A wide range of state policies, from payments to compensate for
losses in revenues to subsidies for fixed costs, aims to mitigate
the losses suffered from measures related to covid-19. Landlords
who miss out on rental payments due to closed operations want to
get a share of their tenants' support payments from the
state.
Rentals for the premises make up a substantial part of a
business's costs. When the use of the property is impossible
or extremely limited, the question of whether any rental needs to
be paid becomes an issue.
Which party bears the risk of unusability?
Landlords argue that the pandemic and government-ordered
closures are part and parcel of the entrepreneur's
risk and that for this reason the rental must be paid.
Tenants, on the other hand, invoke Section 1104 of the Civil Code,
according to which no rental is due when the property cannot be
used due to extraordinary accidents such as war or pestilence.
According to this argument, there is no
