Two-Year Limitation Period: Key Points
The two-year period (Art. L. 145-60 C. com.) covers all actions based on the commercial lease statute. The five-year period (Art. 2224 C. civ.) covers common-law claims: rent arrears, charge arrears, contractual termination not founded on the statute. Clauses covered by Arts. L. 145-15 and L. 145-16 (post-2014) are “deemed unwritten” and not subject to any limitation period.
Interruption erases elapsed time and starts a fresh two-year period. A valid mémoire sent by RAR interrupts from the date of sending (Cass. 3e civ., 3 November 2016). A summons interrupts from the date of service (Cass. 3e civ., 22 June 2022 — not the date of registry filing). A CDC referral does not interrupt.
Suspension halts the clock without erasing elapsed time. Main grounds: mediation/conciliation (from written agreement or first meeting; minimum six months residual after end); pre-trial expert measure (during expertise; six months to seise court after report; only if two-year period already running); impossibility to act; fraud.
The revision action is not suspended by a concurrent renewal fixation proceeding (Cass. 3e civ., 10 November 1982). Interrupt and monitor the revision prescription independently, even while a renewal fixation is ongoing. Missing a triennial revision deadline during a long-running renewal procedure is a common and costly error.
Expiry is a fin de non-recevoir: it extinguishes the right entirely and may be raised at any time in proceedings without proof of prejudice. On renewal rent fixation: the lease is renewed at the rent in force at the notice to quit date. On eviction indemnity: the tenant loses the right and becomes an occupant without title.

Scope: Two-Year vs Five-Year Periods

The two-year period applies to all actions “brought under” the commercial lease statute (Arts. L. 145-1 to L. 145-60). Actions based on ordinary lease law fall under the five-year civil prescription. Clauses contrary to Arts. L. 145-15 and L. 145-16 (as amended by the 2014 Pinel reform) are now “deemed unwritten” (réputées non écrites) — void from the outset, incapable of ratification by the passage of time, and not subject to any limitation period. The action to establish the existence of a statutory commercial lease arising ex lege from a tenant remaining in possession after a short-term lease is also not subject to prescription (Cass. 3e civ., 25 May 2023) — though the action to fix the rent of that new lease is.

Two-year period (Art. L. 145-60 C. com.) Five-year period (Art. 2224 C. civ.)
Renewal rent fixation Payment of rent arrears (including indexation clause disputes)
Revised rent fixation Recovery of rent arrears after judicial fixation
Eviction indemnity claim Payment of service charges and recovery of overpaid charges
Occupation indemnity claim (statutory) Common-law occupation indemnity (Art. L. 145-28 not engaged)
Action to contest a notice to quit Termination for contractual breach not founded on the statute
Requalification of a professional lease as a commercial lease Claim for contractual indemnity on early termination
Sub-rent realignment demand Action to confirm the clause résolutoire (not statute-based)
Action to void a notice to quit Invalidity of an indexation clause (C. mon. fin.)

Interrupting the Two-Year Period

Interruption erases the elapsed time and starts a fresh two-year period. The main grounds are set out below.

The Mémoire

Notification of a valid mémoire by registered letter (RAR) interrupts the prescription from the date of sending (Cass. 3e civ., 3 November 2016). A mémoire sent by ordinary letter has no interrupting effect. If the RAR is returned unsigned, follow up immediately with service via a commissaire de justice. A mémoire with a procedural defect still interrupts if the defect is cured before the court rules. The interrupting effect is specific to the rent-fixation procedure before the commercial rent judge — a mémoire does not interrupt prescription where the substantive claim is brought before the tribunal judiciaire (Cass. 3e civ., 25 January 2023).

The Summons (Assignation)

Prescription is interrupted by service of the summons (Cass. 3e civ., 22 June 2022 — reversing prior case law that treated registry filing as the interrupting act). A summons served before a court without jurisdiction still interrupts. A summons with a curable procedural defect also interrupts. A summons lapsed for failure to file a copy with the registry does not interrupt. A premature summons (served before the one-month waiting period after the mémoire) does not interrupt (Cass. 3e civ., 10 June 1971). A CDC referral does not interrupt prescription.

Recognition by the Debtor and Response Submissions

Voluntary payment of a provisional rent, participation in negotiations acknowledging the other party’s right, or requesting an extension of an expert’s mission to cover the occupation indemnity can all constitute interruptions by recognition. Mere participation in an expertise does not (Cass. 3e civ., 7 May 2020). A defendant’s response submissions (conclusions) within the two-year period contesting a notice to quit can also interrupt the prescription (Cass. 3e civ., 7 February 2019).

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Warning — Parallel Proceedings Do Not Automatically Interrupt

The prescription of the revision action is not suspended while a renewal rent fixation is in progress (Cass. 3e civ., 10 November 1982). Always notify a separate revision demand and interrupt prescription on it independently, even while a renewal fixation is ongoing. Missing a triennial revision deadline during a long-running renewal procedure is a common and costly error.

Suspending the Two-Year Period

Suspension halts the running clock without erasing elapsed time. The main grounds are:

Mediation, Conciliation, and Participative Procedure

The period is suspended from the date of the written agreement to mediate (or the first mediation meeting if no written agreement) until the end of the process, with a minimum residual period of six months after the end of the process (Art. 2238 C. civ.).

Pre-Trial Expert Measure

Where the juge des référés orders an expert measure before any proceedings on the merits, the prescription is suspended from the order until the report is filed (Art. 2239 C. civ.). The parties must then seise the court on the merits within six months of the report being filed. The suspension only runs if the two-year period has already begun at the date of the order — an expert order made before the notice to quit takes effect cannot suspend a period that has not yet started.

Impossibility of Acting and Fraud

The prescription does not run against a party unable to act due to legal, contractual, or force majeure impediment. A pending dispute about the existence or extent of the renewal right suspends the fixation prescription. Fraud by one party also suspends the limitation period (Cass. 3e civ., 1 December 2016; Cass. 3e civ., 23 September 2021). The parties may contractually modify the period — to a minimum of one year or a maximum of ten years (Art. 2254 C. civ.) — provided this does not apply to periodic payment obligations such as rent arrears.

Starting Points by Action Type

Action Starting point of the two-year period
Renewal rent fixation (after landlord’s notice to quit with renewal offer) Effective date of the renewed lease (date notice to quit took effect)
Renewal rent fixation (after tenant’s renewal request) Date of acceptance of renewal, or expiry of landlord’s three-month response period — whichever falls first; if later than the renewal date, from that later date
Triennial revision demand Date of sending of the revision demand by RAR
Eviction indemnity (after notice to quit) Date for which the notice to quit was given (Art. L. 145-9)
Eviction indemnity (after refusal of renewal demand) Date of service of the refusal of renewal (Art. L. 145-10)
Occupation indemnity (landlord’s action) Day after expiry of the lease, or day the right to eviction indemnity is finally established if previously contested
After right of repentance: renewal rent fixation Date of the repentance
After right of option: occupation indemnity for period before option Date the party exercising the option notified it
Sub-rent realignment demand Day the landlord knew the sub-rent exceeded the main rent
Requalification of professional lease as commercial lease Date of signature of the contract whose requalification is sought
Nullity of a notice to quit Date of the notice to quit
Rent fixation after short-term lease Date the application of the statute is first demanded by either party

Consequences of Expiry

Expiry is a fin de non-recevoir (bar to the action), which may be raised at any time during proceedings without proof of prejudice. It extinguishes the right entirely. If the two-year period expires without action on renewal rent fixation, the lease is renewed at the rent in force at the effective date of the notice to quit. If it expires on the eviction indemnity, the tenant loses the right to an indemnity and becomes an occupant without title, liable to expulsion and a common-law occupation indemnity (itself subject to the five-year period). A new demand notified after expiry starts a fresh period from the date of notification but cannot have retroactive effect.

Practical Checklist: Managing the Two-Year Prescription
At the triggering event, identify the starting point and diary the deadline: each action type has its own starting point. For renewal rent fixation after a landlord’s notice to quit, the period runs from the effective date. For the eviction indemnity, from the date the notice was given. Diary both the deadline and an early-warning date six months before it.
Interrupt by mémoire (RAR) before proceedings begin: where the action involves the commercial rent court, send the mémoire by RAR to interrupt the prescription from the date of sending. Keep the proof of dispatch. If the RAR is returned unsigned, serve immediately by commissaire de justice referencing the original sending date.
Monitor the revision prescription independently of any renewal proceedings: a concurrent renewal fixation does not suspend the triennial revision prescription. Notify the revision demand and interrupt prescription on it as a separate, tracked obligation. Do not assume that activities in one procedure protect the other.
If using mediation or a pre-trial expert: document the suspension trigger precisely: for mediation, preserve the written agreement to mediate with its date. For a pre-trial expert order, note the date the report is filed (six-month deadline to seise the court runs from that date). Confirm the two-year period had already begun before the expert order — otherwise there is nothing to suspend.
Advise clients on the deemed-unwritten distinction: clauses contrary to Arts. L. 145-15 and L. 145-16 (post-2014) are not subject to any limitation period and cannot be ratified by payment or passage of time. Identify these clauses early in any lease review — they may give the client an ongoing remedy even years after the lease was signed.
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Whether you are checking whether an action is still timely, defending against a prescription plea, or advising on the latest interruption or suspension point, we advise on the full prescription analysis for all commercial lease actions.

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Legal Notice. This article is for general information and educational purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice. Laws and regulations may have changed since publication. Always seek qualified French legal advice on limitation periods in commercial lease disputes in France.