Code of Alabama
Ala. Code § 35-4-6 (2026)
Maximum Term of Leasehold Estate; Acknowledgment or Approval and Recordation of Leases for More Than 20 Years.
✓ official Alabama Legislature (ALISON) text, current July 2026
No leasehold estate can be created for a longer term than 99 years. Leases for more than 20 years shall be void for the excess over said period unless the lease or a memorandum thereof is acknowledged or approved as required by law in conveyances of real estate and recorded within one year after execution in the office of the judge of probate in the county in which the property leased is situated.
(Code 1852, §1311; Code 1867, §1581; Code 1876, §2190; Code 1886, §1836; Code 1896, §1032; Code 1907, §3418; Acts 1911, No. 41, p. 24; Code 1923, §6923; Code 1940, T. 47, §18; Acts 1989, No. 89-942, p. 1850, §2.)
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 14
cases (1 in the last 5 years), 1979–2025 · leading case: Rochester-Mobile, LLC v. C&S Wholesale Grocers, Inc., 239 So. 3d 1139 (Ala. 2017).
Rochester-Mobile, LLC v. C&S Wholesale Grocers, Inc., 239 So. 3d 1139 (Ala. 2017). “The trial court concluded that because the sublease was not recorded pursuant to § 35-4-6, Ala. Code 1975, the sublease was void for the remainder of the term extending beyond 20 years.”
Steward v. St. Regis Paper Co., 484 F. Supp. 992 (S.D. Ala. 1979). “Regis, is a lease required to be recorded by Ala.Code § 35-4-6. They contend that the agreement is void because it was not recorded within one year after execution, as required by that statute.”
Gilbert v. Rogina Inv. Corp., 991 So. 2d 681 (Ala. 2008). “The lease agreement was recorded in the Jefferson County Probate Office on August 9, 1978, as required by § 35-4-6, Ala.Code 1975. [1] An amendment to the lease agreement was executed on December 1, 1978, and recorded in the Jefferson County Probate Office on July 18, 1985.”
Tensaw Land & Timber Co. v. United States, 14 Cl. Ct. 668 (Ct. Cl. 1988). “The 1956 Agreements were never recorded in the Office of the Probate Judge for any of the counties in which the subject timberland was located, a requirement under Ala.Code § 35-4-6 (1975) for leases with terms greater than twenty years.”
Brown v. Butts, 214 So. 3d 1181 (Ala. Civ. App. 2016). “Because 20 years have not yet elapsed since the signing of the contract, § 35-4-6 would not yet apply. The Buttses argue on appeal that the exclusion of “late charges or fees” from the application of the lease payments to the purchase price creates an ambiguity because, they…”
Harco Drug, Inc. v. Notsla, Inc., 382 So. 2d 1 (Ala. 1980). “Therefore, says Notsla, after 1970 (twenty years after the beginning of the lease), Jackson was only a tenant at will on a month-to-month basis without a compensable leasehold interest inasmuch as there was no evidence that Jackson had complied with the requirement of recording…”
Penrod v. Lapere, 367 So. 2d 1381 (Ala. 1979). “§ 35-4-6, Ala.Code 1975. Section 35-4-20 governing conveyances of land provides that “the execution of such conveyances must be attested by one witness.”
Achenback v. FB Huntsville Owners LLC, 783 So. 2d 1 (Ala. Civ. App. 1999). “The lease was not recorded, as required by § 35-4-6, Ala.Code 1975, in the office of the judge of probate of Madison County within one year of the date of its execution.”
Womack v. Hyche, 503 So. 2d 832 (Ala. 1987). “00 per year, with an option to renew each year as long as the camp was run as a business for profit, but not to be valid for a term in excess of 20 years, in accordance with the provisions of § 35-4-6, Code of Alabama 1975, had in fact been incorporated into the lease signed by…”
G.R.L.C. Trust v. Garrison Decatur Crossings, LLC, 266 So. 3d 690 (Ala. 2018). “" On September 21, 2006, Franklin Land, as part of its assignment of its leasehold interest in the ground lease to Decatur Investment Partners, GP, a Georgia partnership, recorded the lease memorandum in the Morgan County Probate Office pursuant to § 35-4-6, Ala. Code 1975,…”
G.R.L.C. Trust v. Garrison Decatur Crossings, LLC, 266 So. 3d 690 (Ala. 2018). “" On September 21, 2006, Franklin Land, as part of its assignment of its leasehold interest in the ground lease to Decatur Investment Partners, GP, a Georgia partnership, recorded the lease memorandum in the Morgan County Probate Office pursuant to § 35-4-6, Ala. Code 1975,…”
Tiger Mgmt., LLC & Dakota Props., LLC v. Circle K Stores, Inc. (N.D. Ala. 2025). “See Ala. Code § 35-4-6 . If such a lease—or memorandum of the lease—is not recorded within one year of its execution, it is void for any excess period over twenty years.”
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