§ 8-4. Transfer of the right to lease commercial premises
If you sell your business that is run from rented commercial premises (lokale), you can transfer the lease to the new owner — with approval from the landlord (utleier). The landlord can only refuse for a legitimate reason (saklig grunn), and silence for one month counts as approval.
Machine-translated from Norwegian. The Norwegian text is the one that applies. Read the original in Norwegian.Norsk English العربية Polski Українська
The text of the law (unofficial translation)
A tenant (leier) of commercial premises may, with the landlord's approval, transfer their right of lease in connection with a transfer of the business that is run on the premises.
If a deceased tenant was a partner in a general partnership, the remaining partners in the partnership have, with the landlord's approval, the right to take over the right of lease to the premises where the partnership's business is run.
Approval under the first and second paragraphs may only be refused if the new tenant's circumstances give a legitimate reason for it. If the landlord does not respond to an application for approval under the first and second paragraphs within one month after the application was received, this shall be regarded as approval of the transfer.
What does this mean?
This section is for you if you run a business in rented premises and want to sell the business. The tenancy agreement (leieavtale) is often an important part of the value — if the premises are perfect, they are hard to replace.
You can transfer the lease to the buyer of the business, but you need the landlord's approval.
The landlord can only refuse for a legitimate reason — that is, something concrete and negative about the new tenant who is buying: poor finances, no relevant experience for that type of business, or similar. He cannot refuse just because he wants to renegotiate the terms.
Silence counts as approval. If you apply in writing and the landlord does not respond within one month, the transfer is automatically approved.
A special case: If a partner in a general partnership dies, the surviving partners have a corresponding right to take over the lease for the business premises — with the landlord's approval on the same terms.
Example
Lars is selling his hair salon. The premises are good and centrally located — an important part of the sale value. He applies to the landlord to transfer the lease to the buyer. The landlord checks the buyer and finds no legitimate reason to refuse. The transfer is approved.
Common mistakes
- Forgetting to apply — thinking the buyer and the landlord will sort it out between themselves. You, as the seller, are responsible for applying for the transfer.
- Applying verbally. The application must be in writing for the one-month rule to apply.
What should you do?
If you are planning to sell the business: Clarify the lease early in the sales process. Send a written application to the landlord for the transfer. Document that the application was received. If the landlord is slow, remind him that one month of silence counts as approval.