Is your lease with your tenant ending? How long after the end of the lease does the tenant have to vacate the apartment? When can you enter the apartment yourself and what can be done if the tenant refuses to vacate?
Is your lease with your tenant ending? How long after the end of the lease does the tenant have to vacate the apartment? When can you enter the apartment yourself and what can be done if the tenant refuses to vacate?
The ideal, and it has to be said the most common, scenario is that the tenant vacates and surrenders the property on time and voluntarily. By law, the tenant is obliged to surrender the apartment, house or other rented property to the landlord on the day the tenancy ends. If the tenancy ends by notice (whether for a fixed-term or an open-ended contract), this date is after the expiry of the notice period. If the tenant has breached his/her obligations in a particularly gross manner, the landlord has the right to terminate the tenancy without notice, in which case the tenant must surrender the apartment within one month of the end of the tenancy. However, the landlord may also agree with the tenant on a different date for handing over the apartment. This is typically done at the end of the lease by agreement or expiry of the term.
The termination and handover of the apartment can take place in a number of different ways, but from the point of view of the Civil Code, it is quite sufficient if you, as the landlord, get back your keys to the apartment and nothing prevents you from using it. For example, dropping the keys in a mailbox or, by agreement, leaving the keys in the apartment for which you have spare keys, is also considered to be handing them over. After you have handed over the keys, you (as the landlord) no longer have to worry about entering the apartment, even if it has not been cleaned. There is no violation of your freedom of the home. The handover has taken place and it is therefore again your full right.
It is practical to draw up a handover protocol (similar to the one you sign at the start of a tenancy) when you end your tenancy. If you are planning to do this, it is practical to have it written into your tenancy agreement. The protocol can serve both as evidence of the termination of the tenancy and as a basis for any compensation to the landlord. The protocol will also provide the tenant with proof of the utility balances as of the date of handover, which is important for the final billing that the landlord will make, sometimes months after handover, depending on the billing dates from the utility and water suppliers.
Tip: We have discussed the handover protocol, all its requirements and its important role in proving compensation in our separate article.
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Unfortunately, not all tenants are trouble-free and from time to time we are contacted by clueless landlords saying that the tenant has disappeared to an unknown destination, is not paying rent and is clearly not staying in the apartment. What can be done in such a situation?
There are generally two ways:
On the other hand, an apartment cannot be deemed to have been abandoned simply because the tenant is absent for a longer period of time – for example, if he or she goes on a placement or holiday for several months, stays temporarily with a partner, etc. In such a case, the apartment may still have the character of his/her dwelling even if he/she is not physically there often. If, for example, bedbugs or other insects are found in the apartment during that time, this carries obligations for both the tenant and the landlord, as you can read in one of our articles.
If there are circumstances that reasonably and beyond doubt indicate that the tenant has actually abandoned the apartment (not staying there for a long time, not paying rent, not collecting mail, not responding to calls, not being contactable, etc.) and the lease has already legally ended, it can be assumed in practice that the apartment has been surrendered by the tenant and the owner is entitled to use and dispose of it again.
At the same time, however, it must be stressed that this is a borderline situation and the specific action of the landlord may (especially in a later dispute with the tenant) be assessed as an illegal eviction or a breach of the freedom of the home if it subsequently turns out that the apartment was not abandoned or that the landlord acted unreasonably. It is therefore always advisable to consult a solicitor before any “taking” of the flat.
Where there is no certainty that the flat is genuinely abandoned, or where there are a large number of the tenant’s personal belongings or items of higher value left in the flat, it is usually safer to seek eviction by way of a court order.
If the apartment appears legally and factually to be genuinely abandoned, the lease has ended and the landlord decides to take over the apartment after consulting a lawyer, it is advisable to proceed with the utmost caution:
Again, in the event of any doubt as to whether the apartment is actually abandoned or whether the procedure described above is appropriate, the standard route – an action for eviction and its subsequent enforcement by a bailiff – is preferable. By doing so, the landlord significantly reduces the risk of its action being retrospectively assessed as unlawful.
Do you know what to do as a landlord if a tenant doesn’t pay and doesn’t want to move out? How do you go about agreeing to terminate the lease of non-residential premises? We have answered these and other questions in our article on ending a lease.
We have described above the situation where the apartment is handed over voluntarily or can be considered abandoned. Realistically, however, there may be a situation where the tenant should have vacated the apartment and handed it over, but failed to do so. At the same time, however, there is no situation where the tenant has abandoned the apartment and the landlord could legally go there.
In this stalemate, the law provides that the tenant is in unauthorised occupation of the property and that there is no alternative but to bring an action for the eviction of the flat (house or land). It is then necessary to prove in court that there has been a valid termination of the lease and the tenant has breached his obligation to vacate the apartment. If the court decides along these lines, it will then order the tenant to vacate the apartment within 15 days of the decision to vacate, or a longer period depending on the circumstances. However, until the court makes its decision, the tenant is obliged to pay the rent. The landlord must then actually wait to continue renting and evicting.
A similar situation can also arise if the property is auctioned off in an involuntary foreclosure auction and the original owner refuses to move out.
Without a doubt, the most extreme way to say goodbye to a tenant is to evict the property. This is a form of non-monetary execution that you can resort to if you have a court order requiring the tenant to vacate the apartment, house or other property. It is therefore a so-called writ of execution.
According to the opinion of the Supreme Administrative Court, it is a form of enforcement of a decision that very sensitively interferes with the privacy and property of the obligors. These rights may be restricted only in cases and in the manner provided for by law. Even here, the severity of such a procedure is mitigated by law.
The bailiff first sends the debtor (i.e. the tenant who is occupying the apartment illegally) a summons to voluntarily comply with the obligation, setting a deadline of 30 days to vacate the property and its possessions and to pay the deposit for the costs of the execution.
It then sets a date for the eviction, of which it notifies the debtor, the authorised person (i.e. the owner of the immovable property) and the competent authority of the municipality in whose district the immovable property to be evicted is located. The date must be set at least 15 days before the actual eviction. During this period, the bailiff should carry out a local inquiry to ensure that the execution continues to run smoothly. In particular, he should ascertain:
whether the debtor is staying in the property and is therefore likely to be present at the eviction (e.g. by asking neighbours, serving documents),
The progress of the foreclosure should be documented by video recording and an eviction report should also be taken at the conclusion.
If the debtor does not take possession of the goods on the spot, they are subsequently placed in safekeeping and the bailiff notifies the owner of their whereabouts. If the stored items are not collected by the debtor within six months of the date on which they were stored, they shall be sold. The proceeds of the sale shall be paid by the bailiff to the debtor after deducting the costs of safekeeping and the costs of sale.
On termination of a tenancy, it is ideal if the tenant voluntarily vacates the property and surrenders it to the landlord. If he or she fails to do so, the landlord may proceed with legal action, such as filing a lawsuit to vacate the property. In extreme cases, an eviction by eviction is carried out on the basis of a court order and with the assistance of a bailiff. A key document in the handover of an apartment is the handover report, which can serve as evidence of the condition of the property. If the tenant leaves the property without handing over the keys, it can be considered abandoned and the landlord can vacate it. Following the correct legal procedure for vacating the property helps to avoid conflicts and ensure a smooth end to the tenancy.
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Ondřej is the attorney who came up with the idea of providing legal services online. He's been earning his living through legal services for more than 10 years. He especially likes to help clients who may have given up hope in solving their legal issues at work, for example with real estate transfers or copyright licenses.
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