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Service France
Please note that French law is a complex subject and you should not rely on this article without professional advice on the facts of your case.
In France a property with frontage on to the sea is often romantically advertised as “villa pieds dans l’eau” and may have the benefit of a tidal swimming pool, moorings, private beach or a pontoon. This will inevitably add considerably to the value of the property. In many sales the legal status of maritime access is not made clear to buyers and unless notaires have a particular knowledge of public maritime law it can be difficult for buyers to obtain any definitive answers. Most people simply assume that they will be able to continue enjoying the access to the sea on a private basis.
The starting point is to ascertain what part of the property you are buying falls within the seller’s title and as such can be transferred to you in the usual way and what part is being used by the seller but does not form part of his title. In this connection it can be difficult to establish the exact line at which the private property ends and the public property i.e. the public maritime area starts. This is because Land Registry type plans as we know them in England do not exist in France and any plan which is provided has been prepared normally for local taxing purposes. Sometimes in practice it may be difficult to ascertain whether a path in front of the property is public property rather than part of the front garden extending on to the beach.
The basic position is that the public maritime domain cannot be owned by a private person and belongs to the French state. As such neither the public maritime domain nor any structure which has been erected on it can be transferred to a buyer because the seller does not (and cannot) own it. This is backed up by basic principles in French law requiring wherever possible the natural character of the seafront to be preserved and that only light works not liable to have a long term impact on the seafront should be put up. In addition, there are more and more environmental concerns as to the use of the coast and pressure for more collective use of public space as opposed to purely private use of public space. This is becoming particularly the case on the Côte d’Azur and often reflects local political opinion.
Most of the rules are to be found in the General Code of Public Entities which provides that the Government can issue specific rights to people to use the maritime domain subject to various conditions relating to the period for which this use is granted, the use which can be made of the maritime domain and the building works which they can carry out on the maritime domain. This means that you can get a temporary authorisation to use the maritime facilities which may be exclusive, ie private to you, or may be on the basis that other people are also free to use the facilities.
In practice any such rights are granted for relatively short periods of time and have to be renewed. Any such grant is personal to the person to whom it has been granted and as such cannot be transferred to a buyer of the villa. The buyer of the villa will be required to make a separate fresh application for the renewal of the right to, say, use a tidal pool. It is also possible for the Government at any time to revoke the authorisation and normally no compensation is payable. There may also be requirements at the end of the period for which the permission has been granted for any constructions to be demolished and the shoreline reinstated to its natural state. The obligation to demolish is normally on the person who built the structure, not any subsequent owner of the adjacent villa.
Any application either for a first use of the maritime domain or for a renewal of an existing authorisation which has either expired or in respect of which there has been a transfer of ownership of an adjoining villa needs to be made to the Prefect with a full report of the current condition of the structure and any plans for the structure. This needs to be prepared in a technical way with professionally prepared drawings and photographs of the condition. It is best not to try to prepare this yourself as the technical input is high. The application is then considered by a commission which makes a recommendation to the local Prefect (local central government representative) as to whether the authorisation to use the public maritime domain should be continued. Local political pressures may have an effect on the Commission’s recommendations. The Prefect is likely to follow the recommendations of the commission. Any authorisation to occupy the public domain or refusal to occupy the public domain is, however, made by the Prefect.