MOROCCO Law and Practice Contributed by: Loris Marghieri, Dounia El Aissaoui and Julien Nouchi, Gide Loyrette Nouel
6.22 Termination by a Third Party Third parties are not entitled to seek the termina - tion of a valid lease agreement. This being said, Law No 49-16 states that any public authority may terminate the lease if this is in the pub - lic interest, in which case the landlord is not required to pay eviction compensation ( indem- nité d’éviction ) to the tenant. 6.23 Remedies/Damages for Breach Contractual damages (ie, damages giving rights to indemnification as a result of a contractual default) are defined in Article 264 of the Code of Obligations and Contracts, which provides that: “damages are the effective loss that the creditor has suffered and the loss of profit which are the direct consequence of the non-performance of an obligation. (…)”. Hence, the Code of Obliga - tions and Contracts limits the indemnification obligation of the defaulting party to direct dam - ages suffered by the non-defaulting party and therefore excludes indirect and consequential damages. This being said, it is quite customary to including contractual provisions to clarify the exact scope and intended limitations of a party’s indemnifi - cation obligation as a result of a default under a specific agreement, including lease agreements. Unless otherwise specified in the lease contract, landlords generally hold the security deposits paid by tenants or call on the guarantee (bank - ing or corporate) granted by the tenant to the landlord.
agreement sets out otherwise. The tenant must notify the landlord about the sublease, and it only becomes effective against the landlord as
of the date the notification is made. 6.19 Right to Terminate a Lease
Law No 49-16 governing commercial leases provides that the landlord may request a judi - cial termination of the lease if the lease contains a termination clause ( clause résolutoire ) and at least three months’ rent is still unpaid by the ten - ant, despite a 15-day formal prior notice being served. There are also a number of instances in which the landlord has the ability to deny the right of the tenant to renew the lease without paying an eviction fee ( indemnité d’éviction ). These cases include notably unauthorised alterations to the premises, default of payment, sublease of the premises contrary to the terms of the lease, use of the premises in breach of the originally agreed use, etc. 6.20 Registration Requirements It is market practice for the tenant to pay and bear the registration fee, even though the MTC states that the party to whom the lease is benefi - cial must pay the registration fee. However, the lease may provide otherwise. Such registration duty also applies to the signing of amendments and schedules. 6.21 Forced Eviction As mentioned in 6.19 Right to Terminate a Lease , Law No 49-16 allows the landlord to apply to the court for early termination of the lease and eviction of the tenant in certain cases. In practice, however, this is a rather time-con - suming and difficult process.
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