Rent protection protects tenants from unilateral termination of rental agreements by landlords or property owners. For hospita dorms, there is partial rent protection. The rent never ends without any action, even if the agreed upon period has expired or if the house has been sold. The landlord needs to have a valid reason to cancel the rent. If you decide to agree while there is no valid reason, the agreement will be cancelled.
If the landlord cancels while you don’t agree, the agreement stays. He will need to go to court to arrange this. The judge decides whether you will have to leave according to the laws. These reasons need to be in the book of civil laws. If you want to terminate your contract, you will have a minimum time of notice of one payment term, which has a minimum of 1 and maximum of 3 months.
On the side of the landlord, this notice of leave is three months plus one month extra for each year you have rented the room, to a maximum of six months.
Termination of rent in a dorm of a student house
If you rent a room, the landlord may only terminate on grounds of reasons stated in the law, which are usually:
- You did not behave as a decent tenant (not pay the rent or caused big disturbances)
- Temporary agreement
- The landlord is in dire need to use the room for his own sake. If you do not agree, write this in a signed letter whilst keeping a copy. The landlord needs to ask the judge and will weigh the stated reasons and will check with interests are the most important.
- You have a campus contract and are no student anymore. The landlord can terminate rent after three months of request for a subscription at an educational institute.
- The tenant declines a reasonable offer for an adapted agreement. The adaption cannot be (mainly) regarding renting fee or advances, these are subject to different rules.
- The landlord wants to repurpose the house according to the municipal destination plan.
Sale of a house does not terminate rent. The purchase of the property includes the current tenants. Any agreements made before are exactly the same, and within 3 years of purchase, the new landlord cannot terminate rent on grounds of being in dire need of usage of the space.
Termination of rent when living in house of landlord (hospita)
Usually a landlord cannot terminate the rent, except for when renting in hospita. A hospita or hospes is someone who lets a room in property where he or she resides as well. In the first nine months, the landlord can terminate rent without any stated reason. With three months’ notice of leave, the tenant can live in the house for one year. In this trial time, the landlord must terminate in a written statement, you will need to leave within three months. Even if you disagree, the agreement terminates without a judge intervening. After the nine months, normal rent protection is in place with one exception. The landlord can cancel with one extra reason as opposed to normal rent protection: If his interests of terminating weigh more than the interests of the tenant. This will not happen quickly, but makes it easier to terminate. If your landlord rents the property and his landlord (main landlord) terminates the agreement, the main landlord is not obliged to keep you as tenant.
Termination of a temporary contract
A temporary contract is for a certain period of time. It is frequently misunderstood that this means you necessarily need to leave the room after this period. This actually depends on the reason of temporary rent. For the following reasons you will always need to leave:
- The landlord did not live or let the property before and will live in the property after the period ends.
- You are subletting and this person is going to live in the property again after the period ends.
- The landlord agreed with the previous tenant that he will rent again after your contract period ends.
If one of these prerequisites has not been met, there is no case of temporary rent. You have rent protections rights and you can exert your rights to prevent leaving your room if you don’t want to.
Should you live in a property which is bound to be demolished or renovated, and has been rented under auspices of the empty residence law, the termination date of the contract should be stated in your contract, which is the day where you should leave the room. Ask your landlord for a proof of permission of the municipality to rent under auspices of the empty residence law.