The three judgments handed down by the Third Civil Chamber of the Court of Cassation (Cour de cassation), the first on 7 November 2019 (No. 18-17.800) and the other two on 28 November 2019 (Nos. 18-23.769 and 18-24157) (on which see also G. Daudré, AJDI 2020. 206), may reassure those who were concerned on reading the decision of the Conseil d’État of 5 April 2019 (CE, 5 avr. 2019, n° 410039, Lebon ; AJDA 2019. 787), which held that the mere finding that premises were allocated to a use other than residential use on 1 January 1970 is not sufficient to establish the lawfulness of that use under Article L. 631-7 of the Construction and Housing Code.

In the judgment of 7 November 2019 reported here, the Court of Cassation upholds the decision of the lower courts to dismiss the action brought by the City of Paris under Article L. 651-2 of the Construction and Housing Code, seeking an order requiring an owner and its tenant to restore to residential use a room in a building held in co-ownership, used as a storeroom and cold room for the restaurant on the ground floor, and to pay civil fines, on the ground that the City had not proved that the room had been allocated to residential use on 1 January 1970.