Facts
The dispute opposes W., tenant of a commercial premises used as a restaurant, to L., landlord. The initial lease was concluded on 16 May 1988 between L., a third party and W. and S. Subsequently, L. became the sole owner of the building and S. was no longer a party to the contract. The company X. S.A. was created on 31 January 1992 and W. was its sole administrator, then president with individual signature. The rents were paid by debiting the account of X. S.A. from March 1992. The building management notified W. of the termination of the lease for 30 June 1998 due to problems of nuisance caused by the clients of the establishment. W. seized the Rent Conciliation Commission, which extended the lease until 30 June 2002. The Rent Tribunal then extended the lease until 30 June 2003.
W. filed an appeal in revision with the Federal Tribunal, contesting the validity of the termination of the lease and requesting an extension of the lease until 30 June 2004. The Federal Tribunal rejected the appeal and confirmed the judgment under appeal.
Considerations
The Federal Tribunal examined the issue of lease transfer and found that the landlord had not given his written consent for the transfer of the lease to the company X. S.A. The Tribunal considered that the landlord's consent is a suspensive condition of the transfer and that the absence of written consent renders the transfer null.
The Federal Tribunal also examined the issue of the duration of the lease extension and found that the judge has a wide discretion to determine the duration of the extension. The Tribunal considered that the cantonal court had not abused its discretion in setting the duration of the extension to five years, given that the tenant had had a particularly long period to find a…