The loi Carrez, or Carrez law is a French law enacted on 18 December 1996 which obliges the vendor of a property

Real property

In English Common Law, real property, real estate, realty, or immovable property is any subset of land that has been legally defined and the improvements to it made by human efforts: any buildings, machinery, wells, dams, ponds, mines, canals, roads, various property rights, and so forth...

 lot

Lot (real estate)

In real estate, a lot or plot is a tract or parcel of land owned or meant to be owned by some owner. A lot is essentially considered a parcel of real property in some countries or immovable property in other countries...

 (or fraction of a lot) in a condominium

Condominium

A condominium, or condo, is the form of housing tenure and other real property where a specified part of a piece of real estate is individually owned while use of and access to common facilities in the piece such as hallways, heating system, elevators, exterior areas is executed under legal rights...

 to specifically mention the surface area in all documents relating to the property sold. It is named after its author Gilles Carrez

Gilles Carrez

Gilles Carrez is a member of the National Assembly of France. He represents the Val-de-Marne's 5th constituency, and is a member of the Union for a Popular Movement....

, the then RPR

Rally for the Republic

The Rally for the Republic , was a French right-wing political party. Originating from the Union of Democrats for the Republic , it was founded by Jacques Chirac in 1976 and presented itself as the heir of Gaullism...

 member of the National Assembly

French National Assembly

The French National Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of France under the Fifth Republic. The upper house is the Senate ....

 for the Val-de-Marne's 5th constituency

Val-de-Marne's 5th constituency

The Val-de-Marne's fifth constituency is a French legislative constituency in the Val-de-Marne département . It is one of twelve in that département, and covers four cantons...

.

The law does not apply to sales of property not yet constructed, which comes under the building code, nor to construction land.

Calculation of floor area

The effective usable surface area, known as the "superficie Carrez", is the total enclosed floor area of an apartment or other construction discounting walls, partitions, staircases and stair wells, piping and electricity conduits and ducting, window and door embrasure

Embrasure

In military architecture, an embrasure is the opening in a crenellation or battlement between the two raised solid portions or merlons, sometimes called a crenel or crenelle...

s. Parts of the enclosed area which are of less than 1.8 metres (5.9 ft) in height are also excluded.

Lots, or fractions of lots of surface areas of less than 8 square metre are also excluded from the calculation of habitable surface area. Typically, maid's rooms (chambre de bonne) would fall into this category.

Cellars, garages, parking places, and other storage facilities sold as separate lots are also excluded.

Redress

• If the floor area is not indicated in the legal sale contract of the property, the buyer may void
  Void (law)
  In law, void means of no legal effect. An action, document or transaction which is void is of no legal effect whatsoever: an absolute nullity - the law treats it as if it had never existed or happened....
  
  the contract within one month of signing the contract.
• If the floor area is overstated by more than 5% in the sale contract, the buyer has the right, within one year, to demand a price reduction in proportion to the extent of understatement.
• If the floor area is understated, the seller has no recourse.