The lease end date does not terminate the lease

What happen after 9 years ?

It’s not always easy for the lessor or lessee to know the end date of a commercial lease.
The contractual term (end date of the lease) does not terminate the effects of the commercial lease, whose clauses continue to apply between lessor and lessee (tenant).
Furthermore, the commercial lease is not automatically renewed, i.e. a new 9-year commercial lease has not been created. Either the lessor or the lessee may give notice at any time to terminate the lease.
The commercial lease has a minimum term (9 years), but no maximum term.

At this stage, the three options are:

1. The tacit effects of the old lease apply between lessor and lessee, with no fixed maximum term;
2. The lessor or lessee terminates the commercial lease by means of a notice issued by a bailiff;
3. The lessor or lessee notifies the bailiff of a request to renew the lease, with a different rent for example.

The commercial lease terminates with a notice of termination or a request for renewal by bailiff, failing which the old lease will continue to apply without time limit (tacit extension).
Notice must be given within the notice period specified in the commercial lease. If the contract does not specify this, the period set by the French Commercial Code is 6 months.
When notice is given during the tacit extension period, the 6-month period starts to run from the end of the current calendar quarter. In practice, this means that the notice period can be as long as 8 or 9 months.
The bailiff will deliver the notice in accordance with the legal deadlines applicable at the end of the commercial lease.

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