Repossesion to occupy the property

The landlord can repossess the dwelling for himself or for a member of his/her family, provided it is occupied as a primary residence.

The family members entitled to occupy the repossessed property are:
•    The spouse,
•    The partner or the partner in a civil union (for at least one year),
•    Ascendants (grandparents, parents) of the landlord and those of his/her spouse,
•    Descendants (children, grandchildren) of the landlord and those of his/her spouse.

Attention! The landlord can not require a « repossession to occupy » the property in favour of a minor, except when resulting from a sovereign appreciation of the courts.

In order to be valid, the notice letter sent to the lessee shall indicate the name, address, and family tie of the beneficiary of the repossesion.

It is not mandatory by law to mention the family tie between the lessor and the buyer but it is better to indicate it in order to avoid any protest from the lessee.

Particular cases

In the case of a joint ownership property, the « repossesion to occupy » notice can be cited in favour of one of the co-owners.
In the case of a family-run SCI (which stands for Société Civile Immobilière : French Property Company), the notice can only be cited in favour of one of the partners, never in favour of his/her descendants ou ascendants.

Attention! The beneficiary of the repossesion has to occupy the property as a primary residence, and not as a mere pied-à-terre. The property has to be occupied within six months from date of notice to avoid being accused of fraud as regards his/her previous lessee.

Inspection

Only the lessee can realize an inspection a priori or a posteriori if he suspects a fraud committed by the lessor when repossessing the property for himself or his/her family (failure to occupy the property by the beneficiary of the repossession, sale of the property, etc.).

The sanction for fraud is payment of damages (for example, reimbursement of agency fees paid for the new house rental, moving costs, moral damages,...).

Intention to sell - There are two possible situations:

1 - The landlord/lessor sells an occupied property.

2 -The landlord/lessor wants to sell a vacant property.

If the landlord/lessor sells an occupied property, then the notice of sale regime does not apply.

Consequently, the landlord/lessor is :

• entitled to sell his/her dwelling during the lease period,
• not obligated to notify his/her lessee, nor to offer him/her the possibility to buy the property.

The consequences for the lessee are as follows:

The right to arrange property showings

It is up to the landlord and the lessee to come to an amicable agreement concerning times for showing the property. However, it is important to know that it is illegal to add a clause in the lease allowing showings during more than two hours a day and/or during public holidays and sundays.

With the new property owner the lease continues and its content remains unchanged.

Useful information : When a corporate body rents a property and sells it to an individual during the lease term, the initial duration of the lease is not modified. The reason is that it remains determined by the parties status at the moment of entering the premises.
On the contrary, when renewing the lease its duration increases from three to six years.

Security deposit

The transfer of the security deposit to the new property owner has to be stipulated in an additional clause in the bill of sale. In the absence of the clause, the lessee must request a refund from his/her previous lessor.

The new occupied-property owner will have to introduce himself/herself and communicate his/her address and phone number to the lessee. In addition, he has to tell the lessee if he received the security deposit from the previous lessor.

Once the sale is closed, the previous lessor has to communicate to his/her previous lessee the name and address of the new property owner.  When closing the sale, he has to send to his/her previous lessee a copy of the certificate of sale issued by the sollicitor.