As if it were a bad habit, once again, the 4T of Lopez Obrador plans to destroy private property using the Mexico City Congress. A new and outrageous “legal” initiative on real estate leasing has been presented.
Text previously published in El Universal
MEXICO CITY (El Universal) – Once again, the 4T plans to destroy private property from the Mexico City Congress. A new and outrageous “legal” initiative on real estate leasing has been presented by Morena’s parliamentary faction in the CDMX congress. This new confiscatory threat is understood as a palliative to the economic disaster caused by the Covid-19, the productive stagnation that has hit the country, and the growing loss of jobs.
Throwing gasoline on fire has become the specialty of that parliamentary group in the CDMX.
The proposal is in line with the sense of previous ones (see the 2019 project to Article 60 of the Constitutional Law on Human Rights and the Law on Extinction of Ownership, which opens the possibility against any individual to lose property in worse conditions of defenselessness than an expropriation).
The new initiative of the 4T in the CDMX strengthens the torrent of anti-legal aggressions of which the initiative (July 2019) also forms part, to extinguish the dominion of the real estate the violation of seals of closure occurred, even with the ignorance of the legitimate owner.
As with the previous ones, the new threat directly attacks the legitimate real estate owner, excluding any form of sanction against an unfulfilled tenant or urban invader.
It is designed to allow confiscation actions against property owners on the pretext that they are making excessive profits from the pandemic. Let’s take it one step at a time:
The Inegi considers that there are currently 12 million people out of work and that the rate of Mexicans in extreme poverty could double in this administration. In this sad background scenario and as a response to the severe economic and social course of the 2020 crisis, Morena seeks to approve these new reforms to the civil code regarding leasing.
Amidst distracting applause, for the Mexico-EU mini-summit, Morena’s legislators will slide a law against landlords and real estate owners in the capital city that makes home rental contracts for a minimum of three years enforceable, so that each agreement for any lesser term is considered void.
The proposal states that if the landlord cannot physically exhibit the contract, the latter will not be able to demand the payment of the due rents and even less demand the eviction of the defaulting and unfulfilled tenant. It also prohibits requiring a deposit as collateral for a lease or the investigation and securing of property by the tenant or his guarantor.
The 4T insists on attacking investors, especially real estate, through legislation such as this one we are commenting on.
The proposed text repeats the formula of article 60 of the constitutional law of human rights, granting the unfulfilled and the defaulter protection, defense, and safeguard not so to the citizen who does comply with the law.
An initiative of this nature attempts against the contractual freedom and the rules of equity that govern the contracts, it is an interventionist reform of the most irresponsible and crude statism that places the tenant as an incapable minor, a subject without the will or will, placed before a shameless and abusive landlord.
To own property is a human right all over the planet (with few exceptions) The right to enjoy a home and the right not to be evicted without a fair trial, legality, defense, and the guarantee of a hearing.
When one of these rights is violated, the state must intervene as a guarantor, but not – as Morena proposes – at the expense of another individual’s rights.
The reform is even formally unnecessary since Article 1796 bis of the Civil Code establishes the contractual equity clause “rebus sic stantibus” which allows parties faced with unforeseeable phenomena to find a balanced composition of so-called onerous contracts and, if necessary, with the help of the judge, to balance the agreed benefits.
It is intended to apply to new and existing leases without any distinction. Therefore, an amendment against the Constitution in that it is intended to apply retroactively.
If approved, the reform will discourage real estate investment, generate legal uncertainty among the population afraid of not being able to claim their property at the hands of profiteers and abusers, and further hit the construction sector, which has also been hit since August 2018, has continuously been hit.
Faced with a regime that is proven to be unwilling to generate value but is always ready to destroy it, this new attack overlooks the fact that renting is equivalent to 1.5% of the federal GDP and is insensitive to the fact that 41.2% of existing homes are rented, 25.3% of businesses are rented, and a high percentage of owners have to resort to mortgage loans to purchase their homes.
There are deputies in the CDMX Congress who will be able to prevent this brutal nonsense and attack against private property and seek that the CDMX government spends more and better in supporting temporary shelters, in building efficient, dignified and decent housing units with credits within reach of the population who, due to their aggravated economic condition, lack a safe roof.
Perhaps saying this or looking for alternatives in this area is too much in the face of a government that does not attend to or offers solutions, yet it is skillful, greedy, and frantic in proposing solutions, always digging into the pockets of individuals.
Article 60 of the human rights law that protected the invaders has reversed thanks to the intervention of the head of government, Claudia Sheinbaum. Will she be aware of this unjust initiative?
Ignacio Morales Lechuga
Notary Public and former Attorney General