Government wants to protect tenants

Florian Tiefenböck studied human medicine at the LMU Munich. In March 2014, he joined as a student and has supported the editorial team with medical articles ever since. After receiving his medical license and practical work in internal medicine at the University Hospital Augsburg, he has been a permanent member of the team since December 2019 and, among other things, ensures the medical quality of the tools.

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The restrictions in the fight against the spread of the new type of coronavirus are already having far-reaching economic consequences and are also putting some people under financial strain. This increases the fear of no longer being able to pay rents. The federal government now wants to protect those affected.

A comprehensive protection program for tenants and debtors should cushion them financially difficult times in the Corona crisis. There should also be legal relief for companies and associations. This provides for a bill from the Federal Ministries for Justice, the Interior and the Economy.

As the German press agency reports, the resolution of the draft law is planned for the coming week.

How are tenants protected?

Tenants should not be able to be terminated due to rent debts in the Corona crisis. Usually, owners can terminate the tenant if he is in arrears with more than one month's rent, i.e. if he has not paid rent for around two months.

The crisis rule for rent debts from the period from April 1 to September 30, 2020 should apply. In principle, however, the tenant must pay his rent later so that the landlord does not suffer any damage.

Deferring debt

Other people who cannot pay off their debts due to the corona pandemic should not face any legal consequences either. There should be a statutory deferral regulation for loans. This means that due repayments - i.e. repayment dates - can be postponed. In the long term, however, loans still have to be paid off.

Deadlines can be extended

According to the bill, tenants and debtors should be able to extend payment deadlines by one year under certain circumstances if the period until the end of September is insufficient.

Forbearance in the event of insolvency

If the Covid-19 pandemic has been shown to have led to the insolvency of a company, it does not have to report its bankruptcy to the bankruptcy court immediately.

In addition, banks are to be motivated to provide additional funds to companies that have got into difficulties due to the Corona crisis.

Further crisis rules

The draft also provides that general meetings of companies can be held online without physical attendance. This relief should also apply to cooperative and club meetings.

Furthermore, courts should be allowed to interrupt a main hearing for a maximum of three months and ten days if it cannot be held due to the Covid-19 pandemic. (ft / dpa)

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