Facts
The dispute opposes the company [T. AG], owner of an apartment and two parking spaces in Würenlos, to the tenants S. and M. The latter requested [T. AG] on June 28, 1993, to review the rent due to the decrease in mortgage interest rates. [T. AG] responded on August 3, 1993, by acknowledging a right to a reduction of 5.19%, but dismissed it due to a rent reserve included in the last rent increase notification. The tenants then seized the conciliation authority for rental matters in the district of Baden, which failed, and then the district court of Baden, which rejected their request for a 5.19% rent reduction as of October 1, 1993.
The tenants appealed to the cantonal court of Aargau, which annulled the decision of the district court and reduced the rent by 4.13% as of March 1, 1994. [T. AG] filed a complaint with the Federal Court, which admitted the complaint and rejected the request for rent reduction.
Considerations
The Federal Court considered that rent adjustments cannot be requested in a temporally indeterminate manner and must refer to a specific termination date. To assess a request for modification of the rent, one must start from the moment when, at the latest, it had to be addressed to the co-contractor. Only changes in the calculation bases that were certain at that time and took effect at the latest upon termination must be taken into consideration.
The Federal Court also considered that if new downward factors appear during a rent reduction procedure, the tenant can assert the claims based on these factors in the pending procedure, without having to…