Facts
The plaintiff, [A.] , is the owner of two rooms in an old building in Brig, which he rented to the defendant, [B.] , for 12 years on March 27, 1995. The defendant paid the rent until the end of November 1995, then stopped making payments. The plaintiff warned the defendant and terminated the rental agreement on April 25, 1996. The defendant complained about various defects, in particular a leaky ceiling, and demanded their rectification. The defects were not rectified, and the defendant terminated the rental agreement on October 9, 1997, without notice. The plaintiff applied to the District Court of Brig to order the defendant to pay the outstanding rent. The District Court and the Cantonal Court of the Canton of Valais confirmed the lawfulness of the termination without notice.
Considerations
The Federal Court had to decide whether the defendant's termination of the rental agreement without notice was justified. The plaintiff argued that the conciliation authority had established the invalidity of the termination, and this decision had become final. However, the Federal Court decided that the conciliation authority had no jurisdiction to rule on the validity of the termination, and that the decision of the conciliation authority could therefore not become final.
The Federal Court then examined whether the defect in the rental object, namely the leaky ceiling, constituted a serious defect that justified the termination without notice.…