Clearance of the apartment – when it is possible and how to do it correctly

Quick overview:

• You can only vacate the apartment yourself if the lease is demonstrably terminated and you have taken possession of the apartment (e.g. returned keys).
• In all other cases – typically with a non-communicating tenant or former owner – you must file an eviction action under the Civil Code.
• Unauthorised eviction can be considered an interference with rights and lead to damages.

Not sure if you can legally vacate the apartment? Consult our lawyer.

What is involved in evicting an apartment

Evicting an apartment varies from case to case. But it usually involves the following steps:

1. Furniture removal – this involves taking out and disposing of all the furniture in the house, including sofas, chairs, tables, beds and wardrobes.
2. Appliance disposal – kitchen and other appliances such as refrigerators, washing machines, ovens and microwaves must be removed and properly disposed of or recycled.
3. Disposal of personal items – former residents often leave behind many personal items such as clothing, toiletries, etc., which also need to be removed from the home.
4. Disposal of electronics – such as televisions, computers or audio equipment.
5. Garbage removal – the apartment may also be clogged with trash that needs to be disposed of.
6. Removal of carpets and floors – in extreme cases (such as a late detected death of an occupant), carpets and floors that pose a health risk to future occupants also need to be removed.
7. Cleaning – if the vacating of the flat is carried out by a cleaning service, this often includes a final cleaning or, for example, extermination if necessary.
8. Recycling – some cleaning services also provide recycling or donation of cleared items.

Clearance of the deceased’s apartment

You may encounter eviction in the first instance if the occupant of the flat has died. Only the heirs have the right to evict the apartment, and only after the conclusion of the inheritance proceedings. Vacating the apartment before the succession proceedings are possible only if the heirs agree on it. However, certain perishable items (such as food in the fridge) can be vacated immediately.

You can usually manage the clearance of such a flat yourself. An exception is the case of vacating an apartment after a death, where the deceased person was discovered after a long time and the apartment became contaminated. In this case, not only all contaminated equipment must be disposed of, but also, depending on the intensity of the infestation, the floors and upper layers of the walls must be removed. Such an apartment often also needs thorough disinfection and disinsection, for which a professional cleaning company should be called in.

Cleaning an apartment in insolvency

You may also encounter apartment clearance when buying an apartment in insolvency. This can occur if the owner of the apartment is unable to pay his debts. The insolvency trustee is then in charge of selling such a flat. The insolvency practitioner may offer the property for sale directly, but more often by public auction.

The purchase of such an apartment carries the risk of not being vacated. In order to vacate the auctioned property, you then need to file a lawsuit in court to have the property vacated. You can read how to do this below in this article.

Practical example:

In one of our cases, a client bought a flat at a bankruptcy auction with the original owner still living there. The client assumed that once the title was reassigned, he could simply take possession of the apartment and start clearing it out. However, when he attempted to evict the former owner on his own, the situation quickly escalated and he was threatened with a lawsuit for unlawful interference with the right of occupancy.

In the end, we recommended the standard legal course of action – filing a lawsuit to evict the property. The court granted the client’s request and gave the former owner a deadline to evict. Because he failed to comply, an eviction by foreclosure ensued.

In practice, similar situations occur quite often. The most common mistake of buyers is that they underestimate the legal regime of the use of the apartment after the auction and try to solve the situation themselves. However, by doing so, they may significantly complicate their position and prolong the whole process.

Clearing the apartment after the tenant

Although the above situations are not uncommon, there is another situation that occurs very often and can also be very problematic. That situation is vacating the apartment after the tenancy has ended.

Ideally, the termination of the lease will take place in such a way that the tenant will completely vacate the apartment himself and then hand over the vacated apartment to the landlord on the day of termination of the lease, expiry of the notice period or on a pre-agreed date. This is done by handing over the keys and the landlord can freely enter the apartment again at that time.

In practice, it is at this stage that most disputes arise. If you are not sure whether the tenancy has actually ended, we recommend that you first legally assess the situation. Because if you get it wrong, you may have to pay damages to the tenant.

However, the ideal situation may not always arise and it may happen that the tenant hands over the apartment uncleared, the tenant dies without heirs or, in an even worse case, the tenant stops paying rent and disappears before the end of the tenancy, leaving behind an uncleared apartment. How does it work in these cases?

• The tenant hands over the apartment uncleared: if the apartment has been officially handed over (handing over the keys), then the landlord can freely enter the apartment, even if it is uncleared.
• Tenant dies without heirs: If the tenant dies without heirs, the tenancy is terminated after 6 months. The landlord then has the option of evicting the apartment at his own expense and selling off the belongings. If heirs eventually appear, the landlord can claim the costs of eviction from them.
• The tenant does not pay and disappears before the end of the tenancy: In this case, you need to wait until the presumption that the tenancy is terminated is met. This is satisfied if the tenant leaves the flat in such a way that the tenancy can be deemed to have ended without any doubt. This is therefore, in the case of non-payment of rent, after four months from the time of the first unpaid rent. Failure to pay the rent for three months shall be deemed to be a breach of the tenant’s obligation. At this point, the landlord can therefore give notice to the tenant and thereafter the one-month period for handing over the flat still runs.

Request for eviction of the apartment

How to proceed correctly:

• Contact the tenant and ask them to vacate.
• Send a pre-action notice.
• Document the condition of the apartment (photo, video).
• Prepare evidence of termination of tenancy.
• Consider filing a lawsuit.

Suit to evict the apartment

We have mentioned the eviction action in several situations. One of the most common reasons for filing this lawsuit will be an uncooperative tenant or former owner of the auctioned property.

The New Civil Code (NCL) regulates the eviction of a tenant so that the handing over of the keys is sufficient to officially hand over the apartment and therefore the eviction of the apartment is possible. At the same time, however, the NCC does not oblige the tenant to vacate the apartment. Therefore, if the former tenant leaves the apartment full of his belongings after the end of the lease, an action for eviction must be brought.

In this case, the landlord must prove to the court that the lease has been terminated. The tenant is obliged to pay rent until the court makes a decision and, after the decision, is given a time limit (usually 15 days) to vacate the flat. If the former tenant still fails to vacate the apartment, the next possible step is eviction by vacating the property.

The filing of the lawsuit has clear rules and mistakes in the petition often result in delays of several months. We will draft an eviction action for you so that it will stand up in court and not drag on unnecessarily.

Similar rules apply to former owners of property lost in insolvency. In the event that the ownership rights are reassigned (most often after the property is auctioned) but the former owners refuse to move out, the eviction action comes up again.

The cost of evicting the apartment

As you now know, the cost of eviction can be borne by various parties and often has to be claimed in court. The question remains, however, what the cost of vacating the apartment will be if a special cleaning company is put in charge of it.

Prices for clearing out an apartment vary widely. Basements, for example, can be cleaned out for a few hundred crowns, small flats can be cleaned out for several thousand, and cleaning out the flat of a deceased person whose body has been in the flat for a long time can cost tens of thousands. The main factor in determining the price is:

• Size of the property: the size of the property and the number of items that need to be taken away and cleaned will affect the cost most significantly.
• Volume and type of items: The quantity and type of items to be cleared also affects the cost. If there are many bulky or heavy items in the home, more labor may be required and special equipment may need to be involved.
• Accessibility: easy access to the property is essential. If the property is difficult to access or if there are restrictions on removal vehicles, this may require additional effort and time, contributing to higher costs.
• Condition of items: the condition of items to be removed or cleaned is another important factor. If there are items that require special handling or disposal due to hazardous materials (e.g., clearing out an apartment after a dead body), this will greatly increase costs.
• Local market rates: market rates for property clearance services in a particular area also affect prices. Prices will vary depending on demand, competition and local economic factors.

Summary

Clearing out an apartment can include removal of furniture, appliances, personal belongings, electronics and trash, as well as cleaning, disinfecting and recycling. It most often occurs after the death of a tenant, the purchase of a property in insolvency or when a tenancy ends. After the death of the occupant, only the heirs can vacate the apartment and only after the inheritance proceedings have been completed. In insolvency cases, the new owner must file an eviction action. After the tenant, the apartment can be vacated if the lease is completely terminated and the keys have been returned. If the tenant disappears, the tenancy ends after four months of non-payment and one month’s notice.

It is advisable to ask the tenant to vacate first and document everything. If he or she does not respond, a lawsuit should be filed and, if necessary, eviction should be sought. Prices for eviction vary considerably – from a few hundred per basement to tens of thousands in extreme cases. The price depends on the size of the apartment, the number and type of items, their condition, the accessibility of the property and local rates.