The law governing property sales is greatly influenced by the decisions of the courts and tribunals. In this context, the chronicle of case-law 1990-2010 (1) which has been published by Benoît Kohl, with the collaboration of Michèle Vanwijck-Alexandre, has proved to be very useful for notaries, magistrates, lawyers, estate agents and students.

Property sales law is not much different to general sales law. In fact, there is no particular law which is exclusively devoted to property sales. In order to deal with specific questions which may be raised in relation to contracts for the sale of buildings, it is useful to study the decisions made by the courts and tribunals in relation to this matter. This is what Benoît Kohl, Professor at the faculty of law of the University of Liege has done in collaboration with Emeritus Professor Michèle Vanwijck-Alexandre, by analyzing a selection of case law decisions published between 1990 and 2010. “It is a compilation of analyses made over the last twenty years”, explains Benoît Kohl. “It is a chronicle which was intended to train notaries which was published every two years and then subsequently added to a more general chronicle comprising several dozen pages.  Thanks to this book, notaries and other participants involved in property law will, for the first time, have access to a work which collates updates and gives an in-depth analysis of these various chronicles dealing with all aspects of private property law concerning contracts between sellers and buyers. We limit ourselves to the sales contract and do not deal with other questions such as leases for example.”

Discussions involving the termination of contracts

The author examines the questions relative to all aspects of sales contracts: negotiation and precontracts (undertakings to sell and preemption right) to possible termination of the sales contract including the formation of the contract (offer and acceptance, conditions of validity of property sales, sales subjected to authorization etc.), property sales under condition precedent or the execution of sale (the signing of the deed of sale, guarantee obligations of the seller, payment of the price etc.). “The book deals with the different stages on a step-by-step basis”, continues Benoît Kohl. “Problems and questions can occur during any one of these stages. However, because the sale of a building does not come under specific sales law, the notary, magistrate or lawyer involved has to rely on case-law in order to resolve a particular question. It is case-law which makes it possible to apply certain rules and develop certain principles. For a tax specialist, for example, regulations are much more comprehensive and he or she will often find the answer to his or her questions in law texts.  However, a notary or a lawyer confronted with a problem in matters relating to property sales find that this is a grey area of the law. Thanks to this work, they will have a catalogue of various cases and decisions at their disposal where they will be able to find answers to similar questions to those they have to deal with, and they will also be able to draw on the development of case-law relating to specific questions.”

1) Benoît KOHL, avec la collaboration de Michèle VANWIJCK-ALEXANDRE, La vente immobilière. Chronique de jurisprudence 1990-2010, Les Dossiers du Journal des tribunaux 90, Bruxelles, Larcier, 2012.