État des risques (ERP): the free document due at the first viewing

The agent hands you a floor plan and a smile at the door. French law says the first document you should receive there is a form about floods, earthquakes, mines and polluted soil.

The état des risques, ERP for short, is the disclosure of natural, mining and technological risks that a seller in a designated zone must give a prospective buyer at the first visit, dated less than six months earlier, according to the government's Géorisques portal and service-public.fr. It is annexed to the promesse or the deed, and the seller can generate it free online.

Which properties need an état des risques?

The Géorisques portal, run by the ministry for ecological transition with the geological survey BRGM, explains that since 2003 owners must give buyers and tenants a statement of the main dangerous phenomena their property is exposed to. The duty applies to homes, offices, shops and land, even unbuildable land, located in a zone regulated by a risk prevention plan, whether natural, technological or mining, in a seismic zone from level 2 upwards, in a zone exposed to coastline retreat, in a soil information sector for polluted soils, in a zone with high radon potential at level 3, or in a zone subject to a legal brush clearing obligation.

The statement forms part of the dossier de diagnostic technique annexed to the promesse and the deed of sale, alongside the energy performance certificate and the other reports described in our DPE guide.

When must it be handed over, and how old may it be?

Service-public.fr, the official administration portal, states that the seller must give the état des risques to the potential buyer at the first visit of the property, that the statement handed over at that visit must have been drawn up less than six months earlier, and that it must be annexed to the promesse de vente, the deed of sale or the preliminary contract. Géorisques traces the first visit rule to the implementing decree of 1 October 2022, which also requires every property advert, whatever the medium, to carry the sentence that information on the risks the property is exposed to is available on the Géorisques website.

Both rules sit in the Code de l'environnement, the six month limit and the first visit in article R125-25 and the sanction in article L125-5. Géorisques adds a second clock: whatever form the statement takes, it must be up to date on the day the promesse, the preliminary contract, the deed or the lease is signed.

What does the form contain, and who fills it in?

Unlike the other diagnostics, Géorisques says, the état des risques does not require a certified professional: the owner can complete it, any format is legally valid as long as it carries every item required by article R. 125-24 of the Code de l'environnement, and the owner must also mention any compensated loss the property suffered after a natural or technological disaster. Since February 2021 the ministry's Errial service generates the statement automatically from an address or a parcel number, ready to download, after which the owner checks it and completes it with information from the prefecture's website.

The form's content is a map of the risk zones the property sits in, not a survey of the building. It says whether a flood plan, a seismic classification or a soil information sector covers the parcel; it does not say whether the cellar has flooded.

What happens if it is missing or out of date?

Géorisques states that failing to meet the information duty can lead to cancellation of the sale or lease contract, or to a reduction of the price or rent, and service-public.fr adds that the buyer can apply to the court for annulment of the sale or a reduction of the sale price. A statement older than six months at the first visit, or out of date at signing, is a missing statement for that purpose.

Ask for the état des risques at the first viewing, then read the zones it lists against the property's position rather than against the seller's reassurance. AiMYNDi reads the diagnostic file and flags the risk zones next to the price.