Coronavirus - Government measures in key jurisdictions - Flipbook - Page 8
Austria
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Property
Have any changes
been made to
the laws around
property, rent and
enforcement?
Litigation
•
If a tenant of a private apartment does not pay rent (or a part thereof) due
from 1 April 2020 until 30 June 2020 because he or she has been significantly
economically impaired by the crisis, the underlying lease agreement may not be
terminated by the landlord solely based on the payment default. Moreover, the
landlord may neither enforce these outstanding payments nor draw a deposit
provided by the tenant, before 31 December 2020.
•
An eviction is to be postponed at the request of the tenant if the apartment is
indispensable for urgent housing needs of the tenant and other persons living in
the same household, unless the eviction is necessary to avert serious personal
or economic disadvantages of the landlord. Before the decision on suspension is
made, the landlord shall be given the opportunity to make a written statement.
•
Under the Austrian Civil Code tenants may be entitled to a rent relief provided that
their premises cannot be used as contractually agreed due to COVID-19; in practice,
this currently mostly concerns leases in the retail and leisure industry, as most of
such businesses had to be closed due to respective ordinances. However, as these
provisions of the Civil Code are not mandatory and can therefore be deviated from
(which in practice rarely has been the case, though), the question if and to which
extent a rent relief actually applies, needs to be reviewed on a case by case basis.
•
Procedural periods at civil courts and administrative courts, which had not expired
as of 22 March 2020 are suspended. This applies to both court and administrative
proceedings. These time limits will restart as of 1 May 2020. Furthermore, the
statute of limitations for prosecution (the time period subsequent to the offence
within which an authority may commence proceedings) is also interrupted with
respect to administrative offences. However, performance periods in civil courts
(an executive order in a judgement or decision within which time performance
must be rendered to the opponent) are not interrupted.
•
Arbitration is also affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, many arbitration
institutions have signalled that they will continue their work as far as possible.
The Vienna International Arbitral Centre (VIAC) is working remotely and its case
management is fully operational due to the new electronic case management
system that was introduced in 2019.
•
Taxpayers affected by a liquidity shortage due to COVID-19 may, until 31 October
2020, apply for a reduction of (corporate) income tax prepayments for the year 2020
to the lower amount of (corporate) income tax expected for 2020 or even to zero. No
interest will be charged in case the (corporate) income tax ultimately assessed for
2020 turns out to be higher than the (corporate) income tax prepayments.
•
Taxpayers affected by a liquidity shortage due to COVID-19 may apply for a deferral
of tax or payment in monthly instalments by 30 September 2020. Late payment
interest may be reduced or altogether waived.
Are the courts
operating?
Tax
Has any new
legislation been
introduced in light
of COVID-19?
Government measures in key jurisdictions
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