gifts, promises or agreements carries six months’ imprisonment and a €22,500 fine. The same penalties apply to accepting such a gift, to disrupting the bidding by threats, and to holding a private re-auction afterwards without the notaire. The man who offers to split the saving with you if you stay quiet is proposing a crime.
After the hammer: the deed, the price, the keys and the ten days
The notaire draws up the procès-verbal d’adjudication, the record of the sale, as a notarial deed. The seller, the buyer and the notaire all sign it, and a refusal to sign annuls the sale. It states the price for each lot and the buyer’s acceptance, and it is published at the land registry together with the cahier des charges, in place of the ordinary deed of sale. You become owner as the last bidder, but you only become a safe owner when you have paid the price and the costs, and the overbid window has closed. Under the notaires’ standard terms that means ten days for a possible surenchère, then payment of the full price within 45 days, then the keys. Late payment attracts penalties, which increase after 75 days.
Two rules protect the seller rather than you, and you should know them. First, the seller may still claim rescission for lésion. Under articles 1674 to 1685 of the code civil a seller who received less than five twelfths of the property’s value may have the sale set aside within two years. Article 1684 removes that right only for sales that the law requires to be made under judicial authority. A voluntary auction is not one, so a bargain that is too good can, in theory, be unwound.
Second, if the property is farmland with a tenant farmer, article L. 412-11 of the code rural requires the tenant to be summoned at least twenty days before the auction and gives him twenty days after it to exercise his right of pre-emption at your price. You may win the auction and lose the land.
The online cousin that is not an auction at all
The notaires also run an online bidding system, immo-interactif, and buyers abroad meet it more often than the candle. It looks like an auction: you register on the notaires’ site after a viewing, you are approved, and for 24 hours you watch the offers rise. Legally it is not one. At the end the seller chooses an offer and the buyer signs an ordinary compromis de vente, with the cooling-off period and the loan condition that go with it. The Notaires de France say so themselves and present the suspensive conditions as the system’s advantage. If you want the protections of a private sale with the transparency of bidding, immo-interactif gives you both. If you want the price that a room of nervous bidders produces on a Tuesday afternoon, only the candle does.
| Point | Private sale with a compromis | Voluntary notarial auction | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cooling-off after you commit | Ten days | None | Notaires de France guidance |
| Loan condition | Automatic if a loan is mentioned | Excluded | Code de la consommation, art. L. 313-45 |
| Money on the day | Usually 5 to 10 per cent, held in escrow | Banker’s draft of about 20 per cent of the starting price, cashed if you win | Cahier des charges, notaires’ standard terms |
| Who can overturn your purchase | Nobody once conditions are met | Anyone overbidding by a tenth within ten days, if the cahier des charges allows it | Cahier des charges |
| Seller’s rescission for lésion | Possible within two years | Possible within two years, since only judicial sales are exempt | Code civil, arts. 1674, 1676, 1684 |
| Carrez measurement and diagnostics | Required | Required, only forced sales are exempt | Civ. 2e, 3 October 2002 |
| Sitting tenant | Stays, if the lease is opposable | Stays, and a lease in the cahier des charges is opposable whatever its form | Code civil, art. 1743, and Civ. 3e, 11 February 2004 |
| Time to completion | Three to four months | Ten days plus 45 days under the notaires’ terms | Notaires de France guidance |
The decision rule
Bid only if three things are true before the day: you have read the cahier des charges and the lease clause with a lawyer, you have the whole price available within 45 days without a loan condition, and you have set a ceiling in writing that includes the costs the cahier des charges moves onto you. Treat the overbid window as ten days in which you own nothing. If any of the three is missing, use immo-interactif or a private sale instead, where the law lets you change your mind.
Our view: a buyer’s market with the safety rails removed
We like the notarial auction more than its reputation suggests, and for one reason: it is honest about what it is. The cahier des charges is the whole deal, it is available for weeks, and the price is formed in public. Compared with a private sale, where the real condition of the building emerges from the syndic’s documents a fortnight before the signing, that is a cleaner way to buy. The 75 per cent starting price is not a gift, it is a magnet, and the final price is often close to the market. But the person who has done the reading and set a limit will sometimes get a property nobody else in the room understood.
The danger is not the candle. It is the two protections that are missing, the cooling-off and the loan condition, which exist precisely because French law assumes a home buyer needs saving from a moment of enthusiasm. The auction removes the saving and keeps the moment. From abroad, where the bank is slower and the viewing was a fortnight ago, that is a real risk. It is why we would send most first-time buyers to immo-interactif and keep the room for the second purchase.
Readers, have you bid at a French auction, notarial or at the criées, and did the final price land near the 75 per cent starting figure or well above it? Did you walk away with the property or with a lesson about the ten-day overbid? If you bought from abroad, how did you manage the deposit and the 45 days without a loan condition?
FAQ: buying at a French notarial auction
Can a non-resident bid at a French notarial auction?
Yes. Article 1594 of the code civil lets anyone the law does not forbid buy, and residence is not a bar. You may bid in person or through someone holding your power of attorney. You will need a French banker’s draft for the deposit, so a French bank account helps.
Is there a cooling-off period or a mortgage condition?
No. The Notaires de France state that notarial auctions carry no reflection or withdrawal period and no suspensive conditions, and article L. 313-45 of the code de la consommation excludes sales by adjudication from the statutory loan condition. You must have the money before you bid.
How much do I need on the day?
A banker’s draft for the deposit set in the cahier des charges, which under the notaires’ standard terms is 20 per cent of the starting price. It is returned at once if you do not win and cashed against the price if you do. The balance and the costs are then due within the deadline in the cahier des charges, usually 45 days.
Can someone take the property from me after I have won?
Only through a surenchère, an overbid of at least a tenth made within the period the cahier des charges allows, usually ten days. A voluntary auction has that mechanism only if the cahier des charges provides for it, and the notaires’ standard terms do. After the window closes your ownership is final.
Do I have to keep the tenant?
Yes, if the lease is opposable to you under article 1743 of the code civil. The Cour de cassation held on 11 February 2004 that a buyer who knew of a lease before the auction cannot have it annulled afterwards. A lease described in the cahier des charges, even a verbal one, binds you.
