Expertise
English-speaking real estate lawyer in Paris
Commercial leases, transactions, co-ownership & litigation · across France
Maître Léa Scemama
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A lease to secure, a sale going wrong, a co-ownership meeting to challenge, a site delivered with defects: every situation has its own deadline and its own court, and the first mistake is almost always to wait. Maître Léa Scemama advises and defends individuals, investors and businesses in Paris, the Île-de-France region and throughout France, from the transaction to the judicial resolution of conflicts.
The firm acts at every stage with an approach that is both preventive and combative: upstream advice to avoid the dispute, pre-litigation intervention to defuse it, and representation before the courts when an amicable route fails.
Our areas of expertise
01
Property Transactions
Acquiring or selling a property involves substantial sums and generates significant legal risks at every stage. The firm works alongside the notaire. It reviews and negotiates the preliminary contract. It secures the conditions precedent. It audits the property: title deeds, easements, mortgages, existing leases. It also supports off-plan acquisitions.
A transaction can go wrong in several ways: a refused loan, hidden defects, a refusal to complete, information deliberately withheld. The firm then represents its clients before the civil court. The claim may seek enforced completion of the sale, rescission of the contract or compensation for the loss.
02
Commercial Leases
The commercial lease is a central element of a business. Its terms, negotiated at signing, determine the parties' rights and obligations for a minimum of nine years and directly affect the value of the business.
The firm acts for landlords and for tenants. It negotiates and drafts the lease. It audits the lease before a business is taken over. It handles assignments, renewal and the judicial setting of the rent. It defends each party in commercial lease disputes.
03
Residential Leases
The residential lease, whether unfurnished or furnished, is governed by a mandatory legal framework that precisely defines the rights and obligations of landlord and tenant. Its complexity, heightened by the successive ALUR and ELAN reforms, often makes a lawyer's involvement essential.
The firm assists landlords and tenants with drafting the agreement, challenging rents subject to rent control, managing arrears and eviction proceedings, serving and challenging notices, returning the security deposit, and disputes relating to loss of quiet enjoyment, substandard housing and squatting.
04
Civil Leases
The civil lease governs lettings outside the special regimes: secondary residences, staff accommodation, lettings to companies, garages and independent premises, seasonal lets. Its contractual freedom is an opportunity for landlords. It also calls for rigorous drafting, because a poorly drafted lease can be reclassified under the Act of 6 July 1989.
The firm drafts and negotiates secure civil leases, reviews existing contracts, assists the parties where difficulties arise during the lease, and represents landlords and tenants before the civil court in all disputes relating to common-law leases.
05
Co-ownership
Life in co-ownership generates abundant litigation, governed by short limitation periods and complex majority rules. A co-owner wishing to challenge a general meeting resolution has two months from notification of the minutes; after that, the claim is inadmissible.
The firm advises co-owners, councils of co-owners and managing agents. It reviews and amends the co-ownership regulations. It prepares and challenges general meetings. It oversees the managing agent, recovers unpaid charges, and handles works authorisations and disputes between co-owners.
06
Property Litigation
Real estate law also covers property disputes that affect the right of ownership itself. They include claims to title, adverse possession, encroachments, boundary setting, rights of way and light, abnormal neighbourhood disturbances and party walls.
The firm also represents its clients in liability claims against property professionals (notaire, estate agent, surveyor) and assists them at every stage of the court-ordered expert assessments, from the first expert meeting through to the proceedings on the merits.
07
Tenant Eviction
The eviction of a tenant for unpaid rent follows a strictly regulated procedure marked by mandatory deadlines. Eviction by force, or direct pressure on the tenant, is unlawful and exposes the landlord to criminal penalties. Only a judge can authorise an eviction. A court enforcement officer carries it out, with the assistance of the police if necessary.
The firm assists landlords at every stage. That means the formal notice to pay invoking the forfeiture clause, the application to the protection litigation judge, the enforceable title, the notice to vacate, the requisition of the police and the recovery of the debt. It also advises good-faith tenants on payment terms and remedies.
08
Off-plan Purchase (VEFA)
Sale in the future state of completion (VEFA), or off-plan purchase, allows a home to be acquired before it is built. This protective mechanism imposes strict formalities on the developer: a preliminary reservation contract, a financial completion guarantee, and statutory staged payments as work progresses. A breach of any of them opens significant rights for the buyer.
The firm reviews and negotiates the reservation contract and the deed of sale. It monitors the staged payments, handles delivery delays and penalties, and challenges non-conformities. It enforces the completion, two-year and ten-year guarantees against the developer and the builders.
09
Decennial Guarantee
The decennial guarantee covers, for ten years from acceptance, damage that compromises the soundness of the building or makes it unfit for its purpose.
The firm assists you with the damage-insurance claim, the expert assessment and the action against the builders to obtain full compensation.
10
CCMI Construction Contract
The CCMI is the most protective contract for an individual building a home: fixed price, completion guarantee and a regulated payment schedule.
We secure your contract from signature to acceptance and defend you in case of delay, abandonment or defects.
11
Construction Defects
With construction defects, everything turns on classification: matching each defect to the right guarantee, within the right deadline.
The firm obtains the expert assessment, identifies liabilities and represents you to secure repair or compensation.
12
Works Contracts
Works contracts rest on a contract for services where every clause matters: price, extra works, retention money, subcontracting.
We draft and secure your contracts and defend you in case of unpaid invoices, delays, defects or abandonment.
How much does a real estate lawyer in Paris cost?
These are our fee ranges, service by service. Our hourly rate is €300 excluding VAT.
| Service | Fee type | Indicative range (excl. VAT) |
|---|---|---|
| Property transactions | Fixed fee | €800 to €2,500 |
| Commercial lease (drafting, negotiation) | Fixed fee | €1,000 to €2,500 |
| Residential lease | Fixed fee | €300 to €800 |
| Eviction for unpaid rent | Fixed fee | €1,500 to €3,000 |
| Off-plan purchase (VEFA) | Fixed fee | €1,500 to €4,000 |
| Civil or professional lease | Fixed fee | €500 to €1,500 |
| Co-ownership (charges, disputes) | Fixed fee / hourly | from €1,800 |
| Property litigation | Fixed fee / hourly | €2,500 to €5,000 |
Good to know. Indicative, non-contractual ranges for information only. Final fees are set on a case-by-case basis in the fee agreement, according to the complexity, the stakes and the estimated time. A free quote is provided before any engagement. See all our fees.
Why consult a real estate lawyer?
Property matters and disputes involve significant financial interests, within a technical and constantly changing legal framework. Instructing a lawyer secures your operations upstream, prevents difficulties from turning into long and costly proceedings, and defends your interests effectively when an amicable route fails.
Maître Léa Scemama, a member of the Paris Bar, analyses your situation and proposes a tailored strategy, from preventive advice to representation on appeal.
Get in touchFive of our practice areas fall under construction law: individual house construction contracts, off-plan purchases, the decennial guarantee, construction defects and works contracts. They follow distinct regimes and time limits that all run from handover. Our construction law page sets out how they fit together.
The residential lease regime is set out in a long-form guide on our blog: The French residential lease: term, content, rent and notice. The procedure that follows unpaid rent has its own guide: Evicting a tenant for unpaid rent: the complete procedure.
Written by Maître Léa Scemama, admitted to the Paris Bar, Miraï Avocats. This page states the law applicable at its update date. It is general in nature and does not constitute advice tailored to a particular situation.