1. Description of the procedure

1.1. General:

The lease contract is regulated by Law no. 287/2009 on the Civil Code, republished, with subsequent amendments and completions, and is a contract by which one of the parties, called the lessor, transfers to the other party, called the lessee, agricultural goods for a determined/undetermined period, in exchange for a rent which can be paid in money or in products/fruits.

1.2. Documents used:

1.2.1. List and origin of documents:

- Lease contracts;

- Identity documents of the lessor and lessee;

- Civil status documents;

- Property titles;

- Special registry for registration of lease contracts.

1.2.2. Content and roleof documents:

- The documents used in the drafting of this procedure are intended to regulate the way for implementation of the procedural activity;

- Access, for each Department, to the applicable legislation, is through the computer program to which the institution's employees have access.

1.2.3. Document flow:

a) Receiving correspondence approved by management;

b) Registration of Lease Contracts in the Special Register;

c) Mention of the Lease Contract in the Agricultural Registry;

d) Release of the Lease Contract to the lessee and lessor.

1.3. Necessary resources:

1.3.1. Material resources:

- Computer;

- Printer;

- Copier;

- Consumables (ink/toner);

- Xerox paper;

- Files.

1.3.2. Human resources:

- Head of the institution;

- Departments provided in the institution's organizational chart.

1.3.3. Financial resources:

- According to the approved Budget of the Institution.

1.4. Way of working:

1.4.1. Planning the operations and actions of the activity:

1. The deadlines provided by law regarding responses to petitioners or to other institutions shall be observed;

2. The deadlines established by law for the preparation of documents shall be respected;

3. The documents on which the Lease Contract is based shall be thoroughly checked;

4. Registration of the Lease Contract in the special register of lease contracts kept by the Secretary General of the Local Council shall be carried out;

5. The Lease Contract shall be entered in the Agricultural Register;

6. One copy each of the Lease Contract, endorsed according to the law in force, shall be sent to the lessee and the lessor.

1.4.2. Carrying out the operations and actions of the activity:

Any agricultural assets can be leased, such as:

a) land with agricultural destination, namely productive agricultural land - arable, vineyards, orchards, viticultural nurseries, fruit tree nurseries, hop and mulberry plantations, wooded pastures, land occupied with agrozootechnical constructions and installations, fish and land improvement facilities, technological roads, platforms and storage spaces that serve the needs of agricultural production and unproductive land that can be arranged and used for agricultural production;

b) animals, constructions of any kind, machines, equipment, and other such assets intended for agricultural exploitation.

Leasing means a contract concluded between the owner, usufructuary (person who holds the right of usufruct over an asset) or other legal holder of agricultural assets, called lessor, and lessee, regarding the exploitation of agricultural assets for a determined/undetermined period and at a price set by the parties, called rent.

If the duration is not determined, the lease is considered to have been made for the entire period necessary for harvesting the fruits that the agricultural asset will produce in the agricultural year in which the contract is concluded.

The lease contract must be concluded in written form, under penalty of absolute nullity. Under penalty of a civil fine set by the court for each day of delay, the lessee must submit a copy of the contract to the Local Council in whose territorial range the leased agricultural assets are located, for registration in a special register kept by the secretary of the Local Council.

When the leased assets are located within the territorial range of several Local Councils, a copy of the contract is submitted to each Local Council in whose territorial range the leased assets are located.

All expenses related to the conclusion, registration and publicity of the lease contract shall be borne by the lessee.

Lease contracts concluded in authentic form, as well as those registered with the Local Council, constitute, according to the law, enforceable titles for payment of rent at the deadlines and in the ways stipulated in the contract.

Lease contracts will be accepted for registration in the special register, by the person with delegated duties, concluded in written form, in three copies, submitted by the lessee.

For registration at the Local Council, the 3 copies of the lease contract shall be accompanied by the following documents:

a) For contracts concluded by a lessor who is either the holder of the right of ownership for which a valid title of ownership exists, or the sole heir registered as such in a title of ownership issued following a deceased, it is sufficient to present the title of ownership, the identity document for the lessor, respectively for the lessee and the death certificate of the deceased registered in the title of ownership.

b) For contracts concluded by a lessor who is either a co-owner, together with other co-owners of a right of ownership for which a valid ownership title has been issued, or an heir together with other heirs registered in an ownership title issued following a deceased, the following shall be attached:

b.1. title of ownership, with the area registered that forms the object of the lease;

b.2. identity document for the lessor, respectively for the lessee;

b.3. death certificate of the deceased registered in the title of ownership.

c) For contracts concluded by lessors who represent either all the co-owners registered in a validly issued ownership title, or all the heirs registered in a title of ownership issued from a deceased, it is sufficient to present the title of ownership and civil status documents for the lessors, respectively, the identity documents for the lessor and lessee.

Proof of the quality of legal or testamentary heir, as well as proof of the heirs' ownership right over the assets in the inheritance mass in the share due to each, is established by the certificate of heir issued by the public notary, according to Art. 1.132 of the Civil Code, according to which

“The certificate of heir is issued by the public notary and contains findings regarding the succession estate, the number and quality of heirs and the shares due to them from this estate, as well as other mentions provided by law.”

d) For contracts concluded by lessors who are persons other than those listed in a title of ownership (in situation where the inheritance has not been finalized by issuing a certificate of heir), the potential lessor must submit the following documents:

d.1. title of ownership, with the registered area forming the subject of the lease;

d.2. civil status documents proving that he/she meets the conditions provided by law to inherit;

d.3. death certificate of the deceased registered in the title of ownership;

d.4. identity document for the lessor, respectively for the lessee.

The lease contract is concluded with a single heir, who, with the submitted civil status documents, proves that he/she meets the legal requirements to inherit, and the title of ownership of the deceased from which results the area being leased.

The conclusion of a lease contract has, for the potential lessor, the value of tacit acceptance of the inheritance, so that the obligations are his/hers regarding the payment of the agricultural tax on the leased land, as well as payment of the tax on the rent paid by the lessee.

The other potential heirs of the deceased registered in the title of ownership have no obligations as they have not yet exercised their right of inheritance option.

For the implementation of the provisions of Law no. 9/2023 for the amendment and completion of Government Emergency Ordinance no. 41/2016 on establishing certain simplification measures at the level of central public administration and for the amendment and completion of some normative acts, if applicants do not provide paper copies of the necessary documents, the city hall is obliged to provide, free of charge, photocopying of these documents.

The lease contract shall contain at least the following:

a. contracting parties;

b. subject of the contract;

c. purpose of the lease;

d. duration of the contract;

e. rent level, means and deadlines for payment;

f. rights and obligations of the parties;

g. responsibilities of each party;

h. provisions regarding termination of the contract;

i. other clauses agreed by the parties and permitted by law.

Lease contracts will undergo the following verifications:

a) The Secretary of the UAT shall check whether the forwarding address/application submitted by the Lessee has been registered in the general Register of incoming-outgoing correspondence, whether the lease contracts are attached in three original copies and are accompanied by the necessary documents. If the documentation is complete and properly drawn up, will request the agricultural agent to check whether, in accordance with the data entered in the agricultural registers, the lessor is the owner or user of the land that is the subject of the lease. If the lessor is the user of the land, will request the fiscal agent to check whether the lessor is registered as an agricultural income earner.

b) The agricultural agent, as the person responsible for completing and updating the agricultural registers, verifies whether the land covered by the lease is registered in the agricultural register and whether the lessor is the owner or user of the land covered by the lease. Following the checks carried out, he/she will draw up a Report under signature, with the findings made, which will be presented to the Secretary of the UAT.

c) The fiscal agent verifies whether the lessor is recorded as owner or user of the land, in which case will also verify if is registered as an agricultural income earner. Following the checks, he/she will prepare a signed Report, with the findings made, in which will also specify whether there are any arrears in the payment of land tax/fees, which will be presented to the Secretary of the UAT.

If irregularities are found, during the checks carried out, the Secretary of the UAT shall submit a report to the Mayor, accompanied by all the documentation submitted by the Lessee, as well as the reports received from the Agricultural Registry and, respectively, the Financial-Accounting department, proposing that the documentation be returned to the Lessee for completion, indicating what is missing from the documentation.

If no irregularities are found, the Secretary of the UAT will proceed to register the three original copies of the lease contracts in the special Register for registration of lease contracts, signing and stamping them with the seal of the Local Council. One copy of the lease contract remains at the city hall, and one copy each of the other two are sent to the lessor and lessee.

Rights and obligations of the parties:

The rights and obligations of the lessor are as follows:

a) to hand over the agricultural land to the lessee at the deadline and under the conditions set out in the contract;

b) to guarantee the lessee against total or partial eviction, as well as against hidden defects of the leased asset;

c) not to take any measures in relation to the exploitation of the leased land, that could disturb the lessee;

d) to control at any time the manner in which the lessee exploits the leased land. During the control the lessor shall be accompanied by the lessee or a proxy thereof;

e) in case of third party disturbances in the normal exploitation of the land, to act together with the lessee, according to the law, for stopping the acts of disturbance;

f) to pay the taxes and imposts due for the leased land;

g) to inform the lessee in writing of their intention to renew or not the contract at least one year before the expiration of the lease contract;

h) to receive, at the termination of the contract, the land which was the object of the contract.

The rights and obligations of the lessee are as follows:

a) to receive the leased land at the deadline and under the conditions set out in the contract;

b) to use the land leased for the purpose of agricultural exploitation, under the conditions set out in the contract;

c) to maintain the production potential and not to degrade the leased land;

d) not to change the land use category of the leased land without the written consent of the lessor;

e) to pay the rent on the date and under the conditions set out in the contract;

f) to request the lessor's agreement for making any investments on the land;

g) to bear the costs for conclusion, registration, and publicity of the lease contract;

h) for the purpose of recovering damages caused by natural disasters, to take out insurance contracts for the crops established on the leased land;

i) to communicate to the lessor and to request their intervention when disturbed by third parties in the exploitation of the leased land;

j) to inform the lessor in writing of their intention to renew or not the contract at least one year before the expiration of the lease contract;

k) at termination of the contract, is obliged to return the leased land in the condition in which it was received from the lessor;

l) to pay taxes owed on income earned from the exploitation of the leased land;

m) has right of preemption in case of sale by the lessor of the land covered by this contract, which is exercised according to art. 1.730 - 1.739 of the Civil Code.

All documents, transmitted and/or issued by the parties, that contain personal data are confidential, being processed in compliance with the provisions of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation).

Change of land use category

The lessee may change the land use category of the leased land only with the prior written agreement of the owner and in compliance with the applicable legal provisions.

Insurance of the leased goods

The lessee is obliged, even without express stipulation, to insure the agricultural goods for the risk of crop loss or animal death due to natural disasters.

Reduction of rent established in money in case of loss of crop

When, during the lease, the entire crop of a year or at least half of it has fortuitously perished, the lessee may request proportional reduction of the rent if it has been established in a certain quantity of agricultural products, in a determined sum of money, or in a determinable sum of money depending on the value of a certain quantity of agricultural products.

If the lease is for several years, the reduction shall only be determined at the end of the lease, when a compensation of the crops of all the years of use shall be made.

Exceptions

The lessee cannot obtain rent reduction if the loss of the crop occurred after it was harvested.

Reduction of the rent cannot be requested if the cause of the damage was known at the time of signing the contract.

Risk of loss of fruits in case rent is paid in fruits

When the rent is set as a share in fruits or in a sum of money determinable depending on the value of such a share, the fortuitous perishing, in whole or in part, of the fruits to be is borne proportionally and does not give either party a right to compensation against the other.

If, however, the perishing occurred after harvesting the fruits and one of the parties culpably delays the handover or reception, the quota due to that party is reduced by the lost fruits, and the quota of the other party is considered as if no loss had occurred, except when the fruits would have perished even if the handover and reception were on time.

Payment of rent in fruits

When the rent is paid in fruits, in the absence of another deadline provided in the contract, the lessee is automatically in delay for delivering them from the harvesting date, while the lessor is automatically in delay for reception from the moment notified in writing by the lessee.

Assignment of the lease

With the written consent of the lessor, the lessee may assign the lease contract to the spouse participating in the exploitation of the leased goods or to their adult descendants.

Prohibition of subleasing

Lessee representation is not allowed. Total or partial subleasing is forbidden, under penalty of absolute nullity.

Renewal of the lease

The lease contract is renewed by right, for the same period, if neither party has notified the counterparty in writing of its refusal at least 6 months before expiration, and in the case of land with agricultural destination, at least one year. If the lease contract duration is one year or less, the above refusal terms are halved.

Right of preemption

The lessee has a right of preemption with regard to the leased agricultural property, which is exercised according to art. 1.730-1.739 of the Civil Code.

Special cases of termination of the contract

The lease contract ceases by death, incapacity or bankruptcy of the lessee.

1.4.3. Capitalization of activity results:

The results of the activity will be capitalized by all departments involved in the Institution