Termination of the rural lease
Verified 07 October 2022 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)
The rural lease contract shall be concluded for a minimum period of 9 years. The owner (lessor) or the tenant may decide to terminate it before the due date for specific reasons. Termination may also be decided by mutual agreement. The tenant is entitled to compensation when he has made improvements to the leased fund.
Owner
The landlord may obtain the termination of the rural lease in the following cases:
The lessor may request the termination of the rural lease by subpoena of the tenant in front of the joint rural leases court.
The judge may order the termination of the lease on one of the following grounds:
- Tenant's fault (e.g. 2 defaults on rent after 3 months, after 2 formal notices by registered letter with AR)
- Tenant's actions jeopardizing the proper exploitation leased land (e.g. lack of cultivation of land or lack of labor required for the needs of the holding)
- Non-compliance by the tenant of environmental clauses (e.g. clause that preserves water resource or biodiversity, etc.)
- Sub-lease or assignment irregular rural lease
- Failure to provide information of the lessor in the case of the making available of leased property, exchange of use
The lessor may also request the termination of the rural lease in the following cases:
- Death of tenant who does not leave a spouse, partner of a Civil partnership orentitled participating in the holding or having participated in the holding or during the 5 years preceding the death. The landlord has 6 months, from the day he knows of the death, to oppose the transmission of the lease.
- Retirement of tenant : he must inform the owner at least 12 months in advance by registered letter with AR or by deed of Commissioner of Justice (formerly an officer of the court)
FYI
Automatically, in the event of death, the lease continues for the benefit of the spouse, the partner with whom he or she had passed on, the ascendants or descendants. They must also meet a 'professional' condition : participation at the time of death, or actual participation in the holding during the 5 years prior to death.
The lessor may terminate the lease at any time in the following cases:
- Change of destination of leased property ; for example, leased plots become buildable and the owner commits to build within 3 years.
- Partial Destruction or total property rented by chance (as an unforeseeable event), unless the landlord causes the destroyed building to be rebuilt.
- Recapture of part of the leased land to build a home for a family member of the landlord or add dependencies to an existing home.
Termination is sent by the landlord to the tenant by act of commissioner of justice. It must specify the lessor's commitment to change or cause to be changed the destination of the leased parcel. IT shall take effect 1 year after notification.
FYI
The lessee shall be entitled to a allowance calculated based on the time remaining until the end of the lease. He cannot be forced to leave the area before the end of the current crop year.
The lessor may decide to terminate the rural lease at any time during the lease with the agreement of the lessee. We're talking about amicable termination.
They decide together on the conditions of termination, such as the date of termination or the payment of an exit allowance.
Tenant
The tenant can request the cancelation of the rural lease by sending his request to the landlord 12 months in advance. The request is sent by act of commissioner of justice or by registered letter with AR.
He may terminate the lease in the following cases:
- Retirement
- Incapacity to work for more than 2 years concerning him or one of his family members essential to the work of the farm
- Death of one or more family members essential to the work of the holding
- Acquisition of a farm which he must operate himself
- Refusal of authorization to operate obliging the farmer to bring his holding into line with the provisions of the regional master plan for agricultural holdings.
The lessee may also terminate the lease at any time by mutual agreement with the landlord. We're talking about amicable termination.
They decide together on the conditions of termination, such as the date of termination or the payment of an exit allowance.
Where the lessee has made improvements to the leased fund, the lessor may pay a severance pay.
Improvements are repairs required to conserve a farm building or to operate the land.
The tenant must apply for this exit allowance from his landlord within 12 months from the date of the end of the lease.
The parties shall agree on the amount of compensation. If the lessor refuses to reply or to provide compensation, the lessee may ask the Joint Rural Lease Court to fix the amount of compensation.
In the event of the death of the tenant, the rural lease part of the estate. It may therefore be transmitted to the spouse, Civil partnership partner, ascendant or descendant of the deceased tenant.
To benefit from this transfer of the lease, the rights holders must participate in farm work or have participated effectively in the course of 5 years before death.
If the heirs do not wish to continue the operation of the leased plots, they must ask the lessor to terminate the rural lease. Termination must be requested by registered letter with notice of receipt or by Commissioner of Justice within 6 months after the death of the tenant. After this period, the heirs are considered to have accepted the continuation of the lease and must therefore pay the rent.
Termination of the rural lease