Inheritance and Property Law · 2 min read · 2026-08
Bought land through a handwritten agreement? Why sorting out the legal situation matters
Land bought via a handwritten contract de mână stays unregistered in the buyer's name, even after years of use. A ruling can stand in for a notarised deed.
Context
In the past, many plots of land were transferred through simple private agreements, commonly known as "contracte de mână" (handwritten agreements). The parties agreed on a price, the buyer paid the agreed sum, took possession of the land and used it for years, without the sale ever being finalised before a notary.
Although such situations mostly stem from older practices, their legal consequences are still felt today. The buyer may use the land, pay taxes on it, or even believe themselves to be the owner, yet without a notarised deed and registration of the right in the land register, their legal position remains vulnerable.
A frequent problem arises when the land originates from an inheritance that was never settled, or where the heirs never carried out the partition. In such cases the seller cannot validly transfer a clear and exclusive title, and the buyer can find themselves blocked before the notary or the authorities.
The case examined by the court
In a recent case, the court examined exactly this situation: the buyers had paid the price of the land and were using it, yet the land was still registered in the land register under the names of several people, some of whom had since died. Resolving the situation required establishing the heirs, clarifying their inheritance shares, ending the co-ownership through partition, and, finally, obtaining a ruling that stood in place of a notarised sale contract.
What this case shows
This case shows that failing to resolve a property's legal situation in time can have serious consequences: it can block registration of title, make a later sale difficult, cause disputes between heirs, or require a complex court case to have the right actually acquired recognised.
In short, a "handwritten agreement" does not necessarily mean the situation is lost. Even where the sale was never finalised before a notary, and the land carries an unsettled inheritance or an unclear land-register situation, legal solutions exist for enforcing the buyer's right.
With a careful review of the pre-contract, the ownership documents, the land register and the parties involved, the situation can be unblocked through the courts, by obtaining a judgment that stands in place of an authenticated sale contract.