The bankruptcy of the owner does not modify the rights of the tenant

The urgency that there would be for the liquidator to "realize assets" under the best conditions to pay the owner's creditors does not allow derogation from the rules of the law of 1989 which organizes the relationship between tenants and landlords and provides for guarantees for the holder of a residential lease, ruled the Court of Cassation.

The Court had been seized by a tenant who saw himself evicted from his home. The assets of the bankrupt company, of which this accommodation is a part, must be sold under the best conditions, argued the liquidator.

This assumes that the accommodation is sold empty and therefore that the lease is terminated, he believed.

The judge-commissioner of the commercial court, whose role is to monitor the liquidation procedure, had given his agreement. But the interest of the creditors of the owner company does not come before the rights of the tenant, declared the Court of Cassation.

The liquidator must respect the three-month notice provided for by law, justify the notice by the decision to sell and propose the purchase to the tenant.

The particularities of the liquidation procedure provided for by the Commercial Code do not derogate from the obligations created by the law of 1989 in terms of leave to sell, the judges underlined.

In addition, the Court was not interested in the fact that the tenant benefited from advantageous rent since he was close to the boss of the owner company.

(Cass. Com, 7.10.2020, H 19-14.388).