Legal advertising enables the pursuing creditor to inform the public that an auction sale is going to take place. It enables the public to find out the details of the sale.
The Code of Civil Enforcement Procedures strictly governs the way in which this must be done. The pursuing creditor is subject to precise rules on deadlines and content.
The posting deadline
The legal notice must be posted between 2 and 1 month before the auction.
In practice, legal notices must be published in legal gazettes. Lawyers must therefore pay close attention to the date and frequency of publication. Publication in a fortnightly newspaper, for example, should be brought forward to meet the deadline set by law.
When he publishes the notice, the lawyer must then publish two types of notice. The detailed notice and the simplified notice.
Publication of the detailed notice
The detailed notice will be distributed in the borough where the building is located.
It contains details of the creditor, the property, the upset price and the sale. It also states that bids must be placed by a lawyer registered with the court.
Publication and affixing of the simplified notice
The simplified notice contains the same information as the detailed notice, with the exception of the identity of the creditor and debtor. It does not specify that the sale is compulsory.
The notice is published in two local or regional newspapers and is affixed to the property seized by the bailiff. The bailiff then draws up a notice of posting, a copy of which is filed with the auction registry.
Posting of notices at the clerk's office
The posters are deposited at the auction registry. The detailed notice is posted by the clerk in front of the courtroom in which the sales take place.
Penalties
L'article R. 311-11 of the Code of Civil Enforcement Procedures provides for two types of penalty for legal posting.
The first concerns the posting deadlines. There is a window within which posting must take place (between -2 and -1 month), failing which it will lapse. Lapse entails annulment of the procedure and its effects.
The second concerns the content of the posters. Any errors will be rendered null and void. Invalidity can only be declared if the error has caused the debtor a prejudice.
This requires a concrete demonstration. The lawyer will have to prove that the fault has a causal link with the damage.
In all cases, any disputes must be submitted in the form of pleadings. These submissions must be made within 15 days of the chargeable event (Civ. 2e, 26 June 2014, no. 13-20.193).
Complementary advertising
The pursuing creditor may carry out additional advertising at his own expense. In this case, he does not have to mention the forced nature of the sale or the name of the debtor.
In theory, this will provide a framework for advertising on the Internet.
In practice, lawyers make the entire sale file available to the public. This includes the descriptive report and the conditions of sale. These documents enable the forced nature of the sale to be established.
Judicial management of advertising
Lastly, the creditor may ask the enforcement judge to arrange legal publicity. This request can be made up to 2 months before the sale hearing. This can be useful to facilitate the sale of atypical assets (e.g. factories, luxury properties requiring foreign distribution, etc.).
EN 
FR