Now the epidemic can't open a shop. Is it legal for the landlord to shout for rent?

During the Spring Festival in 2020, due to the epidemic in COVID-19, many people stayed at home and could not go out. However, in many enterprises, because employees can't return to their workplaces after the Spring Festival, except for some supermarkets and convenience stores, most stores are closed for a period of time after the Spring Festival. Originally, during the Spring Festival, people's consumption will increase a lot, but this Spring Festival is relatively deserted, and people are isolated at home, so consumption has also plummeted a lot. At this time, many operators are facing tremendous pressure. First, their income has dropped sharply, and second, their costs are still increasing. In addition to venue rent, there are also expenses such as employees' salaries, which has led to the increase of debts of many small individual industrial and commercial households and their inability to make ends meet. Some people may ask, is it legal for the landlord to urge Zhou at this time? First of all, it is reasonable and legal for the landlord to ask for paying the rent on time. Secondly, according to whether your contract has clauses such as rent reduction or exemption due to the increase of operating costs caused by force majeure, it depends on whether the state has relevant system provisions. If it is within the scope of the contract, it is legal for the landlord to ask for rent.

First of all, according to the lease contract, it is in line with the regulations for the landlord to ask you to pay the rent on time. A contract is a legally binding document, which stipulates the rights and obligations of both parties. The landlord rents the venue to you, and you pay the rent to the landlord. The landlord also has the right to ask you to pay the rent in full within the time limit stipulated in the contract. Because the formal contract is protected by law, it is also your obligation to pay the rent on time. If the payment deadline has not yet arrived, you also have the right to refuse to pay, because you are not overdue. If it is overdue, the landlord will urge the rent, which is reasonable and legal.

Secondly, it depends on whether there is a clause in your contract that can reduce rent due to force majeure, such as epidemic situation. If your operating costs increase due to force majeure and you have no income, or you can't use the leased premises for business activities, if there are relevant regulations, you can ask the landlord to reduce the rent accordingly with the contract. This mainly depends on the agreement between you two. However, business activities are inherently risky, because the epidemic affects no income and is not caused by the lessor, so it is unreasonable to ask the landlord to reduce rent or postpone rent payment.

Finally, it depends on whether the country has corresponding systems or regulations. During the Spring Festival to fight the epidemic, the state issued various policies to provide enterprises with tax relief and continuous support policies to help them tide over the difficulties, and also encouraged appropriate rent relief, but it was not mandatory. As a legal lease relationship, the state should not force rent reduction and exemption, so it still depends on the wishes of the lessor. Operators should not take the call of the state to ask the landlord for rent reduction, because business activities are inherently risky, and no matter how much you earn, you will not give the landlord more money.