Termination of a cooperative tenant's lease without prior exclusion from the cooperative

Facts

H.X. and F.X. are cooperative tenants of Society Y., a housing cooperative. The cooperative terminated the tenants' lease due to their noisy and aggressive behavior towards the neighborhood, without excluding them from the cooperative. The tenants contested the validity of the termination, arguing that it could only occur after their exclusion from the cooperative.

Considerations

The Federal Court ruled that when the cooperative tenant relationship and the lease contract are not linked by a specific agreement, the cooperative can terminate the lease without first excluding the cooperative member, provided that the grounds for termination would also justify the exclusion of the cooperative member. In this case, the persistent lack of consideration towards the neighbors, which justifies the extraordinary termination of the lease, also constitutes a breach of the duty of loyalty that would allow the exclusion…