Pleasure lease
Pleasure lease
Article 253 of the Civil Code defines a lease as a contract under which the lessor undertakes to transfer the use of an asset to the lessee in return for rent. For a contractual relationship to qualify as a lease, three conditions must be met: the use of an asset must be transferred for a certain period of time, in return for the payment of rent, and there can be no lease without the payment of rent. The rent must cover not only the use of the property but also its upkeep. In any event, the lessor should be able to maintain the premises in the state they are in thanks to the rent agreed for them. A "gratuitous lease" is therefore not a lease contract but a loan contract which, like a lease, may be concluded for a fixed or indefinite period. In the first case, the lender is bound by the agreed term; in the second case, the lender may demand the return of the premises at any time. In this case, it would appear that the payment of the costs incurred by your use of the flat does not qualify as rent, since it does not allow your relative to receive any remuneration for the use of the property or to pay for its upkeep. It should also be noted that a contract "à bien plaire" under which an owner temporarily allows the use of a property in return for the payment of rent, for example while awaiting authorisation to demolish or renovate it, does qualify as a lease. However, it is possible to include a so-called resolutory condition in the contract, which will automatically terminate the lease once the authorisation has been granted. However, the contract must be extremely precise about the terms and conditions of application to limit the risk of disputes.
