When can I terminate a tenant?

The most common myth is that as a landlord, I can evict a tenant from my apartment with three months’ notice based on a lease agreement written in this way.

Error.

You cannot terminate a tenant’s contract for either a fixed term or an indefinite term without any legal reason.

The reasons for termination and the deadlines cannot be agreed upon in the lease agreement at your own discretion, even if the tenant signs the agreement for you. The legal reasons and deadlines for termination are strictly governed by the Civil Code and any agreement that would shorten the Tenant’s rights is disregarded according to Section 2235 .

The tenant or lessee is protected by law as the weaker party, his side cannot be weakened, but his rights can be strengthened. In translation, this means that all the benefits that you, as a landlord, write into the lease agreement, such as the ability to give the tenant notice without giving reasons, prohibiting pets, smoking, permanent residence, not returning the deposit with interest, are invalid and therefore unenforceable agreements.

On the other hand, you can strengthen the tenant’s rights in the lease agreement. You can allow him to terminate the lease even for reasons other than legal ones, you can allow him to shorten the notice period, but you cannot give yourself such privileges. If you both understand each other, there is nothing stopping you from reaching a written agreement.

The only possible legal reasons for a tenant’s termination are mostly based on the other party’s misconduct and are the following reasons described in the article:

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A RENTAL FOR A DEFINITE OR INDEFINITE PERIOD CAN BE TERMINATED BY THE LESSOR for the following reasons:

• You cannot dismiss without giving reasons!
• The landlord may terminate a lease for an indefinite period within a three-month notice period Section 2288 if
  • if the tenant grossly violates his obligation arising from the lease. FOR EXAMPLE:The tenant subleased the apartment without the landlord’s consent (when renting the entire apartment) or without the landlord’s knowledge (when subleasing part of the apartment, the tenant uses the remaining part),
    • The tenant fails to notify an increase in the number of people in the property,
    • There are more people living in the apartment than the size of the apartment allows,
    • The tenant repeatedly neglects routine maintenance of the apartment,
    • The tenant did not notify the landlord of the need for immediate repairs,
    • The tenant made construction modifications to the apartment without the landlord’s consent,
    • The tenant has not paid part of the security deposit (so-called deposit),
    • The tenant does not allow the landlord to inspect the apartment,
    • The tenant did not allow the landlord to carry out repairs and maintenance of the apartment.
• if the tenant is convicted of an intentional crime committed against the landlord or a member of his household or a person who lives in the house where the tenant’s apartment is located, or against someone else’s property located in this house,
• if the apartment is to be vacated because it is necessary, for reasons of public interest, to dispose of the apartment or the house in which the apartment is located in such a way that it will not be possible to use the apartment at all, or
• if there is another similarly serious reason for terminating the lease. The seriousness of such a reason for termination must be similar to the seriousness of the reasons for termination listed above, the reason must be stated in the contract, if the tenant does not agree, he can seek a declaration of invalidity of the termination in court.
• If the tenant violates his obligation in a particularly serious manner , Section 2291, the landlord has the right to terminate the lease without notice and demand that the tenant hand over the apartment without undue delay, but no later than one month after the end of the lease.
  • The tenant violates his obligation in a particularly serious manner, in particular if he has not paid the rent and service costs for a period of at least three months,
  • if it causes serious or irreparable damage to the apartment or house
  • if it otherwise causes serious damage or inconvenience to the landlord or the people living in the house
  • if he/she uses the apartment illegally in a different way or for a different purpose than agreed.

A RENTAL FOR AN INDEFINITE PERIOD CAN BE TERMINATED BY THE LESSOR for the following reasons:

• the apartment is to be used by the landlord, or his/her spouse, who intends to leave the family household and a petition for divorce has been filed, or the marriage has already been dissolved
• the landlord needs an apartment for his relative or for his spouse’s relative in the direct line or in the collateral line in the second degree. If the landlord gave such notice, but did not use the apartment in this way within 1 month of the tenant’s vacating it, then he would have to re-rent the apartment to the tenant or compensate him for the damage. The period of time during which the necessary renovations of the apartment will be carried out will not be included in the one-month period, if the renovations were started no later than two weeks after the apartment was vacated and if they are continued properly.

ATTENTION:

If the landlord does not state in the notice what he considers to be a particularly serious or gross violation of the tenant’s obligation, or if he does not call on the tenant to eliminate his/her problematic behavior or eliminate the illegal situation within a reasonable time before delivering the notice, the notice will not be taken into account.

HOW TO SUBMIT A TERMINATION TO MAKE IT VALID:

It must be submitted in writing and must be delivered to the other party to the contract . Classically, you send the notice of termination to the address specified in the contract with a delivery note and by registered mail. You will not damage anything if you also send a copy by email or data box. Of course, the fiction of delivery or the § 573 presumption of arrival time can also work, in which case it is recommended to add information to the letter, put it in the mailbox and not return it.

You can also have the other party sign the acceptance of the statement/document or have witnesses that the person in question was not willing to accept and sign the statement. Personally, I would have easily filmed the situation on my mobile phone.

The notice period begins to run from the following month, or rather from the first day of the calendar month following the month in which the notice was delivered to the other party. So if it was delivered in May, the notice period begins to run from June 1st.

ATTENTION:

In order for you as a landlord to terminate a tenant for gross breach of contract, you must first call on the tenant in writing to stop his harmful behavior and inform him that he is at risk of termination. This warning must be given. If he does not take appropriate steps even after the call, or if his harmful behavior is repeated, termination may follow. In the notice you receive, you must state the reason for the termination. For example: Although I repeatedly called on you on X to stop harmful behavior X, you did not correct this behavior / you continued to repeat it, for this reason, in connection with §xxxx of the Civil Code, I am terminating the lease agreement dated X.

ATTENTION:

The validity of a notice of termination by the landlord is conditional on the tenant being informed of his right to object to the notice and to request a review of the legality of the notice by a court. If the landlord fails to do so, the notice of termination of the apartment lease is invalid.

Bc. Jan Holický, MBA.

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