Loan Receivable Set-Off Against Rent Claims: Maturity Requirements for Compensation

In a dispute concerning the set-off of a loan receivable against rent claims, the court addressed the requirements for valid compensation under the law of obligations, specifically regarding the maturity of the mutual obligations. The key finding was that for a valid set-off, only the claim being used for set-off (the counterclaim, here the loan repayment) must be due, while the primary claim against which set-off is declared (here, the rent claims) only needs to be fulfillable at the time the declaration of set-off is received by the counterparty. Because the fixed monthly rent payments were only fulfillable up to and including the current month when the set-off declaration arrived, the totality of the rent claims was not yet fulfillable, thereby limiting the permissible scope of the set-off at that moment.