Le loyer des baux renouvelés avant

Application pratique:

Under this 1978 Cour de cassation ruling, the rent must be set at whichever is higher: the amount produced under Articles 2 and 3 of the 1972 decree, or the amount produced under Article 7 of the same decree. The landlord (or their solicitor) must obtain both official coefficients as published in the Journal Officiel and run both calculations before fixing the renewed rent. If either required coefficient was never published, neither statutory formula can be used lawfully, and the rent must instead be based on the property's market rental value (valeur locative), ideally supported by a comparables survey or an expert valuation.

Application pratique:

This case law gives the tenant a concrete defence: if the coefficient relied on by the landlord was not actually published in the Journal Officiel as the decree requires, that calculation method is invalid and cannot be used to justify the increase. The tenant should request written proof of publication (the Journal Officiel reference and date) before accepting the new rent. If no valid publication exists, the tenant can insist the rent instead be fixed according to the property's market rental value, and should seek an independent valuation to challenge the landlord's figure, escalating to the Tribunal Judiciaire if no agreement is reached.

Application pratique:

Following this ruling, the notaire cannot simply apply a default or estimated coefficient when the official figure was never published; doing so would make the rent calculation legally defective. Instead, the correct approach is to fall back entirely on the property's market rental value (valeur locative), established through comparable local leases or a sworn expert valuation, and to document in the file why the statutory formulas could not be applied. This protects both parties from a future challenge to the rent figure and should be flagged clearly in any sale or assignment deed referencing the lease's rental basis.