Validity of property rental agreements during the martial state

Abstract

After the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation, many Ukrainians were forced to seek happiness abroad, in other unoccupied territories of Ukraine. The paper analyzes the letter of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry dated February 28, 2022. The definition of martial law as circumstances of force majeure (circumstances of force majeure) is indicated. The issue of the validity of contracts that expired under martial law was also highlighted. Such contracts are the most problematic, since they expired during the period of martial law and it is not known what to do with them, whether they will be automatically extended. Amendments to the Civil Code of Ukraine were proposed, which specifically relate to the issue of extending the validity of real estate lease contracts during the period of martial law. The purpose of the paper is to highlight the problem of the validity of property lease contracts under martial law, to suggest ways to solve this situation. The paper also raised the issue of payment of contracts subject to limited use of the relevant property. Yes, because due to the war, a large number of Ukrainians are unable to use rented property or are very limited in its use. The corresponding norms of the Civil Code of Ukraine were noted, which provide that in such a case it will be necessary to reduce the amount of the corresponding rent. In case of impossibility of using such property due to objective circumstances, such lease is subject to cancellation. On this issue, an analogy was drawn with the times of the coronavirus pandemic, as well as the times of the Anti-Terrorist Operation. The relevant judicial practice of the cassation instance was also given, according to which the tenant must prove the existence of a cause-and-effect relationship between the impossibility of using the property and the force majeure circumstance. It was analyzed that the judicial practice on the issue of the need for a cause-and-effect relationship between the impossibility of using the property and the force majeure circumstance did not change with the beginning of the full-scale war and remained the same.