Legal setback for a fund due to abusive clauses for tenants of a Badalona apartment building
Tenants had to pay non-payment insurance (which benefits the property), property tax and other general expenses.
BarcelonaBadalona Court of First Instance No. 1 has issued a ruling that represents a new judicial setback against the abusive practices of housing rental companies linked to large investment funds. SII, SA, a rental management company that is part of the Azora group, one of the largest housing owners in Spain, has determined that up to six of the clauses present in all of the plaintiff group's contracts were void due to their abusive nature or due to imposing unjustified imbalances. In all cases, the ruling requires the company to remove the clauses deemed void from the contracts, thereby bearing the brunt of these abusive clauses.
Among the clauses declared void, one stands out that required tenants to pay an insurance premium to cover possible non-payment of rent, although this insurance benefited exclusively the landlord. The ruling also declares void the clause that allowed tenants to be responsible for paying the Property Tax (IBI) and community fees in contracts signed, as is the case with the plaintiffs' contracts, between December 9, 2020, and September 29, 2022. This was declared void by Decree Law 50/2020 of the Generalitat (Catalan Government), which considered void any agreement that required the tenant to assume the payment of general expenses and individual services. However, in September 2022, the Constitutional Court declared this provision void and it is no longer in force.
Other annulled clauses
Other clauses annulled by the court include the disproportionate penalty for late eviction, up to three times the daily rent for each day of delay; and the tenant must be reimbursed for any amount disbursed during the term of the contract.