Sixth-year recovery clause: the landlord may request it at any time during a renewed lease

Article L. 411-6 of the French Rural and Maritime Fishing Code provides that, on renewal, the tenant cannot refuse a clause allowing recovery at the end of the sixth year following renewal for the landlord’s spouse, civil partnership (PACS) partner or one or more descendants who are adults or emancipated minors. They must farm personally under the conditions of Article L. 411-59.

The clause applies only to renewed leases: recovery can never occur during the initial nine-year period. A landlord wishing to exercise it must serve notice at least two years in advance. It cannot be exercised against a tenant approaching retirement age in the circumstances set out in Article L. 411-58.

Case law already recognised that the law sets no deadline for requesting insertion of the clause. It remained uncertain whether a request made several years after renewal could affect the current lease or only the next renewal.

A rural lease entered into in 1990 had most recently been renewed in December 2017. In 2021, the landlord, who had succeeded to the original landlord’s rights through inheritance, asked the tenant to accept a sixth-year recovery clause and then applied to the rural lease tribunal. The tribunal ordered its insertion, but only from the December 2026 renewal. The Court of Appeal held that it should be inserted into the lease renewed in 2017.

The Court of Cassation upheld the appellate ruling. It held that, after the first renewal, a landlord may request insertion of a sixth-year recovery clause at any time, not necessarily close to a renewal date. It added that insertion is not subject to a condition concerning the landlord’s good faith.

Because the landlord made the request during the lease renewed in 2017, the clause had to be introduced into that lease.

For a landlord wishing to enable a child to start farming, the ruling offers a wider window than might have been expected. They need not wait for the next renewal: they can request the clause during a renewed lease, taking account of the sixth-year expiry and the two-year notice period.

For the tenant, the ruling calls for vigilance. A renewed lease does not guarantee nine undisturbed years: a recovery clause can be inserted at any time, and the tenant cannot oppose it merely because the request is late or opportunistic. However, they may still challenge the notice eventually served under the clause if the beneficiary fails to meet the recovery conditions.