This page has been automatically translated. Please refer to the page in French if needed.
Companies in difficulty
The principal residence remains exempt from seizure after cessation of activity
Publié le 07 octobre 2024 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)
The cessation of activity of an individual entrepreneur does not put an end to the immunity from seizure of his principal residence. The Court of Cassation said so in a September 11, 2024, judgment published in the Bulletin.
An individual artisan entrepreneur ceases his activity. It is then removed from the trade register and put into receivership and liquidation. The liquidator requests that the main residence of the craftsman be auctioned. The latter opposes that sale because his principal residence is not seizable and brings the matter before the courts.
The Court of Appeal dismissed the artisan’s application and allowed the sale of his main residence to continue. In its view, the main residence of the craftsman may be seized because the opening of the collective proceedings took place after the removal of the craftsman from the trade register.
The Court of Cassation quashes and quashes the appeal decision. In its view, the principal residence remains exempt from seizure as long as the rights of the creditors against whom it is enforceable are not extinguished. Thus, the cessation of the professional activity does not put an end to that immunity from seizure.
Please note
In this case, it remains possible for the creditor to bring proceedings against the principal residence of the sole trader only if his claim does not arise from his professional activity.
Reminder
The exemption of the principal residence from seizure shall not apply where the tax administration is the responsibility of the entrepreneur:
- fraudulent maneuvers (concealment of purchases and sales, failure to declare taxable transactions not entered in the accounts...);
- a serious and repeated failure to comply with its tax obligations.