Can the landlord impose visits on the tenant? This is the question we are asking Charlie Cailloux, legal adviser for the real estate site PAP.fr, this morning.
Does the law provide for cases in which the tenant is obliged to open his door?
Yes, but the law provides for few concrete things! The case where it blocks most frequently is when the lease has been terminated (by the tenant or the owner) and the latter wants to organize visits to re-let or to sell his accommodation.
Yes, but in this case, it is often said that the tenant must allow visits for at least two hours a day on working days?
It is not the law that says so, but it is a clause that is in the rental contract (it is still necessary that the lease has been well drafted). Indeed, this clause authorizes the lessor to make visits but be careful, nothing is done without the will of the tenant: in no case, the owner cannot enter on his own initiative (it would be a violation of domicile), he must obligatorily have the agreement of the tenant who can obviously require to be there during each visit.
And if the tenant refuses any visit, he is at fault?
Yes, but there is no immediate sanction, the owner must act before the court to assert his damage, it is very heavy. It is therefore absolutely necessary to discuss, to take into account the inconvenience that this causes for the tenant who must store the accommodation, devote time when he himself derives no benefit from it.
And this is again a huge advantage of the virtual visit: with a virtual visit, you considerably limit the number of real visits, and therefore the nuisance suffered by the tenant.
Is it the same when the owner has to carry out work in the accommodation?
Yes, it’s a bit the same thing: the law provides that the tenant must allow access for the preparation and execution of work that is essential (repairing water damage, for example), but also maintenance work. improvement.
In practice, if he does not comply, we will not be able to force his door either, it will be necessary to act before the court to compel him under penalty to open his door and perhaps even break the lease. Yes, because obstructing work is a sufficiently serious reason to obtain the termination of the lease.
So in conclusion, even if he keeps a set of keys, the landlord can never use it without the tenant’s permission?
It’s exactly that ! The protection of the tenant’s privacy is more important than the rights conferred on the landlord by law or the tenancy agreement. There is still an exception: if there is a serious and imminent risk (a fire or a huge leak), the firefighters can enter the accommodation without the tenant’s authorization, but that is really the only case.