Clarifications of the Ministry of Development for commercial real estate leases with the State, NPDD and OTAs as lessors

In its circular, the Ministry of Development and Investments issued clarifications regarding commercial real estate leases with the State, NPDD and OTAs as lessors. Specifically, in its circular, the ministry notes that, for reasons of legal certainty, the second paragraph of par. 12 of article 15 of Law 4013/2011, on the regulation of commercial leases, needs clarification in order to implement the true will of the legislator. The following are therefore clarified:

According to the true will of the legislator, the second paragraph of par. 12 of article 15 of Law 4013/2011, on the regulation of commercial leases, has the meaning that it concerns real estate leases that, although they have formally exceeded the contractual or legal expiration time them, have been informally extended and are in fact active because the lessee still remains in the lease, to pay his rent and the lessor to accept it, as long as the other conditions of the law are met, namely: a) there are no rent arrears or other debts to the entity of the first paragraph, b) a sustainable business plan for the modernization and renovation of the property has been submitted, which is approved by the lessor’s competent agency, c) the rent has not been paid and d) there is no non-contractual retention of the rent by the lessee, since the lessor collects the rent.

In the above cases, the time of termination of the lease relationship means the time of acceptance, by the lessor, of the viable business plan submitted by the lessee, based on the first paragraph of par. 12 of article 15 of Law 4013/2011. The starting time of the approved extension is the date of the lessor’s acceptance of the relevant extension request of the tenant.

Paragraph 12 of Article 15 of Law 4013/2011

It is recalled that paragraph 12 of article 15 of Law 4013/2011 states the following:

“12. Real estate leases, existing as well as those concluded after the entry into force of this, which are subject to p.d. 34/1995 (A’ 30) and concern real estate in which businesses are housed with the lessor being the State, n.p. d.d., OTA or body of the wider public sector, except ETAD, including those that have been extended or renewed, as long as there are no overdue rent debts or other debts to the relevant body and submitted a viable business plan for the modernization and renovation of the property, which is approved by the lessor’s competent agency, may be extended up to twelve (12) years from their expiration by decision of the competent body and by directly concluding a lease extension contract with the established The same applies to leases of the above properties that have expired, as long as the rent has not been paid and there is no non-contractual retention.

If the final cost of the business plan of the first paragraph, as certified by the competent agency of the lessor, exceeds by fifty percent (50%) the initial budget, with the assistance of the other conditions herein, a right of preference is granted in favor of the lessee of a specific lessee, in order to provide him with the possibility of submitting an equal offer to any third-party bidder, highest bidder or prospective buyer of a bidding competition, which the lessor may wish to conduct for the purchase and sale of the leased property. The implementation of the previous paragraph is made known to the third participants in the process in any appropriate way.