If you have spoken with your landlord to request a reduction or a deferral of the rent payment and he has refused the offer, you should take into account other options that Evolvers lists, if you are not in a situation to be able to pay the rent .
– What guarantees protect the tenant?
In the lease we will find guarantees that are intended to ensure the payment of rent. In the case of the deposit, it is a legal guarantee that must be equivalent to one month of rent and paid to the competent body.
However, there are other guarantees that are agreed with the landlord. The deposit is one of them, and it is common for lease contracts to stipulate its return once the home has been delivered.
The Civil Code denies the application of this type of clauses by establishing that the deposit must be returned to the depositor when he claims it, even though the contract has set a specific term or time for its return.
If you have established this guarantee in your lease, the non-payment of the months of rent can be compensated with the money deposited, without having to leave the property. If the parties had agreed to guarantee payment of the rent through a pledge, the owner could withhold the money and also compensate the lack of payment with this guarantee.
In the event that a bank guarantee had been agreed, the owner may execute it and collect the pending rents, or contract non-payment insurance whose cost may not be passed on to the lessee.
– What obligations do landlords have?
It is becoming more common for landlords to communicate with their tenants via email, instant messages, or phone calls. However, in order to proceed with the eviction for non-payment of rent, all landlords must justify the enervation of the tenant, that is, give their tenant the opportunity to formalize the rent payments prior to the filing of the eviction lawsuit.
The enervation must be reliably notified by burofax and at least thirty days have elapsed since the tenant receives the payment request to file the eviction claim for non-payment of rents.
It is necessary to take into account that currently the regulation has been modified. If the tenant is in a situation of economic vulnerability, and extraordinary rent payment.
For his part, the owner will have the obligation to communicate to his tenant, within a maximum period of seven working days, the conditions of the postponement or installment of the payment of the debt or, failing that, the alternatives that he proposes.
If the owner does not accept any option, then the guarantees that have been agreed in the lease must be taken into account and executed to compensate for non-payment.
The quality of economic vulnerability is governed by the monthly Public Indicator of Multiple Effects Income (IPREM, for its acronym), which may not exceed 1,613.52 euros per month and this without taking into account minor children in charge of the unit family or other special circumstances, such as situations of dependency, disability or recognition as a victim of gender violence and large families, in which case the calculation of the IPREM will vary.
If the owner of the home is not a large holder, or a public company, the deferment must be requested from the landlord before May 2.
If, on the other hand, the owner owns more than ten properties (not counting garages and storage rooms), or leases an area of more than 1,500 square meters, he will be obliged to grant temporary deferral of rent payment to his tenants for a maximum of of four months, or its reduction in half, from the moment the tenant proves that he is in a situation of vulnerability.
– What are the consequences of non-compliance?
With the declaration of the state of alarm, the landlords will not be able to expedite this type of procedure, nor enervate the tenant due to non-payment of rent.
In the Royal Decree by which the state of alarm is declared, the suspension of the prescription and expiration periods is established, which is why, among other things, the periods to recover and demand compliance with the leases and any other payments that must be done for years or in shorter terms.
In addition, the legislation expressly provides for the suspension of evictions for lack of payment when there is no housing alternative and an extension of the validity of the lease contracts for a maximum of six more months, if said contract expires within the period between the declaration of the state of alarm and up to two months after the end of the health crisis.
In short, we find ourselves in a situation that must be understood, both from the point of view of the landlord who must demonstrate his good faith, not being able to resort to the legally articulated means to terminate the lease, and from the point of view of the lessee who must execute all guarantees and make an economic effort while COVID-19 lasts.
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