In the process of housing leasing, if the lessee fails to pay the relevant lease fees as agreed in the contract, it is a common dispute for the lessor to demand the relevant rent by cutting off water and electricity. and whether the relevant lessor is relevant to claim rent in this way?
Article 944 of the Civil Code partially states that "property service providers shall not stop supplying electricity, supplying water, heating or gas to urge the payment of property fees." The above provisions are only the requirements of the property management company for the relevant prohibited acts of demanding property fees, and do not mention the relevant housing lease relationship. For example, Article 11 of the Answers to Several Difficult Questions Concerning the Trial of Cases Involving Disputes over Housing Lease Contracts by the Beijing High People's Court stipulates that: "During the performance of a housing lease contract, the lessee engaged in business activities shall be notified in advance by the lessor that it will take measures to cut off the power (water, If the lessor fails to pay the rent in accordance with the contract within a reasonable period of time, the aforesaid act by the lessor is an act of exercising the right to defend the performance of the contract, unless otherwise agreed in the contract. The lessee shall pay the rent during the period of power (water, gas). The impact of the lessor's actions such as power cut-off (water and gas) on the performance of the contract shall be commensurate with the amount, proportion and degree of fault of the lessee's outstanding rent, and if it causes losses to the lessee beyond the necessary limit, it shall bear the liability for breach of contract such as compensation for losses. ”
From the above statement, it is not difficult to see that even if the recourse to rent is allowed by cutting off water and electricity within a certain range, there must be some restrictions, first, to urge the lessee to pay the rent, secondly, to give a reasonable period of time, and finally to the extent necessary, not to exceed the level of fault of the lessee. Otherwise, the lessor will still have to bear the losses caused to the lessee.