From January 1, 2025, a partial revision of the Code of Civil Procedure will come into force. One of the chapters concerns private expertise, which will be considered as means of proof. This change will impact many areas, including the state of affairs for tenants and landlords.
‘During an entry or exit inventory, situations of disagreement may arise between tenant and lessor, for example regarding normal or non-normal wear and tear on paintwork or cooking plates. Each party will then seek to prove its assertions. Until December 31, 2024, if one of them requests a private expertise, this will not be considered as means of proof, but as a simple declaration. But this will change from January 1, 2025: private expertise will be considered as a means of proof.
“If you already have an inventory this end of the year, you could call on an expert,” specifies Aurélie Gandoy, lawyer at the bar in Fribourg, Doctor of Law and lecturer in lease law at the University of Fribourg, during the program On en speaks on December 12, 2024. “A transitional system means that all procedures which will be in progress on January 1 will already be able to use this element as means of proof.”
According to the lawyer, this revision will save time and money during a trial, since a private expertise can be requested instead of a judicial expertise, which is often long and expensive.
The burden of proof
If it is possible to defend oneself by offering means of proof, Maître Gandoy recalls that “each person who asserts a fact or an event to assert his claim must prove this fact. In the case of tenants, for example, s If they notice a defect during the lease and want to request a reduction in rent, they will have to prove the defect potentially by means of an expertise. On the other hand, during an inventory at the end of the lease, the lessor party will. have to demonstrate a possible poor restitution and therefore, it will be it’s up to her to prove the damage.”
So should tenants get into the habit of calling on experts for the slightest problem? “I don’t think it’s necessary for tenants to systematically call on experts for the inventory of their exit premises. Above all, they should be well informed about their rights and the process. It’s up to the lessor party to prove a poor condition of the premises”, replies Aurélie Gandoy.
And on the management side? “I cannot answer for the method that the managers will apply, but to reassure the tenant parties, you should know that it is not because private expertise becomes a means of proof that it is absolute. For each means of proof, the court must assess the probative force, therefore the effect of this means of proof on the state of facts to be established. For example, if a management system systematically calls on expert firms, obviously these firms. are not truly independent, since they are mandated by management”, concludes the lawyer.
Radio subject: Jérôme Zimmermann
Web adaptation: Myriam Semaani
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