"The lessee acknowledges that he is taking the property on lease during a period of pandemic and that he will not be able to claim free rent from the brewery for force majeure, for legal losses or any other reason whatsoever."

That is the new paragraph that has been inserted into some of the contracts that the Brasserie de Luxembourg is now offering its new tenants. Is this a way of protecting itself, when two cafe owners have already been able to obtain an adjustment of their rents in times of crisis?

"That has nothing to do with it," replies Wim Gallet, director of the Brasserie de Luxembourg. "It was already taken into account for the covid crisis," he says, without being able to specify when this clause was added. "We just underlined an extra element: the fact that people should be aware that even if we are in a covid situation, we count on the fact that they pay their rents.”

Leonine clause?

“The Brasserie is making the tenant sign that he is giving up a right,” says Joël Marques, the lawyer for one café owner who received such a contract. For him, we can speak of a leonine clause, i.e. one that gives disproportionate rights to one of the contracting parties and allows one party to be excused from sharing liabilities arising out of the agreement. Even if, on the other hand, "the judges could say that the lessee has voluntarily waived a right". Marques is advising clients with whom the Brasserie de Luxembourg would like to renew the lease sooner than expected to wait. But others have little choice if they want to take on a premises.

In any case, "if they put that in the contracts, it means they know they have lost", Marques says. He had worked with Frank Rollinger the lawyer for two cafe owners whose rents were adjusted by the courts because of restrictions imposed because of the pandemic. They believe that these court rulings should apply to similar cases.