Sale of movable property coupled with the takeover of a lease

Sale of movable property coupled with the takeover of a lease

When it comes to tenancy law, the tenant is considered to be the 'weaker party', and his or her protection has a special place in the law. Article 109 of the Swiss Constitution, the country's fundamental legislative text, provides that the Confederation shall legislate to combat abuses of tenancy agreements.On this basis, the Swiss Code of Obligations (CO) contains a large number of rules that cannot be derogated from, even by contract, since they are mandatory legal provisions, including article 254 CO, which prohibits any transaction coupled with residential or commercial leases. This means that any clause imposed on the tenant that is not directly related to the use of the rented property is null and void if the conclusion or continuation of the lease is subject to it. This would be the case if a lessor sought to take advantage of its position of strength in the market to impose on the lessee a condition that had no direct connection with the lease and that the lessee did not wish to accept. A lessor cannot therefore make the granting of a lease (or its renewal) conditional on the lessee's acceptance of the said coupled transaction. According to the case law, this is the case in particular when the lessor seeks to oblige the lessee to purchase goods or to enter into an insurance contract unrelated to the lease, or even to take over the lessor's debts. The obligation to give the lessor power of attorney over a bank account in order to pay the rent is also considered to be a coupled transaction.In such cases, the lease continues to have effect and remains perfectly valid, but the clause relating to the coupled transaction is legally null and void, meaning that it has no retroactive value.As you will have realised, your lessor could not require you to buy back all the furniture in the flat you have rented. As this clause is null and void, you can ask for a refund of the price you had to pay for the furniture, provided, of course, that you return it. Your lease will remain valid as if the clause had never existed.