The SRC Law Office has won for his Client before the Polish Supreme Court in a case to declare the provision of the tenancy agreement invalid (case no. II CSK 290/13).
Our Client, as a landlord, was a party to the tenancy agreement under which the tenant was authorized to twice prolong the agreement for thirty years’ periods. Such authorization meant that the agreement had been in fact concluded for a definite period of ninety years.
The matter in dispute was whether such provision complied with Article 695 of the Polish Civil Code. According to this Article, tenancy concluded for a period of time longer than thirty years shall, following the lapse of that time limit, be construed to have been concluded for an indefinite period of time. Moreover, the application of this regulation cannot be excluded by the parties. The problem had to be considered with regard to the limits of freedom of contract. Under the freedom of contract, the parties may determine legal relations at their own discretion.
Throughout the proceedings before the courts of both instances as well as the Supreme Court, the SRC Law Office argued that – having regard to the said Article 695 of the Polish Civil Code – the a/m provision constituted the circumvention of the law, and therefore, moved for that provision to be declared invalid.
The court of first instance dismissed the claim brought by the SRC Law Office. However, after the appeal had been brought, the Appellate Court changed the judgment of the court of first instance and allowed the claim. Due to discrepancies in judicial decisions, the Supreme Court decided to hear the case.
After having heard the case, the Supreme Court shared the position of the SRC Law Office and, above all, ruled that the provision of the tenancy agreement allowing for its prolongation, as a result of which the duration of the agreement would be longer than thirty years, violates the peremptory norm of Article 695 of the Polish Civil Code.
The case was argued by att. Łukasz Caban and att. Agnieszka Gawłowska.
