A 60 m² apartment in the 16th arrondissement of the capital can be rented for 1 ETH per month.
Another step is being taken in the world of cryptocurrency. Stéphane Boukris, president of Excelsior, a company specialized in recruitment, events and the metaverse, has decided to rent out his apartment in Paris. A 60 m² apartment with a 13 m² terrace, in the 16th arrondissement of the capital. So far nothing special except the rent. He rents it for 1 ether (ETH) per month. Ether is the cryptocurrency linked to the ethereum blockchain.
In addition to the particularly high price, far from the rent control, a 1 ETH currently worth 2,900 euros, a whole series of questions arise. First, is it legal? Is it really possible to pay for accommodation other than in euros? Lawyer Romain Rossi-Landi responds to BFM Immo: “As far as I know, nothing prohibits agreeing on the rent and payment of the rent in cryptocurrency.Article 1728 of the Civil Codeneither article 7 of the law of 6 July 1989 no provision for payment of the rent in euros. There is also case law on the payment of rent in kind (example: work performed by the tenant)”. But he specifies that this must be explicitly stated in the lease.
Find a bailiff
Another problem remains: ETH fluctuates. For example, if this coin is worth 2,900 euros today, it could be worth 4,000 euros in the future. The tenant therefore risks having to pay a fantastic rent. For Stéphane Boukris, the question is easy to solve. “It is possible to pay the rent in advance so as not to be exposed to the risk of trade-in,” he replies. With which Mr Rossi-Landi fully agrees. “It is possible in my opinion to pay 3 years in advance if the parties accept it”. Three years if it is an empty rental property. With a furnished rental, the rental agreement is shorter.
According to Romain Rossi-Landi, the real difficulty for the landlord in the event of non-payment of the rent will be to find a bailiff who agrees to give his tenant an order for payment aimed at the termination clause. Indeed, “it will be necessary to provide a statement in cryptocurrency. Likewise, I do not know if the court can also order the tenant to pay his rent debt in crypto. The most careful thing would be to include in the lease a rent in crypto and if that doesn’t work with the conversion into euros,” he suggests.
Be that as it may, Stéphane Boukris thinks it is completely justified to offer cryptocurrency rentals. If companies are not yet paying their employees in crypto, he says that “many French people currently make their living in cryptos and not in euros”.
