Covid-19 and commercial rents

T.Com. Paris, December 11, 2020, No. 2020035120

Pursuant to an order issued on December 11, 2020, the president of the Paris Commercial Court, ruling in summary proceedings, ordered the tenant to pay the landlord the rents owed to him according to the calculation made on November 30, 2020.

The tenant, who claimed to be a victim of the administrative closures of non-essential businesses, had stopped paying his rent, charges and related expenses since April 2020.

To oppose the landlord's demand for payment, the tenant successively invoked:

• a failure by the landlord to fulfill their obligation to deliver the premises due to a case of force majeure,
• the temporary disappearance of the rented item;
• the need to revise the lease due to the theory of unforeseen circumstances

To convict the lessee, the president of the Paris commercial court held that:

• the Covid-19 cannot be described as unpredictable and therefore cannot be considered a case of force majeure;
• the loss of the rented property is also inoperative, if access to the rented premises was temporarily prohibited to the public, the tenant could still physically access it;
• The request for rent review on the grounds of unforeseen circumstances cannot be granted since the amount of rent contractually agreed remained the same during the events and therefore did not become "excessively onerous".
• The lessee fails to demonstrate his good faith.

Having observed a clearly unlawful disturbance, the president of the court considered that it was appropriate to put an end to it and to provisionally order the tenant to pay his rent arrears.