Analysis of a usufructuary's ability to grant a residential lease without the consent of the bare owner, based on the French Civil Code.
Extract
[...] It will therefore produce its effects throughout the duration of the usufruct, the non-owner cannot oppose it. However, two limits deserve to be recalled : - If the lease had a a duration greater than nine years, it would only be opposable to the non-owner at the height of the first period of nine years in progress. - If the lease if it extends beyond the extinction of the usufruct, it cease of right, except express ratification of the non-owner. [...]
[...] No provision requires the consent of the landlord, for the operation remains within the legal limits of usufruct. Solution Therefore, the usufructuary may validly consent to a residential lease of a three-year duration, on a house, without soliciting the consent of the owner of the property. This lease would be regular and in accordance with in accordance with articles and 595 of the previously cited Civil Code. Given that the lease term is less than nine years, it falls under the usufructuary's own power. [...]
[...] They therefore return to the usufructuary, who has the right to enjoy them. This faculty of perceiving the fruits can therefore suppose the presence of a lease. Thus, by virtue of Article 595 of the Civil Code : « The usufructuary can enjoy it himself, let it to another, even sell or assign his right gratuitously. The leases made by the usufructuary alone for a period exceeding nine years are, in the event of cessation of the usufruct, binding on the naked owner only for the time remaining to run, either of the first nine-year period, if the parties are still in it, or of the second, and so on, so that the tenant has only the right to complete the enjoyment of the nine-year period in which he finds himself. [...]
[...] - On the other hand, it cannot conclude a lease for a commercial, industrial, artisanal or rural building, alonel. - Finally, the baux exceeding nine years are only partially opposable to the non-owner. [...]
[...] At this point, the usufructuary is considering put the property on rent in consenting to a third party, a a residential lease for a period of three years. This situation highlights the issue of the distribution of rights between the bare owner and the usufructuary. Therefore, the next question that can be raised is : Can the usufructuary of a building validly grant a three-year residential lease on the property of which he has the usufruct, without the consent of the bare owner ? [...]
