Martin Grosz
04/01/2021 6:01 AM
Clarín.com
Services
Updated 04/01/2021 12:33 PM
As feared by
renters
as expected by landlords, rents finally hit their "
D-Day
."
The day in which three key words that begin with that letter will jump to the scene:
unfreezing
,
debt
and
evictions
.
Is that, after a year, at 0 this Thursday, April 1, the
triple protection
had been granted by decree to tenants due to the coronavirus pandemic
expired
.
It was about the possibility of: 1) Not suffering increases in quotas;
2) Extend expired contracts;
and 3) Not to be thrown out of the houses for non-payment.
All that was in force until 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday.
But the insistent requests for extension of tenant entities were not enough to convince the Government to extend
the measure
for the
third time
.
And, as had been claimed from the real estate sector,
they dropped it
.
Now, then, a normalization process is beginning that could have a strong impact on the pockets of the families that have used the protection the most, and that in the most serious cases could end up with
tenants on the street
.
Therefore, among those who rent the concern is great.
And the
questions
about what can happen to them, many.
Here are some of them and their responses.
Since the new Rent Law was implemented, prices have accelerated
Who will have a quota increase from this month and how should it be applied?
Decree 320/2020 and its extensions so far allowed tenants to continue paying the same as in
March 2020
, regardless of whether the contract includes adjustments.
That freeze has just been terminated.
Therefore, from this month, tenants must pay exactly
what was planned
and signed for
April 2021
.
What levels of increase can this generate?
It depends a lot on the case.
But the largest relative increase will be for those who have benefited 100% from the benefit and at the same time had the toughest adjustment clauses in their contract.
Also those who, with the contract already expired, must now renegotiate the terms according to current market prices.
Values that, after the Rent Law,
went up
.
On the other hand, there will be tenants who will not feel differences this month.
Alejandro Juan Bennazar, president of the Argentine Real Estate Chamber, places in this group those who decided
not to use the freeze
.
And also to all those who signed contracts since June 2020, since they were made with the new law, which only provides for
annual adjustments
.
"For them the first increase will only arrive in June," Bennazar told
Clarín
.
In the City of Buenos Aires, renting is increasingly expensive.
Photo Martín Bonetto
What happens to the amounts that were de-credited during the freeze?
The other side of the matter is the debt that tenants have accumulated over the last year, due to the fact that the freeze did not imply any forgiveness, but rather a
postponement of payments
.
With which, when the decree falls, the tenants are now obliged to
return the difference
between the (frozen) installments that they paid and those that by contract they should have paid.
On the other hand, there are families that, due to financial problems, were not even able to pay the frozen amounts, or they did so in part or with delays.
It will also be mandatory for them to catch up from this month.
But how should the return of all that money be made?
Decree 320/2020 specifies it for each of the situations.
1) Debt for price differences
.
The owner can demand that it be paid from April in
3 to 12
"monthly, equal and consecutive"
installments
that are added to the rent each time.
When calculating the amount of these payments, according to the norm, "
late, compensatory or punitive
interest may not be applied
, or any other penalty provided in the contract."
2) Debts for non-payment.
The owner can also demand that this money be paid from this month in 3 to 12 monthly installments, equal and consecutive, without penalties or late fees.
However, in this case
,
compensatory interest
may be applied
, not higher than the rate for fixed terms in pesos at 30 days of Banco Nación.
Thus, some families could suffer this month the double impact of a quota increase and of paying their debts the first payment.
What the decree does contemplate is that, to catch up, "the parties may agree on a different form of payment" to that indicated, although only for the benefit of the tenant.
Without affordable mortgage credit, millions of families have no choice but to rent.
Photo Juano Tesone
Is there a way to have a smaller increment, if it can't be paid?
Yes. In principle, by negotiating with the owner, you take away, longer payment terms or lower fees, among other alternatives.
"It is not that today a wave of evictions is going to be unleashed. What will happen is that the tenants with debts
will initiate a negotiation
with the owners, with the mediation of the real estate brokers," said Bennazar.
"The negotiation may be difficult," he admitted, "but we believe that in the vast majority of cases payable agreements will be reached. That is what usually happens because
nobody wants to enter into a judicial conflict
."
And if the informal dialogue between owner and tenant fails, what happens?
"If it is not possible to reach an informal agreement to refinance the debt, it is not that the owners can leave the tenant on the street. A process begins," said Guillermina Greco, lawyer for the Right to the City program of the Civil Association for Equality and Justice (ACIJ).
In principle, current regulations provide that prior to any legal action,
mediation
must be done
.
There is also the chance to submit the case to arbitration.
Once the decree has fallen, owners and tenants must begin to discuss how to regularize the situation.
Photo Juano Tesone
What is the judicial process like and how long can it take?
If there is no agreement in mediation, the path to eviction begins.
According to Bennazar, depending on the province and the complexity of the case, this is something that can take
between 6 months and 24 months
to materialize.
"Once the mediation has fallen, the owner files the eviction claim and the case remains in the hands of a civil judge, whose decision can then be appealed. The eviction cannot be finalized until there is a
final judgment
," said Greco.
This year the government made it mandatory to register all rental contracts with the AFIP.
If the owner did not do so, in the trial that will be exposed and must be regularized in order to move forward.
What rights does the tenant who will be evicted have?
A very important one, according to the ACIJ specialist, is to have
free access to a lawyer
who will sponsor you and help you answer the claim.
On the other hand, if the tenant loses the trial and the sentence is already final, there will be practically no way to avoid or postpone the eviction.
"During this action, the tenant has rights. It must be done during the day, the lawyer must be present, the State official must identify himself, there can be
no violence or abuse
and they cannot break their belongings," Greco said.
Weeks ago, the obligation to register all rental contracts with the AFIP came into force.
Photo Nicolás Ríos / Los Andes
Will there be official help for families in danger of being evicted?
For now, there have been no concrete announcements related to the implementation of any
debt reduction plan
, as claimed by the tenant organizations.
What the Ministry of Territorial Development did last week was to create a National Eviction Early Warning Protocol.
Thus, the Government will seek to
gather information
on the people who are in the process of being thrown out of their homes, so that the most vulnerable can access housing plans.
How to get more information and legal advice?
As a first step, you can consult at this link a guide prepared by the ACIJ with useful data for people who are at risk of being evicted for non-payment.
In the City of Buenos Aires, they indicate, for legal advice you can resort to:
-
Office of the Ombudsman of the City of Buenos Aires
, where mediation instances are articulated.
Attend at 0800-999-3722 and at consultations@defensoria.org.ar.
-
Office of the General Defender of the Nation
.
You can write to the emails defensoriacivil1@hotmail.com, defensoria3@gmail.com and defciv4@mpd.gov.ar.
-
Free Legal Sponsorship of the UBA
.
It can be requested by writing to consultoriojuridico@derecho.uba.ar.
For the rest of the country, meanwhile, you can go to the
Access to Justice Centers
for advice, sponsorship and mediations.
The face-to-face operations and the data for virtual attention are available at this link.
MG
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