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The Government entrusts the commercial rents to the good faith of landlords, SMEs and self-employed

| News | Corporate Law and M&A

Pedro Albarracín analyzes the Royal Decree approved on leases with use other than housing

The Royal Decree approved at the initiative of Reyes Maroto at the Ministry of Industry in the scope of leases with use other than housing, that is, commercial, delegates the future of the sector in the willingness to negotiate mutually between landlords (mainly small) and their tenants (large, medium and small enterprises and self-employed), as agreed by different actors in the sector.

The large print of the Decree establishes an automatic four-month moratorium on rent payments by SMEs or self-employed persons who are tenants of large landlords, and the possibility that SMEs or self-employed persons who have a small landlord may also request "temporary and exceptional" deferments.

Unresolved legal vacuum

Pedro Albarracín, Director in the Andersen Tax & Legal Corporate Pracice Area, states that, in the justification of the decree, it is explained that it was intended to provide a legislative solution to the situation generated in the leases, providing a solution to the current legal vacuum, and transferring to the text of the new regulation a 'specific regulation in line with the rebus sic standibus clause, developed by case law, which allows the modulation or modification of contractual obligations if the requirements are met: unpredictability and unavoidability of the risk involved, excessive cost of the service due and good contractual faith'.

Pedro Albarracín adds that, as can be seen, this 'intention' has not been reflected in the final wording of the approved measure, since the final content of the measure only introduces the possibility for SMEs and self-employed workers to temporarily defer the payment of rent, and only obligatory for the lessor when it is a company or public entity or a 'large holder', thus leaving aside all other possible rental relations, a matter which, in his opinion, "will further collapse our courts in the coming months with claims arising from conflicts arising from lack of clear criteria.

You can see the full article in Vozpópuli

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