Rent uncapping (déplafonnement)

Déplafonnement (rent uncapping) is the return of the renewed rent to the rental value, when the protective mechanism of the cap is set aside. It is neither a penalty nor a favour: it restores the basic rule of article L. 145-33 of the French Commercial Code, under which the rent corresponds to the rental value. The cap is the exception; uncapping is the return to the ordinary law.

It requires one of the situations provided by statute to be established, which is a matter of proof and for the judge, and the rental value to be quantified, which is a matter for the valuer. The two questions are distinct: an established uncapping says nothing about the amount of the rent, which may even be below the cap if the market has fallen.

Where the rule comes from

Article L. 145-34 of the French Commercial Code lists the cases in which the cap does not apply: a material change in the characteristics of the premises, in the permitted use, in the respective obligations of the parties or in the local commercial factors (items 1° to 4° of article L. 145-33); a lease granted for more than nine years; a nine-year lease whose actual term has exceeded twelve years through tacit extension. Single-purpose premises and offices are also governed by their own rules set out in the regulatory part of the Commercial Code. Articles R. 145-3 to R. 145-8 specify the content of each item.

The Cour de cassation requires the material change to be of interest to the business in question; its 2025 decisions on this point are discussed in the articles listed below.

In a valuation report

I always keep two parts separate. The first describes the facts that may found an uncapping: alteration of the premises, change of use, arrival of a tram line or a shopping centre, population growth in the district, with the documents that establish them and their dates. I do not decide the legal question; I document what the judge will have to assess. The second part quantifies the renewal rental value under article L. 145-33 and the Charte de l’expertise en évaluation immobilière (French property valuation charter, Title III § 1.6), and also calculates the capped rent, so that the court has both figures.

Example

A restaurant has rented 120 m² premises since 2012 at €21,000 per year. Since 2019, a tram line stops outside the door and the district has gained 2,000 inhabitants. The capped rent at the 2024 renewal comes to €25,200. Rents of restaurants on the same street give a rental value of €34,000. If the judge finds a material change in the local commercial factors, the rent is uncapped to €34,000, with the increase smoothed at 10 % per year.

Not to be confused with

The three-yearly revision under article L. 145-38, which can also bring the rent back to the rental value during the lease, but on different conditions. And smoothing (lissage), which does not call the uncapping into question but spreads its effect.