Extension of the Lease Agreement

Facts

B. AG (the lessor, the respondent) leased a commercial premises with a warehouse and a parking space on U. Street in V. to two private individuals by a contract dated 16 June 2004. Through addenda to the lease agreement, the lease was subsequently transferred to a new tenant, A. AG (the tenant, the appellant), and extended to other premises, with the rent being adjusted accordingly. According to the lease agreement, the lease can be terminated every six months as of the end of March/end of September, at the earliest as of 30 September 2014. Furthermore, the tenant was granted "an option to extend the lease by five years, i.e. from 1 October 2014 to 30 September 2019". On 2 June 2014, the tenant approached the Conciliation Authority of Zurich, and then on 25 September 2014, armed with an authorization to proceed dated 22 August 2014, the Zurich Rental Tribunal. In her application, she claims that she exercised the option to extend the lease on 3 July 2013 and requests that it be established that the exercise of the option is binding and that the lease therefore cannot be terminated before 30 September 2019. Subsidiarily, she requests that the lease be extended "at the latest as of 30 September 2014".

Considerations

The Rental Tribunal refused to enter into the matter of the application by circular decisions of 2 and 4 December 2014. Subsequently, the Supreme Court of the Canton of Zurich dismissed the appeal filed by the tenant by judgment of 21 April 2015 and confirmed the challenged circular decisions. The Federal Tribunal admitted the tenant's civil appeal, annulled the judgment of the Supreme Court and remanded the case to the Rental Tribunal for judgment and for the regulation of the costs and indemnities of the proceedings before the Supreme Court. According to the case law of the Federal Tribunal, when the tenant disputes the validity of the termination and subsidiarily requests the extension of the lease, the competent court for protection against termination must rule on all the issues raised, including the preliminary question of…