According to the law passed on 26 March 2020, business owners who operate a workplace are not under the risk of eviction or termination of the rent contract for not paying the rent amount between 01/3/2020 - 30/6/2020. There are two ways that they can apply under Turkish law;
The first way is to request a reduction in the rental price during the epidemic by applying to the court. According to article 305 of the Turkish Code of Obligations: “if the rented place becomes defective afterwards, the tenant may ask the lessor to eliminate the defects, or to make a discount proportional to the defect or to remove the loss” In this regard, here it will be explained whether Covid-19 (coronavirus) can be considered as a defect for the profit loss or not.
The second way to apply is the excessive hardship rules. Excessive performance difficulties in Turkish Law are regulated under Article 138 of the Turkish Code of Obligations. According to the mentioned article; the tenant, who has difficulty in paying his rent for an extraordinary reason, can ask the court to adapt the contract. The purpose of the case is to adapt the rental price and other contract provisions in accordance with the new conditions. Unlike requesting discount, the adaptation is not only for the corona epidemic period, but also for all future rents. As a matter of fact, coronavirus is expected to affect not only these three months but also the economic future.
It is important to note that, in order to file this lawsuit, the business owners must not pay their rent debts or pay with a reservation added. For instance, one can put a reservation in the explanation part of a payment made with EFT as follows; “I reserve my rights to file an adaptation case for changing conditions due to coronavirus in the future"
Business owners who are economically affected by the coronavirus have these legal remedies that they can apply. It is highly advised to counsel a lawyer before taking action.
