Compensation for improvements: the twelve-month deadline runs even if the notice is challenged

Tenants received a recovery notice effective on 11 November 2020. They challenged it in court unsuccessfully: the rural lease tribunal upheld it in October 2021, and the land was returned at the end of November 2021. In March 2022, the tenants and the GAEC farming group using the land sought an expert assessment in summary proceedings to value the improvements to the property.

The Court of Appeal held the request inadmissible. Before the Court of Cassation, the tenants argued that their challenge to the notice had interrupted the deadline, or that time could not run before a final judgment upheld the notice.

The Court of Cassation dismissed the appeal. The twelve-month period is a forfeiture deadline running from the end of the lease and, unless otherwise provided, cannot be interrupted or suspended. It therefore began on 11 November 2020, the notices’ effective date, regardless of the tenants’ court challenge to their validity. The compensation action had been time-barred since 12 November 2021, and the expert-assessment request made in March 2022 lacked a legitimate basis.

The lesson is harsh for tenants. Challenging a notice does not suspend its effects, except in the specific case of a lease extension following a stay of proceedings concerning farm structure controls. A tenant challenging a notice should therefore also, as a protective measure, claim compensation for improvements or at least bring proceedings capable of preserving their rights within twelve months of the notice’s effective date, without awaiting the dispute’s outcome.

To prepare the claim, it is useful to gather invoices for works, evidence of planting, drainage, soil amendments or construction, and any initial condition report as early as possible. The landlord, for their part, may rely on the time bar without addressing the merits of the claim.