Peut-on résilier un bail commercial de bureaux avant la fin ?

En principe oui, à chaque échéance triennale, avec au moins six mois de préavis (article L145-4 du Code de commerce). Mais les baux de locaux à usage exclusif de bureaux peuvent supprimer cette faculté et imposer une durée ferme : vérifiez votre bail. En dehors de ces échéances, une sortie anticipée se négocie avec le bailleur.

Peut-on réduire la surface de ses bureaux en cours de bail ?

Uniquement avec l'accord du bailleur, par un avenant de réduction de surface. C'est plus facile à obtenir si la partie rendue est autonome et facile à relouer.

Peut-on louer ses postes vides à une autre entreprise ?

Oui, de deux façons. La sous-location exige l'accord du bailleur. Le contrat de prestation de services (espace et services réels pour un prix global) n'est pas une sous-location, mais votre bail ne doit pas interdire toute mise à disposition à des tiers.

Half-empty offices: 5 ways to stop paying for unused m²

On Mondays and Fridays, the open-plan area feels empty. With two or three days of remote working a week, many companies are paying full rent for offices that sit half empty. And the indexation of commercial rents (the ILAT index) has driven bills up in recent years: you are paying more and more for square metres you use less and less.

The traditional 3-6-9 commercial lease (the standard French lease) doesn't make things any easier: it was designed for stable headcounts, not for hybrid working, where occupancy can double or halve from one day to the next. The good news: you have more room for manoeuvre than it seems. Here are the 5 solutions to stop paying for empty offices, from the quickest to the most radical.

First things first: measure what you really need

Before choosing a solution, find out how many desks you actually use. For four weeks, record how many people are in each day (badge data, desk bookings or a simple headcount). Go by your peak day, not the average: that is what sizes your offices. Then add a margin for the hires planned over the next 12 to 18 months.

The gap between the desks you have and that peak is your genuinely unused space. That figure is what should guide your choice.

Solution 1: make your empty desks pay by hosting another company

This is the quickest solution: you keep your lease and have others pay for the desks you don't use. There are two possible structures, and their rules are completely different.

Subletting: prohibited under a commercial lease unless the lease allows it or the landlord agrees, and the landlord must also be party to the deed (Article L145-31 of the French Commercial Code). The landlord can also raise your rent if you sublet for more than you pay.
The service agreement: you sell a complete office service (equipped desk, reception, internet, cleaning, meeting rooms) for an all-in price. Since a June 2024 ruling by France's Court of Cassation, this does not count as a sublet. The arrangement is more flexible, provided your lease doesn't prohibit making the premises available to third parties altogether.

You can manage these clients yourself, or hand over the whole process (listings, viewings, contracts, invoicing) to a specialist: that is the contract management service Desk to Desk offers.

Conditions, risks and a checklist: it is all set out in our guide subletting your offices: sublet or service agreement?

Solution 2: hand part of the space back to the landlord

If your premises are easy to divide (a floor, a wing with its own entrance), you can offer your landlord a lease variation reducing your floor area: you hand back part of the premises and your rent goes down accordingly.

It is not a right, it is a negotiation. It stands the best chance of success when the landlord can easily re-let the space you free up (a sought-after area, a self-contained unit), or when the three-year break is approaching and they would rather keep a tenant on part of the space than lose them altogether.

Solution 3: give notice at the three-year break

Under a commercial lease, the tenant can in principle leave at the end of each three-year period by giving notice at least six months in advance, by recorded delivery letter with acknowledgement of receipt or served by a bailiff (Article L145-4 of the French Commercial Code).

Beware the office-lease trap: the law allows leases of premises 'used exclusively as offices' to remove this three-year break option. As a result, many office leases set a fixed term of 6 or 9 years. Check your lease before you build your plan: the exit date that counts is the one it sets.

If you can leave, plan ahead: six months' notice is also how long it takes to find, view and negotiate your next offices.

Solution 4: assign your lease

You can also transfer your lease to another company that takes over the premises, and sometimes sell that leasehold right if the location is in demand. Assignment is often governed by the lease: the landlord's approval, the landlord's involvement in the deed and, above all, a guarantee clause that makes you jointly liable with the assignee if they fail to pay.

This guarantee is limited by law: the landlord can only call on it for three years after the assignment (Article L145-16-2 of the French Commercial Code). It is a real risk to weigh up if the assignee is a young company.

Solution 5: move to a managed office at your next break date

If you can get out of your lease, now is the time to change model. A managed office is a private space handed over ready to move into, with everything included in one monthly fee: rent, service charges, internet, cleaning, furniture, maintenance. The contract is a service agreement, with a commitment measured in months, not years.

For an SME with 20 to 100 desks, it is the model that combines agility (your space follows your headcount, up or down: no more empty square metres to fill) with budget control (a single monthly cost, zero upfront investment). A broker like Desk to Desk gives you access to almost the entire market (Morning, Deskeo, Wojo and many more), negotiates the terms and remains your single point of contact, free of charge in the vast majority of cases.

Browse our selections of managed offices in Paris and coworking spaces in Paris.

The 5 solutions compared

Solution	Time to put in place	Impact on your costs	Watch out for
1. Host another company	A few weeks	Income that offsets the rentYou keep the lease and its service charges	Landlord's consent for a subletLease clauses for a service agreement
2. Hand back m² to the landlord	Depends on the negotiation	Permanently lower rent	Not a rightDivisible space and landlord's consent required
3. Notice at the three-year break	6 months' notice minimum	Rent stops at the break date	Three-year break sometimes removedCommon in office leases
4. Lease assignment	As long as it takes to find an assignee	Rent stops, sometimes with a sale price for the lease	Guaranteeing the assigneeFor up to 3 years after the assignment
5. Managed office	From your exit date	Cost per desk, adjustableHigher per m², but no empty space and no investment	Only once you are out of your lease

Which solution suits your situation?

A few empty desks, years left on the lease: host another company (solution 1), ideally through a service agreement, so you stay in control of your premises.
A whole floor or wing sitting unused: negotiate a lease variation reducing your floor area (solution 2), or sublet that self-contained unit with your landlord's consent.
Three-year break less than 12 months away: prepare your notice (solution 3) and start comparing managed offices now (solution 5).
Fixed-term lease with no way out, sought-after location: look into assignment (solution 4).

Let's be clear: the 3-6-9 lease is not a bad contract. It remains the cheapest option per m² for a company with a stable headcount. It becomes costly when actual occupancy falls well short of the space leased. For the legal detail of both approaches, read our commercial lease vs service agreement comparison.

FAQ: empty offices and remote working

Can you terminate a commercial office lease early?

In principle, yes, at each three-year break, with at least six months' notice (Article L145-4 of the French Commercial Code). But leases of premises used exclusively as offices can remove this option and impose a fixed term: check your lease. Outside these break dates, an early exit has to be negotiated with the landlord.

Can you reduce your office space during the lease?

Only with the landlord's agreement, through a lease variation reducing the floor area. It is easier to obtain if the part you hand back is self-contained and easy to re-let.

Can you rent out your empty desks to another company?

Yes, in two ways. Subletting requires the landlord's consent. A service agreement (real space and services for an all-in price) is not a sublet, but your lease must not prohibit all use of the premises by third parties. Full details in our guide subletting your offices.

Take back control of your square metres

The goal is no longer to have the biggest office, but the office that matches how you actually use it. Whether you want to make your empty desks pay or prepare your next move, we can help.

👉 List my empty desks on Desk to Desk • Find offices of the right size

This article sets out the general legal framework as at 29 September 2026 and does not constitute legal advice. Have a lawyer review your lease before taking any action.

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