SAFER and Pre-Emption Rights on Estates in France

French property laws depend on the type of property you buy and how much land it includes. 

If you are buying a country property with more than one hectare of land (two and a half acres), you may hear about a body called SAFER that may step in and purchase the property instead, citing its potential local agricultural benefits.

If you’re working with a competent estate agent, they would have told you about this potential ‘bump’ on the way to securing your dream property. As the saying goes, “un homme averti en vaut deux”.  If not, this article explains SAFER and how it operates.

Introducing the SAFER

The SAFER (Société d’Aménagement Foncier et d’etablissement Rural) was established in the 1960s to oversee and preserve the development of the rural landscape. Its initial aim was to increase agricultural production, but its mission has evolved over time.

SAFER works to boost rural and forest areas, support young farmers and start-ups, protect landscapes and natural resources, and support the development of local communes and their economies.

SAFER’s Role

Today, their main role and area of expertise are surveying, purchasing, and managing agricultural land, forested areas, and rural property.

When buying a farmhouse or rural property with land in France (including empty plots, period properties, vineyards, property in rural areas), the Notaire will notify both the buyer and the seller that the local SAFER may wish to use its right to ‘pre-empt or first refusal’, meaning there’s a possibility that they may purchase the property to resell or lease it temporarily to local farmers or public organisations. The SAFER’s manifesto is to :

• improve rural land structures and maintenance
• safeguard farming communities and agricultural patrimoine
• fight against land speculation and accumulation
• consolidate farms to boost economic development

Pre-Emption Rights Can Affect Your Plans?

This is not great news for any buyer, especially those unfamiliar with SAFER, how it works, or who learn about these strange preemption rights for the first time.

Most property purchases will go through completion without SAFER intervention, but in some rural areas, SAFER can be more active. The notaire handling the sale/purchase must notify SAFER, giving it the opportunity to object to any sale, such as to support a young farming setting in the area or a future local project.

SAFER Has the Right to Pre-empt

The short answer is that SAFER has the right to pre-empt when selling any plot of land, especially if it has an agricultural use or vocation on the day the sale is agreed upon. This includes land situated in an agricultural zone or a natural and forest zone defined by an urban planning document.

Selling Farmhouses & Buildings

The sale of farmhouse buildings is subject to SAFER’s pre-emption; this includes any farm buildings used for agricultural purposes on the day of sale, including residential buildings that are part of the property.

Buildings that have been used for farming in the last five years prior to the sale/purchase may also be pre-empted; SAFER may acquire them for the sole purpose of keeping them for agricultural use, now or in the future.

When SAFER Cannot Pre-empt

Depending on the buyers’ background (parents, family relations, co-heirs, agricultural professionals, etc.), certain situations may preclude SAFER from exercising its right of first refusal.  A priority right of pre-emption arrangement also prevents SAFER from exercising preferential rights granted by law to public bodies and private individuals.

Land intended to support the construction of a single-family dwelling may be exempt, applicable only to smaller lands (less than 2,500 square meters per house), or to the minimum area rule if larger.

The Pre-Emption Process?

The SAFER may pre-empt by accepting the selling price and the conditions mentioned in the information transmitted to it by the notary. It may also pre-empt by revising the price. In this case, the SAFER makes an offer to purchase.

The seller then has up to six months from the notary‘s receipt of SAFER’s decision to withdraw the property from the sale. He may also complain to the High Court to negotiate and agree on a final price.

Finally, where the property is both agricultural land and residential or has operating buildings, the SAFER has a partial pre-emption right. It may, in particular, pre-empt for the farming land, potentially creating future issues with rights to access or droit de passage.

Best to Be Safe with SAFER

When purchasing rural property, you must investigate the possibility of SAFER intervening. Pre-emption rights, which allow bypassing the normal property transaction process and regulate the agricultural land market, are not popular with local people and must be managed efficiently.

Ask your notaire to add a clause if SAFER objects, and to include ‘clauses suspensives’ in the ‘compromis de vente’ to ensure a quicker return of your deposit.