Corona pandemic: rental court sees no entitlement to rent reduction
In the matter of rent reductions during the pandemic lockdowns, a first ruling has been issued: the Zurich rental court has decided that the tenant has no legal claim to a reduction.
Landlords and business tenants have been eagerly awaiting the first ruling on the question of rent reductions for business premises during officially imposed closure periods. Now it is available. In a first-instance ruling dated 2 August 2021, the Zurich rental court ruled in favour of the landlord who had sued for payment of the full rent for a commercial space for the duration of the officially imposed closure periods. According to the SVIT, which has received the ruling, it is clear from the judgment that the compulsory closures imposed by the authorities do not constitute a defect in the sense of rental law.
According to the SVIT report, the defendant tenant is a fashion store in a very good location in Zurich. Although some lawyers would argue the opposite opinion, the court comes to the conclusion that as a rule the agreed quality of the rental property only concerns object-related and not also operation-related properties, reports the SVIT. Thus, official requirements alone, as they were specified during the pandemic period, did not constitute a defect in the rental property.
However, the court pointed out that the transition between a "still within bounds" and a "serious" equivalence disturbance, which would justify a possible claim for a rent reduction, can only be determined on the basis of the assessment of all circumstances of the specific individual case. This meant, among other things, that the landlord could demand to see the business figures from the tenant in order to assess a possible claim. (bw)
