Iuris Consulto comment

Leasing Contract

 in 

Times of Pandemic

* Leasing in sanitary emergency
* The pandemic has not only affected public health, but also the economy in all its aspects, acknowledged the civil magistrate Elfego Bautista Pardo, in his analysis.

BLAS A. BUENDÍA
Free Lance Reporter
Courtesy
 
KARL NOVO
Editor

El Corredor Informativo news agency. Mexico City.- Civil magistrate Elfego Bautista Pardo comments on the “tenant theology” that in times of pandemic, the Superior Court of Justice of Mexico City has received a workload due to the diversity of matters that individuals promote against of its tenants who have been forced to demand truces to settle their commitments.

In his space Así es Derecho, the lawyer from the state of Hidalgo, explains the framework in this way, pointing out that a lease contract is enough by itself to demonstrate the action and to prove the right to demand before a judicial authority the termination of the contract, the payment of the rents and the vacancy and delivery of the leased property.

In terms of the provisions of article 2398 of the Civil Code, there is leasing when a person - called the lessor - grants another - called the tenant - the use or temporary enjoyment of something, in exchange for the payment of a certain price (determined amount); in such a way that the actions that derive from said contract are of a personal nature.

In order to enforce these actions, it is not necessary to prove the ownership of the leased asset, nor the authorization of the owner who empowers it to lease it; It is enough to demonstrate the conclusion of the lease and to be the owner of the rights it protects, that is, to be the landlord, a quality that derives from the contract itself, so the person who holds himself as such in a lawsuit, must only demonstrate the existence contract so that it is considered legitimate to exercise the action it intends, by virtue of the fact that it is of a personal nature and not real.

Now, when the tenant refrains from fully complying with his obligation to pay the rent in the form and terms agreed in the lease, the proceeding is to order him to pay them, as well as to vacate and deliver the leased property. , and in many cases to the launching and execution of the assets that were preemptively seized at the time of placing it on trial.

However, article 2431 of the Civil Code for the Federal District, applicable to Mexico City, provides guidelines regarding the breach of rental obligations due to fortuitous causes or force majeure, a precept that, based on a teleological interpretation , It is applicable to the circumstances that we are currently experiencing due to the SARS-CoV2 (Covid-19) pandemic, in order to protect the human right to a health emergency.

In this regard, Judge Elfego Bautista highlighted that the Third Collegiate Court in Civil Matters of the First Circuit has already ruled on Complaint 150/2020, which gave rise to Thesis: I.3o.C.435 C (10a .), noting that by suspending the obligations (of the lessee) and rights (of the lessor), it is possible to prevent the execution of the demand for payment of rents and the preventive lien in a real estate lease dispute for debts generated during the period of the pandemic.

The above -explains- is relevant because the pandemic has not only affected public health, but also the economy in all its aspects, it has left many people without economic resources to face it and make expenses that were usual, that is, it caused health losses , of lives and economic destabilization; But the emergency or exception measures should not be used as an excuse to violate other human rights, so a due weighting of these consequences should be carried out.

Thus, and while the pandemic lasts, if it is verified that the non-payment of rents is due to the lack of economic income due to that evil, the request for payment and the preventive embargo that is required or has been required in a controversy must be suspended. lease, concluded the judge member of the Fifth Civil Chamber, Third Presentation, of the Superior Court of Justice of Mexico City.