A pharmacy has occupied its premises under a lease renewed in 2000 for nine years. The lease runs on by tacit extension after 2009. On 14 May 2012 the tenant requests renewal, before the twelve years that cause the loss of the rent cap. Too late all the same: the renewed lease takes effect only on the first day of the following calendar quarter, 1 July 2012, and the expired lease lasted twelve years and one day. The rent is set at market rental value. The decision of the Third Civil Chamber of the Cour de cassation (the French supreme court for civil matters) of 9 July 2026 confirms a rule of timing whose cost, for the tenant, is measured in years of rent.
The facts
A pharmacy company holds commercial premises under a lease (bail commercial, the French 3-6-9 lease) renewed for nine years from 30 June 2000. The lease continues by tacit extension at its term. On 14 May 2012 the tenant requests renewal. The landlord accepts the principle and applies to the commercial rent judge to have the rent of the renewed lease set at market rental value, because of the length of the expired lease; a dispute over the renewal date sends the case to the ordinary court.
On 19 December 2024 the Paris Court of Appeal held that the renewed lease took effect on 1 July 2012 and set the rent at market rental value. The tenant appealed: the cap of article L. 145-34 of the French Commercial Code still applies where the tenant served its request for renewal before the extended lease reached twelve years, whatever the effective date of the renewed lease.
The decision
The Cour de cassation dismissed the appeal (Cass. 3e civ., 9 July 2026, appeal no. 25-11.167).
It approved the Court of Appeal for holding “first, that the fact that the tenant may request renewal of the lease at any time during its tacit extension, under article L. 145-10 of the Commercial Code, did not mean that the lease ended on the date the request for renewal was served, and second, that in the event of tacit extension of the lease and a request for renewal, the new lease took effect from the expiry of the extension of the previous lease, that date being the first day of the calendar quarter following the request for renewal according to the wording of article L. 145-12 of the same Code, and that the old lease expired on the day before the effective date of the new lease” (translated from the French).
The first day of the calendar quarter following the request of 14 May 2012 was 1 July 2012. Absent agreement between the parties on another date, the renewed lease took effect on that day, “and the expired lease had lasted from 30 June 2000 to 30 June 2012 inclusive, that is twelve years and one day, from which it followed that the rent of the renewed lease had to be set at the amount of the rental value”.
What this changes for the valuation
The timing runs from the effective date, not from the request. Article L. 145-34 excludes the cap where, through tacit extension, the length of the expired lease exceeds twelve years. What matters is not the date on which the tenant requests renewal, but the actual length of the expired lease, which runs until the day before the new lease takes effect. For a lease that started on 30 June 2000, the request had to be served at the latest in the first quarter of 2012 for the new lease to take effect on 1 April 2012 and the expired lease to stay under twelve years. In practice, a tenant who wants to keep the cap must request renewal in the calendar quarter before the one in which the lease reaches twelve years, not in that quarter.
What one day costs. The capped rent follows the change in the commercial rent index since the initial rent; the uncapped rent is the rental value of article L. 145-33, set according to the characteristics of the premises, their use, the parties’ obligations, local commercial factors and prices charged in the neighbourhood. For a well-placed pharmacy, the gap between the two can exceed half the rent, over nine years, without the 10% a year smoothing of article L. 145-34, which does not apply to uncapping for a lease longer than twelve years, as the Cour de cassation held in 2025.
The rental value report. Once uncapping is settled, the argument turns to the figure. The renewal rental value is established by comparison with rents of similar premises, on a weighted floor area according to the practice of the Charte de l’expertise en évaluation immobilière (the French property valuation charter, 6th edition, November 2025, Title III, § 1.6 and the annex on weighting of retail areas), with references of recent leases in the neighbourhood. References of renewal rents fixed by the courts, sales of leasehold rights and changes in the street’s commercial standing count as much as rents of new lettings.
For the landlord, the mirror image. A landlord who lets the lease run on without serving notice and without answering a request for renewal also lets the clock run; they gain uncapping after twelve years, but they do well to have the effective date fixed and the rental value established as soon as the request arrives, to avoid a dispute over the starting point of the new rent.
What the expert takes from it
- A request for renewal during tacit extension does not end the lease; the new lease takes effect on the first day of the following calendar quarter, unless otherwise agreed.
- The length of the expired lease is counted to the day before that effective date; one day beyond twelve years is enough to uncap.
- A tenant who wants to keep the cap must request renewal one quarter before the twelve-year mark.
- Rent uncapped for exceeding twelve years is not smoothed; the gap with the capped rent is measured in years of rent.
- The rental value is supported by references of comparable leases on weighted area, at the effective date of the renewed lease.
Further reading
The Commercial rent and leases page describes the assignment, its timescale and its fee. The guide Commercial lease renewal: my landlord wants to uncap the rent and the glossary entries déplafonnement, lissage and valeur locative de renouvellement complement this article. On the same theme: Commercial lease beyond twelve years: no rent smoothing and Commercial rent uncapping: the four conditions. The decision is available on Légifrance.
What next
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