Renewal Request Checklist
Before serving: verify RCS/RNE registration at the premises address and for the activity operated there. Confirm that all conditions under Art. L. 145-1 and L. 145-8 C. com. are met. A request from an unregistered tenant is vulnerable to challenge.
Timing: serve in the six months before contractual expiry, or at any time during tacit extension. A request served more than six months early is void. Effective date: day after expiry (if served in the six-month window) or first day of the quarter following service (if during tacit extension).
Form: commissaire de justice act or registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt (from August 2015). If the letter cannot be presented, revert to bailiff service. Commissaire de justice service is strongly recommended in practice.
Mandatory text: reproduce verbatim the fourth paragraph of Art. L. 145-10 C. com. setting out the landlord’s three-month response window and the consequences of silence. Failure requires proof of prejudice to nullify (Art. 114 CPC).
The landlord has three months to respond: express acceptance; refusal by bailiff act with full motivation and statutory reminder; or silence = deemed acceptance of the principle of renewal. Silence does not fix the rent.
Accepting renewal “at the same clauses and conditions” without any rent reservation may extinguish the right of option for both parties (Cass. 3e civ., 15 April 2021, n° 19-24.23). A landlord’s refusal notice prevails over a subsequently served renewal request.

Why Tenants Serve Renewal Requests

The renewal request is the tenant’s counterpart to the landlord’s notice. In the absence of either, the lease continues by tacit extension indefinitely. The tenant is not obliged to serve a renewal request, but they may have good tactical reasons to trigger the process:

  • To force a lower rent where market values have fallen below the current contractual level;
  • To prevent the lease from running beyond twelve years of effective duration, which would automatically remove the statutory rent cap and allow the rent to be fixed at market value at renewal;
  • To improve the commercial appeal of the fonds de commerce on sale, since a buyer will prefer a business with a renewed lease at a known rent to one with an uncertain renewal right;
  • To pre-empt a future uncapping argument by securing renewal before a circumstance arises that could justify it.

Before serving a renewal request, the tenant should verify that they meet all conditions under Articles L. 145-1 and L. 145-8 C. com. — in particular, that they are registered at the RCS or RNE at the address of the premises and for the activity operated there.

Timing: The Window and the Effective Date

The renewal request can be served in the six months before the contractual expiry of the lease, or at any time during tacit extension with no minimum notice requirement. A request served more than six months before the lease expiry is premature and has no effect.

When the Effective Date Falls

  • Served in the six-month window before expiry: renewal takes effect on the day following the expiry date.
  • Served during tacit extension: terminates the tacit extension on the last day of the civil quarter during which it is served; the renewed lease starts on the first day of the following civil quarter.

Example: a renewal request served on 2 October 2025 during tacit extension terminates the extension on 31 December 2025, and renewal takes effect on 1 January 2026. The same result follows if the request were served on 30 December 2025.

When the Tenant Has Already Received a Landlord’s Notice

If the landlord has already served a notice (congé) with a renewal offer, the tenant’s renewal request may take precedence if it produces an earlier effective date — useful for managing the twelve-year cap exposure. However, a landlord’s refusal notice prevails over the tenant’s subsequent renewal request: it operates as a pre-emptive answer and cannot be overridden (Cass. 3e civ., 20 February 1991; Cass. 3e civ., 21 February 2007).

Form and Content Requirements

Since the law of 6 August 2015, the tenant may serve the renewal request either by commissaire de justice act or by registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt. For registered letter service, the date for the sender is the date of posting; the date for the recipient is the date of first presentation. If the letter cannot be presented, the tenant must revert to commissaire de justice service.

Commissaire de justice service is strongly recommended in practice. A commissaire de justice can verify the tenant’s registration status, confirm the recipient’s identity, and ensure service on the correct person — all of which matters for a document whose validity can be challenged on formal grounds.

The renewal request must reproduce verbatim the fourth paragraph of Art. L. 145-10 C. com., which sets out the landlord’s three-month response window and the consequences of silence. Failure to reproduce this text is a formal defect, but nullity requires proof of resulting prejudice (Art. 114 CPC).

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Warning — Check RCS Registration Before Serving

A tenant who is not registered at the RCS or RNE at the address of the leased premises, or for the activity operated there, may not be entitled to the benefit of the commercial lease statute at renewal. Serving a renewal request and then having it challenged on registration grounds is a serious situation — the landlord may use this to deny the right to the statute entirely and refuse renewal without an eviction indemnity. Always verify registration status before serving.

Author and Recipient

The request must be made by the tenant or, where there are co-tenants, by all of them jointly or by one acting with the others’ mandate. It can be served on the landlord directly, or on their manager, who is deemed to have authority to receive it (Art. L. 145-10 C. com.). Where there are co-owners, service on one is valid as regards all, subject to any contrary stipulation or notification.

In the case of a split ownership (usufruct/bare ownership), the request must reach both the usufructuary and the bare owner. Service on the usufructuary alone has been accepted by the Court of Cassation in at least one case (Cass. 3e civ., 21 May 2014, n° 13-16.578), but service on both remains the safer approach.

The Landlord’s Three-Month Window

Once the renewal request is served, the landlord has three months to respond. Three outcomes are possible:

Outcome 1
Express Acceptance
Landlord confirms renewal and, if desired, states the new rent. If no rent is specified, the new rent is only owed from the date of a subsequent formal rent claim. Accepting renewal after an unconfirmed forfeiture clause demand constitutes waiver of those prior breaches (Cass. 3e civ., 11 May 2022, n° 19-13.738).
Outcome 2
Refusal
Must be served by commissaire de justice act (registered letter is insufficient). Must state grounds and reproduce the statutory reminder that the tenant has two years to challenge or claim an eviction indemnity. May be: refusal with indemnity; refusal without indemnity (serious and legitimate breach); or denial of the right to the statute.
Outcome 3
Silence = Deemed Acceptance
Failure to respond within three months → deemed acceptance of the principle of renewal. Provisional only: does not fix the rent. Landlord retains the droit d’option and may still invoke grounds discovered after the three-month period.
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Practical Point — “On the Same Clauses and Conditions”

Where a renewal request is served on the basis of the previous lease terms “at the same clauses and conditions,” and the landlord accepts on those terms without any reservation on price, the parties are considered to have agreed the renewed lease. This removes the right of option that each party would otherwise have to refuse the renewal once the new rent is determined. Before serving or accepting on this basis, both parties should verify whether they are comfortable with the full existing terms — not just the rent (Cass. 3e civ., 15 April 2021, n° 19-24.23).

Summary: Step-by-Step for the Tenant Considering a Renewal Request
Step 1 — Assess the strategic rationale: identify why you are triggering renewal now. Is it to cap the twelve-year period? To fix a lower rent? To strengthen the fonds de commerce for a sale? The tactical purpose determines the optimal timing within the available window.
Step 2 — Verify entitlement: obtain a fresh RCS/RNE extract the same day. Confirm registration at the premises address, for the activity actually carried on. Check that there are no pending lease breaches that could be used by the landlord to deny the statute or refuse without indemnity.
Step 3 — Choose the service method: commissaire de justice service is strongly recommended. Draft the request to include the verbatim Art. L. 145-10 al. 4 text. Where there are co-tenants, ensure all are named as authors or have provided written mandates.
Step 4 — Monitor the landlord’s three-month window: diary the response deadline. If the landlord is silent at three months, document the deemed acceptance in writing. If the landlord refuses, assess whether the grounds are valid and whether a challenge or eviction indemnity claim is appropriate within the two-year window.
Step 5 — Watch the “same terms” trap: if you or the landlord accept renewal “at the same clauses and conditions” without rent reservation, the right of option disappears for both parties. Only use this formulation deliberately and after reviewing all existing lease terms.
Preparing or Responding to a Renewal Request?

The renewal request is a technical document with significant legal consequences. We draft renewal requests for tenants, advise on timing and strategic implications, and help landlords formulate their response within the three-month window.

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Legal Notice. This article is for general information and educational purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice and does not create a lawyer-client relationship. Laws and regulations may have changed since publication. Always seek qualified French legal advice on renewal requests in a French commercial lease.