The Court of First Instance number 31 of Barcelona has annulled several clauses that the investment fund Azora appeared in the rental contracts for considering them abusive, according to the sentence to which Efe has had access. It is a large fork with 13,000 owned properties and the decision comes two years after the lawsuit filed by a neighbor from Granollers (Barcelona), Silvia Torres, advised by the Llogueteres Union in collaboration with the Ronda Collective.
Among the clauses annulled as illegal and for going against the rights of the tenants, one related to the “rent bonus” stands out, which allowed Azora to apply a 30% increase in the rental price from the third year of the contract, “a abysmal rise”, says the sentence.
It has also declared abusive the clause that allowed the deposit to be withheld, the one that imposed a penalty for delay in eviction (triple the daily rent for each day of delay), and the one that waived rights in the event that a supply was interrupted for reasons beyond the control of the landlord.
It has also annulled the clause that established the owner’s right to make periodic visits to check the state of the home, the one that stipulated the resolution for non-essential breaches, the one that imposed expenses for non-compliance and the one that affirmed that all the clauses of the contract had been personally negotiated.
“pioneer” sentence
The Col lectiu Ronda, which represents the plaintiff, has valued in a statement after learning of the sentence that “for the first time, a court of the Spanish State has condemned the inclusion of abusive clauses and that generate imbalances between landlords and tenants in the contracts for rent”. 2020 at about 1,100 euros.
For the Llogateres Union, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of the affected tenant, this sentence “opens the doors to changing the future of thousands of people affected by these clauses in their rental contracts,” it said in a statement.
