Commercial Evictions in Romania (Evacuarea Comercială)

In the high-stakes realm of Romanian commercial real estate, permitting a non-paying corporate tenant to indefinitely occupy a 2,000 sqm warehouse or an entire floor of a Class A office building is financial suicide. Consequently, the commercial eviction process (evacuarea) is designed to be surgically lethal and blindingly fast—provided the landlord's attorneys properly structured the original lease agreement.

Disclaimer: This guide provides general legal information for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Landlord-tenant laws change, and contracts dictate most rules. Always consult a licensed local attorney for advice specific to your situation. Information last verified: March 2026.

The Golden Key: The Enforceable Title (Titlu Executoriu)

The entire strategy of commercial leasing in Romania revolves around obtaining and preserving an Enforceable Title (Titlu Executoriu).

If a landlord uses a simple, unregistered written contract and the tenant stops paying, the landlord must file a lawsuit for eviction. In the commercial sector, where corporate lawyers utilize every procedural delay tactic imaginable (requesting expert topological surveys, demanding service charge audits), a commercial eviction trial can drag on for 1 to 3 years, during which the landlord receives zero rent.

Under the Romanian Civil Code (Articles 1798 and 1809), a lease instantly acts as an Enforceable Title—granting the landlord the power to bypass the trial and go straight to execution—if it is either registered with ANAF (the tax authority) or signed before a Public Notary.

Why Commercial Landlords Demand Notarial Deeds

While registering a lease with ANAF grants Enforceable Title status regarding the payment of rent and the expiration of the term, commercial developers overwhelmingly prefer to sign their mega-leases as Authentic Notarial Deeds (Act Autentic Notarial).

A contract fully authenticated by a Public Notary is virtually incontestable in court. When a corporate tenant signs a Notarial Deed, they legally acknowledge their debt obligations with the highest level of state authenticity. If the tenant defaults, they cannot effectively argue "my signature was forged" or "I didn't understand the clause," neutralizing months of potential delay tactics.

The Institutional Eviction Timeline

When a corporate tenant breaches the contract (usually by failing to pay the Base Rent or the massive quarterly Service Charge reconciliation invoice), the landlord executes a hyper-aggressive, out-of-court procedure.

Step 1: The Formal Cure Notice (Punerea în Întârziere)

The clock begins. The landlord issues a formal notification—almost invariably delivered by a Judicial Bailiff (Executor Judecătoresc) to ensure undeniable proof of receipt. This notice demands the payment of the outstanding rent, plus the punishing daily contractual penalties (e.g., 0.5% per day), giving the tenant a strict, contractually agreed cure period (usually 10 to 15 days).

Step 2: The Nuclear Option (The Unconditional Bank Guarantee)

Simultaneously, the landlord does not wait for the eviction to secure their cash. They immediately execute a "draw down" against the tenant's Unconditional Bank Letter of Guarantee (SGB). (See Commercial Security Deposits). The bank wires the outstanding debt to the landlord. The landlord then formally orders the tenant to "Top-Up" (replenish) the empty bank guarantee. If the tenant fails to replenish the guarantee, this constitutes a fatal material breach.

Step 3: Termination via "Pact Comisoriu"

To avoid court battles over whether the contract was "fairly" terminated, 100% of institutional Romanian leases include a Pact Comisoriu de Gradul IV (the highest level of express termination clause under the Civil Code). This clause dictates that if the tenant fails to cure the default or replenish the Bank Guarantee, the lease is terminated automatically, by right (de plin drept), without any prior court intervention or further formalities.

Step 4: Bailiff Execution (Executarea Silită)

Armed with the Notarized Lease (Enforceable Title) and proof that the Pact Comisoriu was triggered, the landlord hires a Judicial Bailiff.

• The Bailiff issues a final 8-day legal notice to vacate.
• Because the contract is an Enforceable Title, the Bailiff has the immediate authority of the State. If the corporate tenant refuses to leave, the Bailiff arrives with the Romanian Police or Gendarmerie, breaks the locks, physically removes the tenant's personnel, initiates the seizure of the tenant’s servers and office furniture to cover remaining debts, and returns possession to the landlord.

The Tenant's Vain Defense: The Injunction (Contestația la Executare)

A sophisticated tenant facing a Bailiff lock-out will desperately attempt to halt the process by filing a "Contestație la Executare" (Challenge to Execution) and begging the judge to suspend the eviction.

However, because the landlord possesses an Authentic Notarial Deed, a Romanian judge will rarely suspend the physical eviction without forcing the tenant to first deposit a massive "Suspension Bail" (Cauțiune) equal to a significant percentage of the contested debt into a state treasury account. For a failing company, raising this cash is impossible, meaning the physical eviction proceeds unimpeded.

Bulletproofing Your Executions with Landager

In commercial real estate, speed to repossession dictates the survival of your asset yields. Relying on disconnected email threads to prove that a tenant missed a cure period notice is how developers lose multi-million Euro properties. Landager digitizes your lethal execution machinery. Instantly track the 15-day cure window following a late payment invoice. Generate automated, legally flawless "Notice of Default" templates, seamlessly log the Bailiff delivery receipts, and maintain a highly secure digital repository of your Notarial Deeds and Pact Comisoriu clauses, ensuring that when the moment arrives to execute an eviction, you hand your legal team an airtight, timestamped dossier capable of neutralizing any desperate tenant injunction.

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