Leave – Refusal to renew for legitimate reason

Description

You leased a commercial space. You wish to give your tenant leave but refuse to renew the lease and pay him eviction compensation because he committed a serious and legitimate fault. By way of example, there are sufficiently serious grounds for refusing renewal: non-payment of rent or repeated late payment; the assignment of irregular leases; subletting without the lessor’s authorisation; failure by the lessee to carry out the work; certain extra-contractual faults such as immoral acts, violence and insults against the lessor. On the other hand, serious and legitimate reasons do not constitute: the lack of maintenance, the execution of certain works without authorization, an offence the proof of which cannot be brought back… Before granting such leave to your tenant, you must have sent him by bailiff a formal notice by registered mail with acknowledgement of receipt asking him to respect his obligations. The formal notice must, on pain of nullity, specify the ground invoked and reproduce the terms of Article L. 145-17, I-1. It runs a period of one month during which your tenant must stop the alleged infringement, failing which you can legitimately refuse the renewal of the lease for serious and legitimate reasons. A formal notice is not required when the serious and legitimate reason is not directly related to the execution of the lease. This is the case, for example, of a criminal offence on the part of the tenant. If your tenant has not regularized the situation following your formal notice, you are entitled to grant him a leave with refusal to renew by bailiff six months before the expiry of the commercial lease. Since the leave must be justified, you must indicate the reason why you refuse to renew the lease to your tenant. in the present case, it is a question of indicating to him precisely the serious and legitimate reason which is reproached to him. You must also quote Article L. 145-9 paragraph 2 of the Commercial Code which allows the tenant either to contest the leave or to claim eviction compensation within two years from the date for which the leave was granted.