My landlord refuses to renew my lease in France: what compensation?

A court bailiff (commissaire de justice) has served you with notice: your landlord refuses to renew your French commercial lease (bail commercial, the 3-6-9 lease) and offers you eviction compensation (indemnité d’éviction, the statutory compensation due to the tenant when renewal is refused), or offers none at all. Your shop has been there for fifteen years, your customers are local, and you do not know what you can claim, how long you can stay, or how long you have to act. This guide describes the rest of the procedure, the rules of the French Commercial Code and what a valuation report brings, before negotiating or issuing a claim.

What happens in practice

The notice is served at least six months before the end of the lease, by a court bailiff, and must state the reasons for the refusal (article L. 145-9 of the French Commercial Code). Two situations exist. In the first, the landlord refuses without compensation, relying on a serious and legitimate ground, such as breaches by the tenant, or on the condition of the building (articles L. 145-17 and L. 145-18). In the second, the more common, it refuses while offering eviction compensation; the principle of compensation is settled, only its amount is in dispute.

On the effective date of the notice, the lease ends, but the tenant may stay in the premises until the compensation is paid. It then pays an occupation indemnity in place of the rent. The parties negotiate, often with their lawyers, on the basis of a valuation. Failing agreement, one of them issues a claim before the judicial court (tribunal judiciaire), which generally appoints a court expert to value the business and the ancillary heads, then fixes the compensation. Once the decision is final, the landlord has fifteen days to exercise its right of retraction (droit de repentir). Otherwise it pays, and the tenant vacates within three months.

The most delicate point is the calendar: the action for payment of the compensation is time-barred two years after the effective date of the notice.

What French law says

The principle. The landlord may refuse renewal, but it must pay the evicted tenant compensation equal to the loss caused by the failure to renew. That compensation includes the market value of the business (fonds de commerce, the business as a going concern: goodwill, lease rights, fixtures, clientele), determined according to the customs of the trade, plus normal removal and refitting costs and the costs and transfer duties of a business of the same value, unless the landlord proves that the loss is smaller (article L. 145-14).

Business or leasehold right. If the business can be moved without losing its customers, the principal compensation is limited to the value of the leasehold right (droit au bail) and the costs of the move. The Charte de l’expertise en évaluation immobilière (the French property valuation charter) thus distinguishes replacement compensation from relocation compensation, and defines the leasehold right as the price a tenant can obtain by assigning its lease to a successor (6th edition, November 2025, Title III, § 1.18 and § 1.19). The burden of proving that the business can be moved lies on the landlord (article 1353 of the French Civil Code), as the Saint-Denis Court of Appeal restated in a shopping centre case where the compensation was fixed at €456,384.60.

Ancillary heads. The Charte gives a non-exhaustive list: reinvestment, removal, refitting, trading disruption, loss on stock, unamortised fittings, redundancy payments, double rent (Title III, § 1.19). The decontamination costs of a classified site remain the responsibility of the last operator and are not part of it (Cass. 3e civ., 22 June 2022, appeal nos. 20-20.844 and 21-11.168).

The occupation indemnity. A tenant who stays in the premises owes, from the expiry of the lease, an indemnity equal to the rental value, unless otherwise agreed (article L. 145-28). Property tax transferred to the tenant reduces that rental value (Cass. 3e civ., 29 January 2026, appeal no. 24-17.227).

The time limit. The two-year limitation period of article L. 145-60 runs from the effective date of the notice. An expert appraisal obtained by the landlord in summary proceedings suspends the period in the landlord’s favour only (Cass. 3e civ., 12 February 2026, appeal no. 24-18.382).

Retraction. The landlord may withdraw the eviction within fifteen days of the final decision, if the tenant is still in the premises (article L. 145-58).

What a valuation report changes

The report starts with the question that governs everything: can the business be moved? It compares the premises with what is available on the market, analyses the clientele and the part played by the location in the business, and concludes. It then quantifies the principal compensation: value of the business by several cross-checked methods, turnover, restated EBITDA (the French excédent brut d’exploitation), comparable business sales; or value of the leasehold right by capitalising the rent differential. It quantifies each ancillary head from quotes or documents, and the occupation indemnity owed to the landlord while the tenant stays in the premises.

The report is used to negotiate with a figure, to draft the claim before the two-year deadline, to steer the court expert and to reply to the expert’s draft report. It also serves the landlord who wants to make a serious offer or set aside a provision. What it does not do: it does not interrupt the limitation period, which only the claim does; it does not replace the lawyer; and a single-party report must be corroborated before the judge (Cass. ch. mixte, 28 September 2012, appeal no. 11-18.710).

A worked example

A restaurant in Concarneau, on the harbour front, fifteen years of trading, turnover of €450,000 excluding VAT, restated EBITDA of €70,000. The landlord refuses renewal to take back the premises and offers €120,000, arguing that the business can be moved to a neighbouring street.

The report concludes that the business cannot be moved: the customers are those of the harbour, and no equivalent premises are available. The value of the business comes out between €270,000 and €300,000 depending on the method, adopted at €300,000. Ancillary heads: costs and transfer duties of an equivalent business, €25,000; removal and refitting, €8,000; trading disruption, €20,000; redundancy payments for four employees if the business closes, €30,000. Eviction compensation assessed: €383,000, against €120,000 offered.

For its part, the tenant owes an occupation indemnity. The rental value is established at €24,000 per year, against a rent of €18,000: over two years of staying in the premises, €48,000 instead of €36,000, a difference to set aside. The report presents both sides of the case, which is what the lawyer expects before issuing the claim.

Common mistakes

• Waiting for the report of the expert appointed in summary proceedings at the landlord’s request before issuing the claim: the limitation period keeps running.
• Accepting relocation compensation when the customers will not follow, or claiming replacement compensation for a business that can move without loss.
• Claiming heads that are not compensable, such as decontamination, which weakens the whole claim.
• Presenting ancillary heads as lump sums rather than with quotes and invoices.
• Forgetting that the occupation indemnity is calculated on the rental value, not on the rent.

What to gather

• Lease, amendments and notice, with the date of service.
• Last three balance sheets and tax returns, monthly turnover.
• Staff register and employment contracts.
• Stock inventory and list of fittings with their invoices.
• Removal and refitting quotes, advertisements for available premises.
• Plans, photographs, rents charged in the neighbourhood.
• Correspondence with the landlord and the offer received.

Timeframe and fee

The service is the assessment described on the Eviction compensation page. The report is delivered four weeks after receipt of the accounting documents. It is billed on time spent, at €65 per hour, on a quote depending on the size of the business and the state of the documents; a full assessment of the business, the ancillary heads and the occupation indemnity rarely takes less than 15 h, or €975. Travel charged at €65 per hour or part hour from PONT-L’ABBÉ, 50 % deposit, VAT not applicable (article 293 B of the French General Tax Code). Assistance before the court expert is the subject of a separate quote. The schedule is on the Fees page.