Commercial Maintenance Obligations (Art. 606 & Pinel) in France

Before 2014, commercial lease law in France allowed extensive transfer of costs to tenants. With the Pinel Law (effective since 5 November 2014 under Decree 2014-1317), the legislation restricted "Triple Net" clauses by prohibiting the transfer of major structural repairs (defined in Article 606 of the Civil Code) onto the tenant.

1. The Formal Ban on Recharging "Article 606 Major Repairs" The core of this legislative upheaval dictates the prohibition of making the tenant (the merchant) bear any repair of a structural or major nature (of the real estate "in substance"). From now on, any contract line imputing this charge is deemed unwritten (réputée non écrite). These major entities which must be invoiced exclusively to the financial owner of the building, listed in Article 606 of the Civil Code, include:

• Retaining walls and fences.
• The total general roof. (Renewal of beams and roofs due to leaks).
• Vaults, slabs, or floors. Note: A simple cleaning of tiles and gutters or interior varnishing is not Article 606; this represents minor maintenance which is a tenant charge.

2. Restrictions on Certain Charges Under Article R145-35 of the Commercial Code, certain charges cannot be passed to the tenant:

• Management Fees: Fees relating specifically to the management of rents (honoraires de gestion des loyers) cannot be charged to the tenant. However, technical management fees (syndic) and other administrative charges for utilitarian services can be contractually transferred to the tenant if explicitly provided for.
• Obsolescence (Vétusté): The imputation of expenses related to obsolescence regarding major repairs (Art. 606) to the tenant is strictly prohibited. The landlord remains responsible for replacing major structural equipment when necessitated by age.

3. What the Tenant Will Still Pay in Full

The panel of authorized invoicing to tenants almost encompasses: "all utilitarian internal maintenance exclusive to their functioning business or its routine external maintenance in common areas proportionally useful."

• Preventive maintenance (broken private interior windows, terminal fluid systems, plumbing to renew, radiators, industrial roller gates).
• Compliance Upgrades required by their own (and exclusive) activity: If a caterer installs or renovates a chimney with filter extractors to hygienic standards in an old boutique lacking restaurant fire standards, and their activity imposes a new fire standard, the costs will be entirely allocated to them as charges. (If the standard upgrade is linked to the global building structure, the landlord bears it under Art. R145-35 2°).

4. Property Taxes (Taxe Foncière) Property taxes (taxe foncière) and the garbage collection tax (TEOM) can be contractually transferred to the tenant under French commercial lease law (Art. L145-40-2). For this transfer to be legally enforceable, there must be a clear and distinct clause in the lease agreement explicitly authorizing the reallocation of these taxes to the tenant. Without a specific provision in the lease's inventory of charges, the landlord cannot legally transfer these taxes.

The Landager platform assists in performing a pre-charge by thousandths upon presentation of attestations based on the weighted net usable surface of a structure against general invoices, properly deducting non-rechargeable works (like those under Art 606) to extract them from the annual commercial charges notice. Back to the Commercial Overview: FrancePreview unavailable.

How Landager Helps

Landager automates your Loi Pinel compliance by tracking major repairs under Article 606, managing property tax reallocations, and ensuring your commercial property charges inventory meets all Commercial Code requirements.

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