The French General Code of Public Property states that a private person/entity occupying the public domain is liable to pay a fee for use of public property (redevance domaniale).

Individual entrepreneurs can protect their assets so as to ensure that a business bankruptcy does not lead to personal bankruptcy, by making their real estate exempt from attachment. 

When a building is a danger to the safety of occupants, neighbors or passersby, the mayor (or the prefect of police in Paris) can initiate a risk of proceedings against the owner to take the necessary measures

The purchase, creation or sale of a business is an important legal and economic act in the professional life of a businessman or woman.

When a preliminary alienation declaration has been filed with a municipal authority concerning a commercial or crafts business, commercial lease or land on which business premises have or will be built, it has two months in which to choose between waiving or exercising its pre-emption right.­

Reserved land is designated when local development plans are adopted or revised.

Since 2004, municipalities have been able to assume ownership of real estate presumed to be ownerless. Taxes are no longer paid for this type of property.