Commercial lease: clarification of grounds for termination

On 8 March 2021, the Tribunal d’arrondissement, sitting as an appeal court in commercial lease matters, handed down a judgment which is interesting in several respects with regard to the provisions governing commercial leases:

• The Tribunal states in the judgment that the commercial lease legislation applies if the tenant actually runs a business in the rented premises;
• A question that arose was whether the lessor could also invoke the grounds for termination provided for in Article 1762-11 of the Civil Code (personal occupation, abandonment of any tenancy, for the purpose of identical activities, reconstruction or transformation of the rented building) for a lease concluded beyond 9 years, in order to enable him to avoid paying the eviction indemnity stipulated in Article 1762-12 of the Civil Code.
  
  The Tribunal answered in the affirmative, ruling that a lessor may invoke these three serious grounds, subject to abuse, for leases of a duration of more than 9 years.
   
• In this case, the lessor had invoked the reason of a reconstruction and transformation of the rented building. The question arose as to whether the lessor must already have all the necessary permits at the time of termination of the lease or not.
  
  The judges held that a lessor cannot be required to have all the necessary permits or even to have already concluded contracts with the trades for the planned work at the time of termination of the lease.
  
  In order for the demolition and alteration ground to be relevant, the proposed work must affect the structural works, i.e. the foundations, walls and roof.