Two rural leases over the same plots: the second is not void, only unenforceable against the first tenant

Article L. 411-4 of the French Rural and Maritime Fishing Code provides that rural leases must be in writing. This is an evidentiary rule, not a condition of validity: an oral lease is deemed to run for nine years on the terms of the departmental standard contract.

A privately signed lease has a date enforceable against third parties only from its registration, the death of one signatory or the recording of its substance in a notarised instrument (former Article 1328 of the Civil Code, now Article 1377). A notarised lease itself provides authoritative evidence of its date.

Established case law gives preference, between successive tenants of the same property, to the one whose title first acquired such a certain date, regardless of good or bad faith and even if the second tenant occupies the property.

In 1991, three joint owners leased several plots to a first tenant. In 2014, one owner acting alone granted a rural lease over the same plots to a second person. After his death and the vacancy of his estate, the plots were sold, and that sale was subsequently rescinded. The second tenant sought annulment of the sale. The first tenant sought recognition of his lease. The Court of Appeal held the 1991 lease valid and the 2014 lease void because the plots were not available to let.

The Court of Cassation quashed the ruling. Where successive rural leases over the same property have been granted to different tenants, the lease which first acquired a certain date is enforceable against the other tenant. The other lease is not void simply because it covers already leased plots: it is only unenforceable against the tenant whose lease first acquired a certain date.

The distinction between nullity and unenforceability is not merely theoretical. The second lease remains valid between its parties. The second tenant, deprived of use of the land, therefore retains the possibility of claiming against the landlord who leased property they could not deliver. If the first lease ends, the question of the second lease’s effectiveness may arise again.

For tenants, the lesson is simple: a privately signed lease should be registered to acquire a certain date. For a joint owner tempted to lease alone, granting a rural lease over jointly owned property requires all joint owners’ consent (Article 815-3 of the Civil Code), and leasing already rented land may expose them to liability.