Promesse unilatérale de vente: Assessment of Price and Lesion

Vocabulary and legal concepts regarding the timing of price and lesion assessments in unilateral promises to sell based on the commentary by Laurent Leveneur.

Promesse unilatérale de vente

An avant-contrat containing the seller’s consent and the essential elements of the final contract, intended to facilitate the beneficiary's exercise of their option.

Vileté du prix

A price that is derisory or illusory, causing the contract to be null due to a lack of real counterparty.

Moment of assessment for vileté du prix

Assessed at the date of the promise (promesse) and not at the date the option is exercised (levée d'option).

Article 1169 of the Code civil

The current legal basis for the nullity of an onerous contract if the counterparty is illusory or derisory.

Former Article 1131 of the Code civil

The provision used for contracts concluded before the 2016 reform to nullify sales based on a vil prix (absence of cause/counterparty).

Action en rescision pour lésion

A specific legal action provided by Articles 1674 et seq. of the Code civil for real estate sales where the price is significantly below the property's value.

Lésion threshold (Article 1674)

A lesion is actionable if it exceeds $\frac{7}{12}$ of the value of the immovable property.

Assessment date for lésion (Article 1675)

In a unilateral promise to sell, the lesion is assessed at the date of realization, which corresponds to the exercise of the option (levée de l’option).

Article 1124 of the Code civil

A provision establishing that the promisor's commitment is definitive from the conclusion of the avant-contrat, and retraction does not prevent the formation of the sale.

Lapse of the action in rescision (Article 1676)

The action for rescision is limited to a duration of $2$ years following the completion of the sale (levée de l’option).

Former Article 1134, paragraph 1

The provision relating to the force obligatoire du contrat (binding force of the contract) used to justify the survival of the sale despite a promisor's retraction.

Cass. 3e civ., 23 juin 2021

A landmark court decision (revirement de jurisprudence) aligning the treatment of older promises with Article 1124, holding that the promisor is definitively bound and retraction is ineffective.