Facts
This decision concerns a dispute related to a lease contract. The landlord served the tenant an extraordinary notice to quit based on Article 261 paragraph 2 letter a of the Swiss Code of Obligations (CO), citing an urgent own need. The tenant contested the validity of this notice, arguing that the legal requirements were not met.
The Cantonal Court ruled the extraordinary notice to quit ineffective, as the landlord's claimed urgent own need was insufficient. The landlord then appealed to the Federal Tribunal, requesting that the notice be converted into an ordinary notice to quit for the next term.
Considerations
The Federal Tribunal rejected the request for conversion. It considered that when a notice to quit does not meet the legal or contractual requirements, it is ineffective and without effect. The case law of the Federal Tribunal has always refused to convert an ineffective extraordinary notice to quit into a valid ordinary notice to quit.
According to the Tribunal, the possibility of converting a defective legal act into a valid one is not applicable to formative rights, such as the notice to quit. The exercise of a formative right must be clear, unconditional and irrevocable, which in principle excludes conversion.
The…