Commercial Leases/Business Goodwill

In accordance with Article L. 145-10, para. 2, of the Commercial Code, the renewal request must be notified by extrajudicial act or by registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt . The use of a form not provided for by law, such as a request made by judicial act, summons, or conclusions served by a court bailiff, is sanctioned by nullity . There is nothing to prevent the lessee from requestin …

Form and content

In accordance with Article L. 145-10, para. 2, of the Commercial Code, the renewal request must be notified by extrajudicial act or by registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt . The use of a form not provided for by law, such as a request made by judicial act, summons, or conclusions served by a court bailiff, is sanctioned by nullity . There is nothing to prevent the lessee from requesting the renewal of separate leases by a single document, as long as the lessor has been sufficiently informed of the purpose of the request .

Under penalty of nullity, the renewal request must, pursuant to Article L. 145-10, para. 3, of the Commercial Code, reproduce the terms of para. 4: “within three months of the notification of the renewal request, the lessor must, by extrajudicial act, inform the applicant whether they refuse the renewal, specifying the reasons for this refusal. Failing to disclose their intentions within this period, the lessor is deemed to have accepted the principle of renewing the previous lease.” The omission of these terms results in the nullity of the request when it causes prejudice to the lessor . The action for nullity is time-barred after two years from the date of the renewal request .

The lessee, when notifying the lessor of their request for renewal, may, like the lessor, propose a new rent, which will be due as soon as the new lease takes effect, whether the rent proposal is concurrent with the renewal request or subsequent to it. Indeed, the provisions of Article L. 145-11 of the Commercial Code, which concern the modification of the lease price requested by the lessor and postpone the entry into force of the new price to the date of the subsequent request, are not applicable when the action for setting the price of the renewed lease is initiated by the lessee . Finally, when the parties have expressed their desire to renew the contract “under the same previous terms and conditions” without any reservation, they have concluded an express agreement on the terms and conditions of the previous lease, including the rent amount .

Before the reform introduced by Law No 2015-990 of 6 August 2015 for growth, activity, and equal economic opportunities, the request for renewal could only be served by extrajudicial act.

Cass. 3e civ., 10 July 1996, LawLex202300010488JBJ.

Cass. com., 30 October 1961, LawLex202300010622JBJ.

Cass. com., 6 April 1965, LawLex202300010623JBJ.

CA Paris, 16 November 2006, No 05/23634, Rents and Co-ownership 2007, comm. 81.

Cass. 3e civ., 7 January 2009, LawLex202300010621JBJ.

Cass. 3e civ., 15 April 2021, LawLex202200000578JBJ.

Commercial Leases/Business Goodwill

216. Form and content

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216. Form and content

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Les décisions de justice citées dans ce paragraphe :

Les notions juridiques connexes

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