The Real Estate Lease Regime Has Been Modified

The most relevant modifications introduced to the real estate rental regime are:

 

• The parties are free to determine the amounts and currencies given as security deposit and the way in which they are to be returned at the end of the lease.

 

• The leases may be established in legal tender or in foreign currency, as the parties decide. The lessee may not demand that the payment be accepted in a currency other than that established in the agreement.

 

• The parties may agree on the adjustment of the value of the lease. It will be valid to use any index the parties agree upon, whether public or private, in the same currency in which the rents were agreed. If the index chosen ceases to be published during the term of the agreement, an official index of similar characteristics published by the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica y Censo) will be used if the price is fixed in legal tender; or one that fulfills the same function in the country issuing the agreed currency of payment.

 

• The parties are free to agree on the frequency of payment, which may not be less than a month.

 

• The term of the leases for any purpose must be that the parties established, and if no term has been established:

 

 

1. 1. For temporary rentals, the term must be that established by the uses and customs of the place where the rented property is.
   2. In lease contracts for permanent housing, with or without furniture, the term of the lease will be 2 years.
   3. For the other purposes, the term of the lease will be 3 years.

 

• The lessee may, at any time, terminate the contract by paying 10% of the balance of the future lease fee, calculated from the date of the notice of termination until the termination date agreed in the contract.

 

• The lessor may terminate the contract for causes attributable to the lessee for any reason established in the contract, beyond the cases already established in article 1219 of the Civil and Commercial Code.

 

• The lessor may not terminate the contract, even if the thing is not fit for the agreed use and purpose due to the fault of the lessor, if the damage has been caused directly or indirectly by the lessee.

 

• The lessee can no longer offset the costs and claims of the landlord against the fees in the lease contract.

 

• The lessor no longer has to pay for the necessary improvements the lessee makes to the leased property, even if not agreed upon, if the contract is terminated without fault of the lessee, unless it is due to destruction of the property.

 

• The article that contemplates the possibility of notifying the other party within the last 3 months of the lease and summon it to renew the contract within a period of no more than 15 calendar days was repealed, also eliminating the possibility of the tenant to terminate the contract in advance without payment of compensation due to the silence or refusal of the landlord.

 

• Property rental contracts for tourism, holidays, or similar purposes, with a duration of less than 3 months (by means of a single contract or consecutive contracts) will no longer be governed by the rules applicable to accommodation contracts.