With the no. 138/2021 Decision of the Magistrate's Court of Thessaloniki, in a case handled by our office, the Greek State was ordered to be evicted from a ground-floor shop leased in 2008 by the "Organization of the European Capital of Culture - Thessaloniki '97" in the city of Thessaloniki, which was subsequently canceled and left the lease locked for 14 whole years.
At the same time, the State's obligation to pay rents of 35,120.40 euros and compensation for use of 11,810.00 euros was recognized.
Followed by no. 138/2021 final Decision of the Magistrate's Court of Thessaloniki
PROCEDURE: PROPERTY DISPUTES (TENANTS)
NUMBER 138/2021
THESSALONIKI JUSTICE OF THE PEACE
FOUNDED by Justice of the Peace Christodoulos S. Vlassis, appointed by the President of the Three-member Board of Directors of the Justice of the Peace and Secretary Niki Kopanas.
SIT in public in his audience on October 29, 2021 to judge the action with filing number 12905/213/19-5-2021 for the return of rent, payment of rents and compensation for use between:
OF THE PLAINTIFF …….. who was represented by his attorney Thomas Kalokiri (AM: 11982), who filed motions.
OF THE DEFENDANT: GREEK PUBLIC, legally represented by the Minister of Finance, resident of Athens, who was represented by the legal power of attorney of the NSK ……., which filed motions.
The attorneys of the parties requested that what is mentioned in the minutes and their written proposals be accepted.
AFTER STUDYING THE LITIGATION
THOUGHT ACCORDING TO THE LAW
With his current lawsuit, the plaintiff claims that by virtue of the private property lease agreement of 1-11-2008, drawn up between him as lessor and the liquidator of the liquidating N.P.I.D. under the name "EUROPEAN CULTURAL CAPITAL ORGANIZATION-THESSALONIKI 1997 S.A.", leased to the latter the text on the street .... ground floor shop, in Thessaloniki, in order to use it as a storage space. That the duration of the lease was agreed to be two years and began on 1-11-2008 until 31-10-2010 and with the private agreement drawn up between the two above-mentioned parties on 8-11-2010, it was extended for one more year, i.e. until 31-10-2011 and then it was converted into an indefinite period and the monthly rent was agreed at €300, plus stamp duty (3.6%), i.e. a total of €310.80. That on 23-7-2012 the liquidation and the rights and obligations of the above N.P.I.D. entered into the defendant (Hellenic State), which also included its existing assets and liabilities. That the rents were not paid from 1-11-2008 and for this reason on 1-3-2018 he terminated the lease, but the defendant did not hand over the use of the lease, nor did he pay the rents. Based on these facts, the plaintiff requests, after an admissible limitation of the request for the payment of the rents, compensation for use and financial satisfaction due to moral damage, from counter-voting to identification, the return of the rent and to recognize that the defendant owes the plaintiff to pay him the above rents and the compensation for use in the amount of €46930.80, as well as the amount of €5000, as monetary satisfaction for the moral damage suffered by the defendant's behavior and the above amounts with the legal interest from the performance of the lawsuit and until full payment. With this content and request, the legal action, admissible and competent, is brought for discussion in this Court (articles 14§1b, 29 of the Civil Code), according to the special procedure of articles 615-620 of the Civil Code. and it is legal, except for the claim for payment of monetary compensation due to moral damage, which must be rejected as illegal, since a condition for the awarding of monetary compensation is the commission of a tortious act, while in this case it is a breach of contractual obligation. It is fully defined and based on the provisions of articles 1 et seq. 34/1995, 361, 574, 595, 597, 599, 601, 341, 345, 346 A.K., 218§1, 907, 910 no. 1 and 2, 176, 70, 223 K.Pol.D. Therefore, the adjudicated lawsuit must also be investigated as to its substantial merits.
The defendant justifiably denied the action claiming that it is not passively legalized, because the lessor was the N.P.I.D. under the name "CULTURAL CAPITAL OF EUROPE ORGANIZATION-THESSALONIKI 1997 S.A." and that the Greek State is a universal successor in terms of its assets and liabilities.
In article 75 of Law 2121/1993 "Intellectual property, related rights and cultural issues", as applicable, the following are defined: "1. A legal entity under private law (n.p.id.) is established under the name "Organization of the Cultural Capital of Europe - Thessaloniki 1997" and based in Thessaloniki. ... The established Organization has the form of an Anonyme Company and is governed by the provisions of the codified law 2190/1920 "On Anonyme Companies", as it applies from time to time, unless otherwise specified by the provisions of this article and the decree of paragraph 6 of the same article …. 9. The Organization of Cultural Capital of Europe-Thessaloniki 1997 is dissolved on I1! January 1998 and is being liquidated. By a joint decision of the supervisors and any other co-competent Ministers, the matters related to the administration and operation of the Organization during the period and for the needs of the liquidation and any other related issue are regulated. By a joint decision of the Ministers themselves, matters related to the disposal of the assets and the succession of the Organization regarding all its rights and obligations, its substitution in any type of contract it has entered into and any other necessary detail are regulated." In addition, in paragraph 2 of article 44 of Law 3316/2005 it is defined "The liquidation is carried out by a five-member liquidation Council appointed by a joint decision of the Ministers of Economy and Finance, Environment, Spatial Planning and Public Works, Culture and Macedonia-Thrace..., and in article 46 Law 4049/2012 stipulates that as of the entry into force of this, the liquidation is terminated and the term of office of the President and the members of the Liquidation Board of the private legal entity under liquidation under the name "Organization of the Cultural Capital of Europe-Thessalonica '97" expires. (O.P.E.T.H. *97). In all the rights and obligations of the "European Capital of Culture-Thessaloniki '97 Organization", the Greek State, which continues the pending trials without their violent interruption and without requiring any special wording for their continuation. The existing assets and liabilities of the private legal entity under the name "European Capital of Culture Organization-Thessaloniki '97" shall be transferred to the Greek State from the entry into force of this. By a joint decision of the Ministers of Finance and Culture, matters relating to the inventory and disposal of these assets, the fate of the files and any other related issue are regulated (the provision of article 46, in accordance with article 546 of the same law, is valid from 23- 7-2012). Further in no. YPPOA/DDSEE/TEE64216/322/58/26-5-2017 of the Ministers of Finance, Culture and Deputy Minister of Finance (B' 2402) which was issued under the authority of articles 46 and 546 of Law 4049/2012, the following were defined: "1 . Within four (4) months from the publication of this notice, an overview of the inventory approved on 23-7-2012 by the former Board of Liquidation of the anonymous company with the name "Organization of the Cultural Capital of Europe-Thessaloniki 1997" will be carried out, a detailed recording of the data of the Assets 2. Within the same deadline, a detailed recording is also carried out as well as receipt of the financial data of the liabilities of the O.P.E.T.H. '97, which came to your Greek State on 7-23-2012...". Pursuant to the above, from the entry into force of the provisions of Article 46 of Law 4049/20212 (23-7-2012), the liquidation of the organization has been completed, the obligations of the abolished Liquidation Board have ceased and the Greek State is now the entity of all rights and obligations as a substitute entity of the Organization.
From the assessment of the sworn examination of the proof witness, before the audience of this Court and of all the documents, which the parties legally present and invoke, including four (4) photographs of the interior of the lease, which by law (art. 444§1c K.Pol,D.) are also considered private documents, the following facts were proven in the judgment of the Court: Pursuant to the private lease agreement of 11-11-2008 and the private lease extension agreement of 8-11-2010, drawn up between the plaintiff as lessor and the liquidator of the N.P.I.D. under liquidation. under the name "European Capital of Culture Organization-Thessaloniki '97* the plaintiff leased to the latter a shop, located on the ground floor of the apartment building on ……., in Thessaloniki, in order to use it as a storage space. The duration of the lease was agreed for three years, from 1-11-2008 to 31-10-2011 and the rent was agreed at the amount of €300 per month, plus stamp duty (3.6%), i.e. a total of €310.80 and was set to be paid in advance within the first Thursday of each month. The duration of the lease as commercial, drawn up before the entry into force of Law 4242/2014 (28-2-2014), is at least twelve years and therefore the expiry date of the above lease is 31-10-2020, not validity of the automatic four-year extension, when the right of eviction is not exercised. The aforementioned legal entity (lessee) was established by article 75 of Law 2121/1993, it was a N.P.I.D. and had the form of an anonymous company, which operated for the sake of the public interest in order to prepare the city of Thessaloniki, as the cultural capital of Europe for the year 1997 and which, as mentioned above, ended its liquidation and from 23-7-2012 Hellenic State (defendant) entered into the lease relationship as successor to the above N.P.I.D. assuming the resulting obligations as a lessee. Therefore, it is passively legitimized in the exercise of legal action. The defendant claims that after the liquidation of the above-mentioned N.P.I.D., pursuant to article 75§9 of Law 2121/1993 and the entry into place of the Greek State, the provisions of Law 3130/ 2003 and in particular the provision of article 3 of the aforementioned law, which provides that real estate leases concluded by the State for housing and to cover its operational needs, are carried out through a public competitive tender and a written form is required for their preparation, otherwise the lease agreement is invalid and that in this particular case the above procedures were not followed. But from article 46 of Law 4049/2012, which stipulates that "... All the rights and obligations of the "European Capital of Culture Organization - Thessaloniki '97* are superseded by the entry into force of this law automatically and without the observance of any form , deed or contract or the payment of consideration by the Greek State, which continues the pending trials without their forcible interruption and without requiring any special wording for their continuation" it does not follow that with the participation of the Greek State in the judicial lease relationship, changed its content and terms and that this contract is now regulated by Law 3130/2003, but the above contract is still valid as it was between the plaintiff and the legal entity under private law (n.p.i.d. .) under the name "Organization of the Cultural Capital of Europe-Thessaloniki 1997*.
It was further proven that from the beginning of the lease, both the "Organization of the Cultural Capital of Europe-Thessaloniki 1997", and the defendant, which, as mentioned, entered into the lease relationship as the successor of the above N.P.I.D. , they did not pay the rent from the beginning of the lease, and for this reason the plaintiff, according to article 597 of the Civil Code, which also applies to professional leases, terminated the lease due to non-payment of rent with the date of 1-3-2018 out-of-court complaint, which was served on the defendant on 6-3-2018 (see no. 4608B/6.3.18 report of the bailiff's service at the Athens Court of First Instance of Evanthias Dimitrakopoulos), requesting the payment of the due rents and the return of the rent. The lease in question was terminated on 7-4-2018 after the legal deadline (article 597 of the Civil Code, 144§1 and 145§2 of the Civil Code), but the defendant did not return the lease, which illegally withholds nor paid the due rents and therefore owes the rents for the months from November 2008 to March 2018, i.e. 113 months amounting to (113 monthsX310.80 €=) 35120.40 € and after the end of the lease until May 2021 the rent paid, according to article 601 of the Civil Code, as compensation, i.e. 38 months, amounting to (38 monthsX310.80 €=) 11810.40 € and a total of (35120.40+11810.40=) 46930.80 €.
Following the above, the lawsuit must be partially accepted and the defendant must be obliged to return to the plaintiff, within a period of thirty (30) days from the publication of this decision, the use of the disputed lease (warehouse), located on the ground floor of the apartment building in Thessaloniki. The decision regarding the above provision must be declared temporarily enforceable. As for the due rents and compensation for use, the Court recognizes that the defendant is obliged to pay the plaintiff the amount of €46930.80, with legal interest from the day after the service of the lawsuit until full payment. The legal costs of the plaintiff, upon his request, shall be borne by the defendant, but will be imposed reduced, according to article 178 of the Civil Code, due to the partial victory and defeat of each party.
FOR THOSE REASONS
JUDGES opposition of the parties.
ACCEPTED in part the lawsuit.
AVAILABLE the defendant to assign to the plaintiff within a period of thirty (30) days from the publication of this decision, the use of the disputed lease (warehouse), located on the ground floor of the apartment building in Thessaloniki.
PREACHI the decision, in terms of the above provision, temporarily enforceable.
RECOGNIZEI that the defendant owes the plaintiff the amount of forty-six thousand nine hundred and thirty EUROS and eighty (80) cents (€46930.80), as rent and compensation for use for the months from November 2008 to May 2021 with the legal interest from the following day of the service of the action and until full payment.
CONDEMNING the defendant in part of the plaintiff's court costs, which he sets at the amount of one hundred and fifty (150) €.
JUDGED, decided and published in Thessaloniki on November 11, 2021 in an extraordinary and public meeting in his audience, without the presence of the parties and the attorney of the plaintiff.
Thomas Steph. Summer
MDE lawyer
Min. Doctor of Law, AUTH
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