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Notice period ?
We signed a 1 year contract with our landlord in Dec. 2010 , with a 1 month notice period applicable to both parties.. However, we have stayed on in this appartment until now without any extensions/amendments to the contract. My questions are:
i) What is the legal notice period we need to provide our landlord should we decide to leave?
ii)What is the legal notice period our landlord needs to provide us should he wish us to leave?
Many thanks in advance for sharing your experiences/expertise in this matter.
Your contract has automatically been converted to a nine-year contract which runs until December 2019. If you want to leave, you have to give the standard notice of three full calendar months. I.e. if you for example would give notice today, you would be liable for the rent of June, July and August. As you have stayed in the apartment for more than three years, no penalties are due.
Regarding your landlord, it's more complex as there are several options.
- he can give you notice at any time, with a notice period of a six full calendar months, if he wants to move in himself, or if he moves in a close relative (the law has a clear list on who is considered a close relative)
- he can give you notice a minimum of six months before the end of each three-year period of the contract if he intends to carry out major renovations. The cost of the renovations must be equivalent to at least three year's rent
- or he can give you notice before the end of the nine-year period, with a notice period of a minimum of six months. He does not need to state any reasons.
The first response gives the strict legal situation.
However it may be that the contract which you signed includes alternatives. If so, providing such alternatives are not illegal, whatever is included in the contract will apply. Your first thing to do is to read your contract in detail.
Secondly your landlord might be quite happy to stick with the one month notice even though, legally, he could insist on 3 months. All you can do is ask him.
1) 3 CLEAR calendar months notice (not the same at all as 3 months!),
2) registered letter is sufficient, you can also deliver the notice to the landlord personally getting him/her to endorse a copy as having been received on the date concerned,
3) you (as opposed to the landlord) can give notice at any time and, given that you have been in occupation for more than 3 years, there are no penalties provided that the 3 clear calendar months notice is given.
