xi's moments
Home | Society

Courts won't support landlords who want to terminate service industry leases

By CUI JIA | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2020-05-19 20:37

Courts across the country are being told to not support landlord appeals to terminate property lease contracts in general circumstances when the tenants involved in service industries could not pay the rent on time after their businesses were hit by the novel coronavirus outbreak, according to a directive released by the top court.

"When the tenants are unable to pay for the rent in full or on time after their revenues were affected by epidemic control measures, the court won't support landlords' appeals of terminating the leases," Liu Guixiang, a full-time member of the Adjudication Committee of the Supreme People's Court, said on Tuesday.

The epidemic is a force majeure event so landlords are encouraged to cut rents or extend the deadlines instead of terminating the contracts, he said at a news conference held by the State Council Information Office.

The rent issue has been a major concern among the public, as well as small and micro business owners, after many businesses in service industries, including catering, were forced to stay closed because of the epidemic. Although some have been operational, their revenues have dropped significantly due to the decrease in customer numbers. Businesses in both circumstances are facing enormous rent pressure, he said

The central government has stated that tenants of State property owners can receive rent exemption for three months as a measure to help small and micro businesses get through the tough time.

The courts also won't support the appeals when State property owners still require tenants to pay for the rent in full and insist on terminating the lease because the tenants are unable to do so," Liu said.

However, terminating leases is in the best interests of both the landlords and the tenants in certain circumstances, such as renting spaces for seasonal exhibition events that are unable to be held anymore. The appeals of terminating such leases will be supported by courts so both landlords and the tenants can seek new opportunities, he added.

Global Edition
BACK TO THE TOP
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349