The Supreme Court ruled Friday it is reasonable for landlords to seek renewal fees in renewing housing rental agreements with their tenants.
In the ruling on three lawsuits, in which it was claimed the fees run counter to the consumer contracts law to protect consumers' benefits, Yuki Furuta, presiding justice of the top court's second petty bench said, "The charges do not run counter to the law unless they are too high in comparison with rent or rental agreement periods."
Many apartments or houses mainly in the Tokyo and Osaka areas are rented to tenants under a contract which typically requires a fee equal to two-months' rent in renewing a two-year agreement.
In earlier rulings, the Osaka High Court rejected as being invalid a renewal fee of 76,000 yen for a one-year agreement with rent at 38,000 yen per month, and 100,000 yen for a similar agreement with rent at 45,000 yen, saying they lacked reasonable grounds.
But the high court endorsed a fee of 104,000 yen for a two-year agreement with rent at 52,000 yen, ruling the tenant could secure a place to live and the amount of payment was reasonable.
In the cases taken to the Supreme Court, tenants claimed that apartment or house owners could obtain unfair benefits by imposing the rental agreement renewal fees.
The owners argued for their part that renewal fees have been established for more than 40 years and should be viewed as a reasonable supplement to rents.
The Supreme Court endorsed renewal fees as supplementary to rent and payable for renewal, concluding their economic rationality cannot be denied.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9OFVD4O0&show_article=1
No comments:
Post a Comment