Covid-19 as a Supervening Event in Leases of Non-Residential Property

The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic has brought about a systemic interference with contractual performance, offering a unique opportunity for an empirical observation of the dynamics of contractual relationships. The first data are emerging in the context of leases of non- residential property. Following the business interruptions imposed by the pandemic and by its containment measures, tenants all over the world have suspended payment of rents, raising the legal question whether rent is payable even for time periods when the tenant was unable to operate its business from the leased premises due to circumstances out of its control. The objective of the present article is to describe the answers that have emerged from the courts of various jurisdictions.