A termination for personal use usually hits tenants hard, because no one leaves their own home without a good reason. What to do in this situation and what rules apartment owners must follow.
An apartment is more than just a place to sleep. Here, at their home, tenants know the neighbors and the cashiers at the supermarket, are in the sports club and know which restaurants serve the best food on the weekend. Children attend a school or kindergarten near where they have made friends.
When a notice of termination for personal use lands in the mailbox, there is great desperation: tenants have to give up their home, pay for an expensive move and find a new place to live. That’s not easy: there is a lack of almost two million affordable apartments in large cities, reported in 2023. But sometimes tenants can defend themselves and stay within their beloved four walls. Termination is not always legal.
Cancellation for personal use only for close relatives
Landlords are allowed to register their own use if they want to use the apartment for themselves or close relatives. The latter include spouses, registered life partners, parents, grandparents, parents-in-law, children, stepchildren, siblings, grandchildren, nieces and nephews. Registered partners or their children, household helpers or foster children who live in the landlord’s household can also be a reason for termination. However, distant relatives such as uncles, aunts, cousins as well as divorced spouses and life partners are not subject to this regulation. If the apartment owners are legal entities – such as stock corporations or GmbHs – they are also not allowed to terminate the contract for their own purposes.
The landlord must specify in the termination letter exactly who he would like to register his own use for – otherwise the termination is invalid. This can be a sentence like “my son John Doe is moving into the apartment with his friend.” He then has to explain why he needs this particular apartment. Permissible reasons include, for example, that the apartment is closer to work or that living conditions have changed, i.e. the landlord needs a larger apartment because he wants to move in with a partner. Financial losses because the landlord’s current apartment is more expensive than his property is also a valid reason. However, using the apartment as a study or as a temporary residence while your own residence is being renovated does not count.
In addition, the landlord must observe the statutory notice periods: for a rental period of up to five years this is three months, between five and eight years it is six months and nine months beyond that.
Cash in afterwards
After the tenant moves out, the landlord must put his announced plan into action. So he cannot declare personal use for his mother and then let his brother move in. If he doesn’t want to move in and instead wants to rent the apartment out again, he must be able to justify this. Otherwise there will be accusations of fake personal use. The tenant who has moved out can then claim compensation. As a rule, tenants are entitled to the difference between the old and new rent.
People who experience a particular form of stress also have the opportunity to object to termination due to social hardship. For example, if you are sick, pregnant or particularly old, the tenancy will continue until the burden no longer exists. For particularly old people, this can even last until the end of their lives. Difficulties in retraining children, an exam situation or financial difficulties can also cause social hardship. Even if tenants cannot find a new apartment, this can be a reason for such a contradiction. However, this only applies as long as you cannot find a reasonable comparable apartment, whereby “reasonable” is to be understood broadly. In metropolitan areas, the new residence can also be significantly smaller and more expensive.
Tenants must express an objection at least two months before the end of the tenancy. A court then commissions an expert report and then determines whether social hardship exists in the specific case.
If tenants are unsure whether a termination is legal or whether they should defend themselves with an objection due to social hardship, they can get help from a tenants’ association. Apart from that, there are numerous lawyers who specialize in tenancy law and are a good option, especially if you have existing legal protection insurance.
Source: Stern
