The Court of Cassation has whistled the end of the game. On Thursday June 30, the judges rendered three decisions in disputes between landlords and tenants for unpaid rent in the second quarter of 2020. “The loser is the tenant”deplores Yohann Petiot, general manager of the federation of Alliance du Commerce brands.
For two years, landlords and tenants have been at loggerheads. Rent disputes have accounted for up to ” 20% of referrals to business mediators in 2020”, recalls Pierre Pelouzet, business mediator. In March 2020, the government banned merchants and hoteliers from receiving the public, as part of health measures intended to limit the spread of the coronavirus in France. As early as April, some brands had asked to be exempted from paying their rents in large shopping centers. In vain. The government then set up tax credits and direct aid for traders “in November 2020 then in 2021”recalls Mr. Petiot.
But in fact, certain procedures related to arrears from the spring of 2020 remained pending. Several courts had ruled. Without specifying whether the containment measures constitute a “force majeure” evocable for the tenant or “a loss of the rented thing” capable of requiring a reduction of the rents due. Therefore, the decisions of the Court of Cassation were eagerly awaited.
The obligation to pay “is not contestable”
She had to decide after the appeal of three takers, according to the legal term, condemned in Paris, Grenoble and Bordeaux. All three were dismissed. The Action brand, specialist in non-food products, Odalys, tourist residence operator, and a real estate agent from Bordeaux were unable to put forward their arguments. The judges of the Court of Cassation considered that their “obligation to pay their rents was not contestable”. Because the “a general and temporary measure to receive from the public does not entail the loss of the thing leased and does not constitute non-performance by the lessor of his obligation to deliver “, Considers the Court. Therefore, a tenant “can invoke it under force majeure to escape the payment of its rents”. Of which act.
These three decisions should set a precedent, normally », Estimates Virginie Audinot, lawyer and author of numerous articles on this type of litigation. Incidentally, the sector escapes a probable “surge of assignments” that would have resulted from decisions favorable to the tenants of commercial premises.
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