Facts
D. and E. (defendants) had been renting an 8-room single-family house from A.C. and B.C. (plaintiffs) since June 2002. The plaintiffs first terminated the tenancy agreement extraordinarily as of November 30, 2002, and then gave ordinary notice of termination as of March 31, 2003. The defendants challenged both terminations with the conciliation authority, which declared them invalid. The tenancy court established the validity of the ordinary termination of November 5, 2002, which the defendants appealed to the Cantonal Court of Zurich. The Cantonal Court revoked the validity of the ordinary termination, whereupon the plaintiffs appealed to the Federal Supreme Court.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court dismissed the plaintiffs' appeal. It stated that according to Art. 271a para. 1 lit. d CO, a termination issued by the landlord during court proceedings related to the tenancy agreement is contestable, regardless of whether it is actually abusive. The purpose of this provision is to prevent the landlord from terminating the tenancy agreement to end an unwanted court proceeding. A restriction of the scope of application of the norm beyond the wording of the law is not justified.
The Federal Supreme Court further stated that the systematic interpretation also speaks against such a restriction. The legislator…