news, Taxation and corporate law

We know that companies which are “affected by an administrative police measure” taken last fall, as part of the second confinement, to stem the Covid-19 epidemic are immune from the sanctions of their donor when ‘they cannot pay their rent on time. This concerns above all establishments which usually receive the public and which have been obliged to remain closed for several months (cafes, restaurants, cinemas, theaters, sports halls, etc.), but also businesses which have had to stop selling non-essential items, restrict their capacity or close their doors early due to the curfew.

Reminder: to benefit from this protection, companies must:

– employ less than 250 employees;

– have achieved a turnover (turnover) of less than € 50 million during the last closed financial year (or, for activities not having a closed financial year, an average monthly turnover of less than € 4.17 million );

– and have suffered a loss of turnover of at least 50% for the month of November 2020 compared to the month of November 2019 or, at the choice of the company, compared to the average monthly turnover for 2019.

Thus, the lessors of these companies cannot apply financial penalties, late payment interest or damages when they have not been able to pay their rents and rental charges within the allotted time. They cannot either sue them or terminate the lease for this reason or even take action against the people who have stood surety for the payment of their rent.

Note: this protective measure applies to rents and rental charges for which the payment deadline is between October 17, 2020 and the expiration of a period of 2 months from the date on which the activity of the The company ceases to be affected by the administrative measure.

New: until then, during this period of protection, the lessor could not take any precautionary measure (foreclosure, mortgage, etc.) against the company eligible for protection which did not pay its rent. Since June 2, he can resort to such a measure, but only with the authorization of the judge.

Art. 10, law n ° 2021-689 of May 31, 2021, JO of June 1

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