Extending an Apartment Lease: When Does Automatic Renewal Take Effect?

Quick Overview

• A fixed-term lease typically ends upon the expiration of the agreed-upon term.
• The landlord and tenant may agree to extend the apartment lease before it expires, for example, by means of a written amendment.
• Under the Civil Code, the lease may be automatically extended if the tenant continues to occupy the apartment for at least three months after the lease expires and the landlord does not request in writing during that time that the tenant vacate the apartment.
• The lease is then renewed for the same period as before, but for no more than two years.
• The parties may exclude automatic renewal of the lease in the agreement or modify it otherwise.

Are you unsure whether your lease has been automatically extended, or do you want to properly address its renewal in the contract? Have your lease agreement or its amendment reviewed by an attorney.

From legal practice: When can a lease be automatically renewed?

Mr. Rostislav rented out a single-family home and always entered into a lease with the tenant for only one year. However, he now needs the house for his son, so he didn’t want to renew the lease for the final term and let the contract “run its course.” Since he is a gentle man, he kindly allowed the tenant to continue living in the house even after the official end of the lease term—“until he finds something else.” The tenant promised to move out within a month, then within two, but still didn’t make any move to leave. As soon as three months had passed, he informed Mr. Rostislav that the lease had been extended by law and that he was out of luck because he was staying in the house.

Mr. Rostislav was “tearing his hair out.” He hadn’t anticipated anything like this at all. He turned to us for advice on how to resolve such a situation. A new Civil Code has been in effect since 2014. It’s true that it allows for the renewal of a lease, which the previous Civil Code did not permit.

Therefore, it is indeed true that if the tenant continues to occupy the apartment or house for at least three months after the date the lease was supposed to end, and the landlord does not ask the tenant to vacate the apartment during that time, the lease is automatically renewed for the same term as before, but for no more than two years.

Mr. Rostislav did say that he had asked the tenant to vacate the apartment, and we had no reason not to believe him. Unfortunately for him, however, his requests were always made only verbally or by phone. He had no record of them, no delivery receipt, and not even an email. According to the law, however, such a request must be in writing (ideally by letter with a return receipt).

Even so, all was not lost. We still advised Mr. Rostislav on how to get rid of the troublesome tenant. If a landlord needs the home for his family, he can terminate the lease with three months’ notice. So while the outcome wasn’t entirely ideal, it was at least satisfactory.

However, automatic renewal can be explicitly excluded in the lease agreement. That is therefore the best course of action if you want to avoid such a situation. It means that when the lease expires, it will not be automatically renewed, and you won’t have to worry about the tenant unintentionally extending their stay. An accessible attorney always recommends including a clause to exclude automatic renewal in the lease agreement, so you don’t have to stress about making a mistake at the end of the tenancy.

Do you want to avoid unnecessary mistakes when drawing up a lease agreement for an apartment? We’d be happy to prepare a customized contract for you.

Is the landlord required to find replacement housing for the tenant if the lease is not renewed?

For several years now, the law has not guaranteed tenants housing “at any cost.” It is no longer paternalistic and does not include the option of granting replacement housing upon the termination of a lease—you will not find it anywhere in the new legislation.

Of course, the section in which replacement housing was defined by law has also been removed. This means that the law no longer defines what constitutes replacement housing or replacement accommodations. The enforcement of an eviction order is now carried out not by relocating the tenant to temporary shelter, but simply by evicting the person and removing their belongings.

Furthermore, the law will no longer address what type or form of replacement housing a person is entitled to in a given case, nor whether there may be grounds later to change the replacement housing that has been granted. If the landlord does not agree to extend the lease, the landlord does not even have to address where the tenant will live thereafter.

Tip for 2026: If the lease has ended, the tenant no longer has the right to use the apartment, and yet fails to vacate it, an eviction order may also be considered, provided the legal conditions are met. However, before filing a lawsuit, it is important to issue a verifiable written demand for the tenant to vacate.

Are you curious about the potential pitfalls of entering into a lease agreement? You can read about them in this article. Difficulties can also arise when terminating a lease. You can read about what this might look like in practice here.

Summary

A lease for an apartment may be extended by agreement between the tenant and the landlord, but under certain circumstances, it may also be extended automatically. If the tenant continues to occupy the apartment for at least three months after the lease expires and the landlord does not request in writing that the tenant vacate the premises during this period, the lease is renewed under the Civil Code for the originally agreed-upon term, up to a maximum of two years. However, the parties may stipulate different terms for the automatic renewal of the lease agreement in the contract or exclude it entirely. A landlord who does not wish to continue the lease should therefore not rely on a verbal agreement and should have a written notice as well as proof of its delivery.