By Charlotte GAUCHON
6 April 2025
Property leasing is an original legal arrangement. Neither a simple lease nor pure financing, it creates a specific balance between the parties. The lessee has access to the property without any heavy initial investment, while the lessor retains ownership of the property as security. This hybrid structure generates a set of obligations and responsibilities that differs from the ordinary law governing leases or loan agreements. Ignorance of these subtleties can lead to inextricable situations. Obligations of the lessor Obligation to deliver The lessor must make the property available to the lessee. The Court of Cassation confirmed this obligation in a ruling dated 10 January 2012: «failure by the lessor to fulfil its obligation to deliver the premises in the condition in which it undertook to do so enables the lessee to invoke the exception of non-performance» (Cass. 3e civ., 10 January 2012, no. 11-10.013). No particular formalities are required. The Court of Cassation...
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