Tenant's Right of First Refusal Validity via Registered Letter vs. Bailiff's Act

A purchaser, having signed a contract for the sale of a property subject to a prior right of first refusal held by a tenant, and subsequently having the sale judicially confirmed despite the tenant's attempt to exercise that right, sought annulment of the final deed of sale claiming that the formal notification of the refusal, which was required to be made by bailiff's act, had instead been made by registered letter, which was deemed insufficient. The court of cassation quashed the lower court's decision, reasoning that the statutory provision requiring notification by bailiff's act for the exercise of a right of pre-emption is one of public order and its strict observance is mandatory, meaning that notification by registered letter did not validly interrupt the statutory period for exercising the right and thus could not be held against the tenant who sought to assert it.