Commercial lease: a tenant who simply abandons the premises must pay rent until the end of the term

A landlord grants a 9-year commercial lease.

Less than 2 months later, the tenant deems the premises unsuitable and announces termination.

The landlord agrees... on the condition that an indemnity is paid and the premises are vacated immediately.

The tenant does not respond and vacates the premises, leaving equipment behind.

The premises are re-let to a third party.

In parallel, the landlord sues their former tenant for payment of the full rent for the first three-year period.

The tenant attempts two arguments.

Firstly, the claimed rent is actually damages, and since the landlord re-let the property, they suffered no loss.

Secondly, the lease could not have continued since the premises were immediately occupied by another tenant.

The Court of Cassation rejects these arguments.

There can be no amicable termination without a meeting of the minds: the landlord had set conditions that the tenant never accepted.

Therefore, there was never a termination, and the rent is a contractual debt, not damages. The landlord does not have to prove any loss.