Facts
The dispute concerns a rent increase for a seven-and-a-half-room apartment, with a surface area of 171 m2, located on the second floor of a building in Geneva. The landlord notified an increase in the annual rent from 10'380 fr. to 22'500 fr., referring to art. 269a let. a, b and e CO. The tenant contested this increase, and the conciliation attempt failed.
The Rent Tribunal of the canton of Geneva set the annual rent of the apartment rented by the defendant at 22'500 fr. as of October 1, 1994, considering that the landlady had established, by producing seven examples of comparable apartments, that the rent in question did not exceed the limits of usual rents in the neighborhood.
The Appeal Chamber for rent matters of the canton of Geneva dismissed the appeal lodged by the defendant and confirmed the judgment of the first instance. The defendant lodged an appeal in revision with the Federal Tribunal, concluding that the impugned judgment be set aside and the disputed rent increase be annulled.
Considerations
The Federal Tribunal examined the notion of usual rent in the locality or neighborhood, which is a matter of law. It considered that the cantonal court had to specify exactly the comparison criteria used to determine the usual rents in the locality or neighborhood.
The Federal Tribunal also examined the criteria set out in art. 11 para. 1 RRBPO to determine the usual rents in the locality or neighborhood, in particular the size, equipment, condition and year of construction of the comparable dwellings. It considered that the cantonal court had ignored the fact that six of the seven comparison objects actually consisted of two groups, each comprising three apartments in the same building, which did not allow valid conclusions to be drawn regarding the general level of rents in the neighborhood.
The Federal Tribunal also considered that the cantonal court had not made concrete comparisons…