ICICI Bank and other private banks demand rent waiver from their landlords.

It is known that ICICI Bank and other private lenders have reached out to their landlords requesting a rent waiver for the lockdown period. Sources said that considering the disruption caused by COVID-19, ICICI Bank has asked operating offices to obtain a waiver from their landlords as a measure of support for the bank. There are also other private lenders asking for waivers, sources said.

ICICI Bank has about 5,300 branches throughout the country and more than 15,000 ATMs and a substantial percentage of them are on rented premises. Waiver of just a month’s rent will cause many crores to be saved by the Bank. It has spent approximately Rs 1,200 crore in rent, electricity and taxes according to the bank’s annual report.

“If the agreement contains a force majeure clause that calls for waiver of the rent for that period, the tenant will, therefore, have the right to invoke the clause and demand waiver of the rent during that duration,” said Rohit Shetty, a senior lawyer specialized in real estate laws. If the provision does not exist, the parties will have to abide by the terms of the agreement. “If the tenant wishes to renegotiate, they may come out with a proposal, however, it is up to the landlord to consider it or not,” Shetty said.

According to Kunal Moktan, co-founder and CEO of Property Share Capital, a lockdown cannot be considered as a force majeure, particularly while banks operated and used premises for their IT systems which remained operational.