A missed opportunity for leases of business premises
The declaration of the international pandemic caused by COVID-19 by the World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11, forced the Government to declare the alarm state throughout the national territory on March 14 in order to manage the health crisis situation caused by COVID-19.
Among other issues, Royal Decree 463/2020, of March 14, imposed limitations on freedom of movement and established containment sanitary measures that have led to a reduction in the economic activity of our country and a stoppage of activity from numerous sectors which is causing significant losses for individuals, freelancers and companies.
To mitigate these losses, the Government, through successive Royal Decree-laws, has regulated several urgent measures to support the economy and employment, among which are those adopted in relation to usual residence rentals and those known as business premises leases.
In this newsletter, we intend to make a practical and comparative study, but also with some critical spirit, of the measures established by the Government, whose regulation has been reflected in Royal Decree-Law 11/2020, from March 31 onwards, "RDL 11/2020 ") for usual residence leases, and in Royal Decree-Law 15/2020, of April 21 (hereinafter," RDL 15/2020 ") for leases of business premises.
I already anticipate that the response given by the Government to the problem generated with rents in response to the COVID-19, at least as regards the leases of business premises, will not satisfy either owners or tenants, for the reasons that we will try to expose in this newsletter.