Facts
B.H. and D.H. as well as C.G. and A.G. each rented an apartment and a parking space in the associated parking garage from X. AG. The landlord terminated the rental contracts for the parking spaces. The tenants successfully challenged the terminations at the state conciliation board.
The landlord filed a lawsuit with the Civil Court Presidency of Basel-City, requesting that the terminations be confirmed as valid. The single judge upheld the claim, while in the case of the G. spouses, he extended the tenancy once until September 30, 1998. The Court of Appeal dismissed the tenants' appeals against this decision.
The Federal Supreme Court dismissed the tenants' appeal.
Considerations
Separately rented parking spaces can be terminated with a two-week notice period at the end of any month, unless the parties have contractually agreed otherwise. The protective provisions of Art. 271 et seq. CO regarding termination and Art. 269 et seq. CO regarding abusive rents and other abusive demands by the landlord apply only to residential and commercial premises, but not to separately rented parking spaces.
For parking spaces that are made available to the tenant together with the residential premises for use, the tenancy law protection provisions according to Art. 253a CO apply. The lower court correctly assumed that the parking spaces rented by the defendants are functionally ancillary to the rental apartments and thus fall under Art. 253a CO.
For…