Commercial Leases/Business Goodwill

Pursuant to Article R. 145-20, para. 1, of the Commercial Code, “the request for rent review provided for in Article L. 145-37 is made by extrajudicial act or by registered letter with a request for acknowledgment of receipt,” with trial courts not hesitating to recall this principle . Thus, a summons cannot constitute a request for rent review . The same applies to submissions  or the notificatio …

Form and content

Pursuant to Article R. 145-20, para. 1, of the Commercial Code, “the request for rent review provided for in Article L. 145-37 is made by extrajudicial act or by registered letter with a request for acknowledgment of receipt,” with trial courts not hesitating to recall this principle . Thus, a summons cannot constitute a request for rent review . The same applies to submissions  or the notification of the brief  to the opposing party, prior to referring the matter to the judge, which is a separate act from the initial request for review, the situation not being capable of being regularized by the notification of a request for review after the brief in support .

In accordance with Article R. 145-20, para. 1, of the Commercial Code, the request for rent revision must specify, “on pain of nullity, the amount of rent requested or offered” . However, it is possible, pending the publication of the index for the quarter on which the variation of the revised rent depends, to indicate a provisional amount . Indeed, Article R. 145-20, para. 1, does not require that the amount of the revised rent be quantified in the request as long as the elements that allow its calculation are defined with sufficient precision for the lessee to establish it upon the publication of the missing index , the essential being that the rent is at least determinable in its amount .

Cass. 3e civ., 1 July 2015, LawLex202300008018JBJ; Amiens, 22 May 2024, LawLex202400003863JBJ, which specifies that a request for rent revision, which was neither made by extrajudicial act nor by registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt, does not comply with the mandatory prescriptions set by the Commercial Code and does not constitute an express and unequivocal agreement in response to a request for a triennial revision of the lease price.

Cass. 3e civ., 29 April 1998, LawLex202300008019JBJ.

Cass. 3e civ., 1 July 2015, LawLex202300008018JBJ, prec.: in this case, the landlord's heirs had requested, in summary conclusions, that the rent of the lease be revised based on the INSEE construction cost index.

Cass. 3e civ., 5 July 1983, LawLex202300008114JBJ; 15 November 2006, LawLex202300008116JBJ, according to which the memorandum notified to the opposing party prior to bringing the matter before the judge is a distinct act from the initial request for price revision, produces other effects, and its notification does not constitute a prior request.

Cass. 3e civ., 26 January 2017, LawLex202200000661JBJ.

Cass. 3e civ., 12 October 1976, LawLex202300008118JBJ. – See also CA Paris, 30 January 2008, LawLex202300008122JBJ, which specifies that the nullity, sanctioning the absence of indication in the request for revision of the rent amount, applies under the same conditions regardless of the form chosen.

Cass. 3e civ., 20 December 1989, LawLex202300008125JBJ.

CA Paris, 16 April 1985, Loyers 1985, No 301.

CA Paris, 30 January 2008, LawLex202300008122JBJ, préc.

Commercial Leases/Business Goodwill

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