A landlord refuses to renew a French commercial lease (bail commercial, the 3-6-9 lease) and offers eviction compensation (indemnité d’éviction, the statutory compensation due to the tenant when renewal is refused). To have the amount fixed, the landlord applies to the court in summary proceedings for the appointment of an expert. The tenant, reassured by the appraisal under way, waits for the report before issuing its own claim. Too late: the claim is time-barred. The reported decision of the Third Civil Chamber of the Cour de cassation (the French supreme court for civil and commercial matters) of 12 February 2026 restates a rule of timing that every evicted tenant should know.
The facts
On 27 June 2017 the owner of commercial premises served her tenant with notice to take effect on 31 December 2017, refusing renewal and offering eviction compensation. On 6 October 2017 she applied against the tenant in summary proceedings for an expert appraisal (expertise judiciaire, a court-ordered expert report) to determine the amount of the eviction compensation and of the occupation indemnity. The expert was appointed on 7 December 2017 and filed his report on 10 July 2020.
On 6 March 2020, more than two years after the effective date of the notice, the tenant sued the landlord for payment of the eviction compensation. The landlord pleaded that the claim was time-barred. The Paris Court of Appeal agreed with her on 30 May 2024.
The decision
The Cour de cassation dismissed the tenant’s appeal (Cass. 3e civ., 12 February 2026, appeal no. 24-18.382, reported).
The starting point. “It follows from articles L. 145-9 and L. 145-60 of the Commercial Code that, where the landlord serves notice refusing renewal and offering eviction compensation, the two-year limitation period for the tenant’s claim for payment of that compensation runs from the effective date of the notice” (translated from the French). Here that date was 31 December 2017, so the claim had to be brought before 31 December 2019.
Suspension benefits only the party who asked for the appraisal. Article 2239 of the French Civil Code suspends the limitation period where a judge grants an application for an investigative measure before any trial on the merits. But that suspension “operates only in favour of” the party who applied for the measure. The Court concluded that a tenant, as defendant to summary proceedings brought by the landlord, “benefits from the suspensive effect attached to the investigative measure only if it expressly joins in the application or itself makes an application, even in the alternative, to supplement or modify the expert’s remit”. In this case the tenant had only raised “protests and reservations” before the summary judge.
No acknowledgement of the debt. The tenant also argued that the landlord had acknowledged her right to compensation in a dire (a party’s written observations to the expert) sent on 9 September 2019, which would have interrupted the limitation period (article 2240). The Court of Appeal found, within its own power of assessment, that this document “contained no unequivocal acknowledgement”. The summary application itself had drawn a line between the occupation indemnity, stated to be due, and the eviction compensation, referred to in doubtful terms.
What the tenant should take from it
The calendar comes before the appraisal. A court-ordered appraisal in progress does not stop time running against the party who did not ask for it. A tenant who receives notice refusing renewal must, within two years of its effective date, either sue on the merits for payment of the eviction compensation, or expressly join in the landlord’s application for an appraisal, or add its own application, even in the alternative.
The valuation can come before the court-ordered appraisal. Nothing requires the tenant to wait for the appointed expert’s report before going to the trial court. The claim can rely on a private valuation report of the business (fonds de commerce, the business as a going concern: goodwill, lease rights, fixtures, clientele) or of the leasehold right (droit au bail), later supplemented by the court-ordered appraisal. The Cour de cassation accepts that a single-party report may be produced, provided it is corroborated (Cass. ch. mixte, 28 September 2012, appeal no. 11-18.710), and a joint private valuation carries more weight.
For the landlord, the lesson is symmetrical. Wording the offer of eviction compensation in cautious terms, without unequivocal acknowledgement, preserves the limitation defence. A landlord who prefers to secure a negotiation can, conversely, acknowledge the principle of the compensation in writing.
What the expert brings
Eviction compensation makes good the loss caused by the refusal to renew (article L. 145-14 of the French Commercial Code): the value of the business if the eviction destroys it, the value of the leasehold right if the business can be moved, then removal and refitting costs, transfer duties on a replacement business, trading disruption, and compensation for loss of a licence or of stock where relevant. The Charte de l’expertise en évaluation immobilière (the French property valuation charter) devotes a paragraph to eviction compensation (6th edition, November 2025, Title III, § 1.19) and one to the leasehold right (§ 1.18). A report prepared early, head by head, from the tenant’s accounts and references of comparable business sales gives the tenant the means to act within the time limit, and gives the landlord a serious basis for its offer.
Further reading
The Eviction compensation page describes the report, its timescale and its fee. On the same theme: Eviction compensation: a photo shop in a French shopping centre and Decontamination costs and eviction compensation: the 2022 ruling. The decision is available on Légifrance.
What next
Have you received notice refusing renewal of your commercial lease?
The time limit for claiming eviction compensation is already running. I value the business or the leasehold right and the ancillary heads of loss, in a report your lawyer can attach to the claim before the deadline.
Free quote, by email or by phone. No commitment before the quote is accepted. Fees are never linked to the value of the property (Charte de l’expertise, Title I, §2.1).
