Housing estate, ASL: specifications, lapse, contributions

Estate regulations and specifications

The estate regulations are drawn up when the PLU’s rules are to be supplemented. They set what future buildings must comply with: use, siting, materials, colours (F34339).

The specifications, if there are any, govern relations between lot owners. Service-public.gouv.fr cites charges, private easements, exterior maintenance obligations, planting and the drying of laundry (F34339). Both documents can be consulted at the town hall’s planning department.

On a sale, the permis d’aménager (development permit) and, where applicable, the specifications setting the conditions of sale of the lots are given to the buyer at the promesse (preliminary sale contract) or the deed, and must have been provided beforehand (art. L442-7). For the sale of a plot in a housing estate, service-public.gouv.fr lists among the documents to be provided or annexed the estate regulations and the articles of association of the landowners’ association (F16455, F12702).

Lapse and amendment of the rules

Lapse after ten years. The planning rules contained in the estate documents (regulations, approved specifications, or regulatory clauses of non-approved specifications) lapse ten years after the permit to divide the land was issued, if the estate is then covered by a PLU or a document taking its place (art. L442-9). The option for a majority of lot owners to request that these rules be maintained ceased to have effect in those same areas with the Act of 24 March 2014 (art. L442-9).

What survives. The lapse does not call into question the rights and obligations between lot owners defined in the specifications, nor the method of managing the common parts (art. L442-9). A clause organising life in the estate may therefore continue to apply between neighbours after ten years.

Amendment at the lot owners’ request. The competent authority may amend all or part of the estate documents when half the owners together holding at least half the land area request or accept it, provided the amendment remains compatible with the planning rules. For five years after completion of the estate, it requires the absence of objection from the developer if it still owns at least one building lot (art. L442-10).

Bringing into line with the PLU. When a PLU is approved after the estate was authorised, the competent authority may, after a public inquiry and a resolution of the municipal council, amend the estate documents, specifications included, to bring them into line with it (art. L442-11).

Articles L442-9 to L442-11 were amended by Act no. 2025-1129 of 26 November 2025; the version in force since 28 November 2025 is the one described here.

The private landowners’ association (ASL)

What it is. The ASL is one of the three forms of association syndicale de propriétaires (landowners’ association), a private-law legal entity responsible for managing facilities, structures or spaces of common interest. It is not governed by co-ownership law (F1319).

Creation. It is formed by the unanimous consent of the owners concerned, recorded in writing. Its articles of association set out its name, purpose, registered office and operating rules, the list of properties within its scope, its funding arrangements and how contributions are collected (ordonnance, art. 7). It is declared to the préfecture (State administration in the département), which issues a receipt within five days; an extract of the articles is published free of charge in the Journal officiel (official gazette) (F1319).

Operation. The articles freely set the rules. The general meeting brings together all member owners; a syndicat (governing board) elected from among them runs the association’s affairs. The president keeps the list of owners up to date and declares amendments to the articles within three months of the resolution approving them (F1319). At least one year after its creation, the ASL can apply to become an association syndicale autorisée (authorised landowners’ association) (F1319).

Contributions: what goes with the land

Membership is attached to the property. The rights and obligations arising from the association’s formation are attached to the properties within its scope and follow them into whosever hands they pass, until the association is dissolved or its scope reduced (ordonnance, art. 3). The buyer of a lot therefore becomes a member. Where there is a usufruct, the bare owner alone is a member, unless otherwise agreed with the usufructuary (art. 3).

On a sale. Notice of the transfer is given to the association under the conditions of article 20 of the Act of 10 July 1965; the association can lodge an objection to obtain payment of the sums still owed by the former owner (art. 3). The mechanism is the same as in a co-ownership, described in our guide on charges impayées (unpaid service charges).

The statutory charge. Claims of any kind held by a landowners’ association against one of its members are secured by a statutory charge on that member’s properties within the scope (art. 6).

Which professional to consult

The lot sold must be defined by a bornage (boundary-marking) deed (F2484): ask the developer or the service de publicité foncière (land registry office) for the report (F34339). The géomètre-expert (chartered surveyor) is the one who examines the title deeds, draws up this report and places the boundary markers (F3037). The notaire (notary) drafts the promesse and the deed, to which the estate documents are annexed (F16455, F12702). The agent immobilier (estate agent) knows the land sales in the area. See also our guides achat d’un terrain (buying a plot of land), division parcellaire (dividing a plot) and servitudes (easements).