Facts
This decision of the 1st Civil Court of the Swiss Federal Tribunal concerns a rent reduction request filed by the tenant T. AG against the landlord G. The dispute relates to the criteria for determining the net yield to assess whether the rent is abusive.
The tenant can request a rent reduction if they have reason to believe that the landlord is realizing an excessive yield due to a substantial change in the calculation elements, in particular a reduction in costs (Art. 270a para. 1 in conjunction with Arts. 269 and 269a CO). The landlord can then argue that they are not realizing an adequate yield and that the current rent is therefore not abusive despite the changes in the calculation elements.
Considerations
The Federal Court considers that the net yield must be assessed on the basis of the owner's equity invested in the property. This net yield corresponds to the remuneration of the equity. The equity capital consists of the difference between the investment costs and the debts encumbering the property, to which are added the depreciation and the valorization investments financed by the equity.
However, the Court rejects the method proposed by the landlord, who wanted to calculate the net yield based on the current fire insurance value of the property. Indeed, methods based on objectified values, such as the market value, the tax value or the insurance value, are not in line with the principle of rent based on…