Anyone who moves into a property concludes a rental agreement with the landlord. In most cases, this is an open-ended rental agreement agreed in writing. Standardized and comprehensive contract drafts, so-called form rental agreements, are offered, for example, by brokers, homeowners' and landowners' associations or publishers. Many of the contract clauses they contain are often superfluous or ineffective. Likewise, some clauses worsen tenants' rights. An effective rental agreement contains information about who the tenant and landlord are, as well as the name of the residential unit. Likewise, the rent and the date of commencement of the tenancy must be specified.
While an open-ended contract is concluded for an indefinite period, it is also possible to draw up a so-called qualified time lease. This sets a specific date for the end of the lease. In addition, a temporary rental agreement concluded after August 31, 2001 must contain a reason for a fixed term. From a legal point of view, there are three reasons for which a fixed-term tenancy is justified: own need, use as official housing or planned conversion or demolition work so that the living space can no longer be used as housing. Only if the reason for the fixed-term stated in the contract remains valid at the end of the contractual relationship is the temporary rental agreement valid.
Likewise, the landlord has no possibility of changing the reason for the time limit within a temporary rental agreement. If, for example, he has registered his own needs, he cannot let his employees move into the apartment at the end of the relationship. A fixed-term rental agreement with details of the start and end of the agreement and a valid reason for the fixed term cannot be terminated during the term. The only exception is termination without notice. In the case of old temporary contracts concluded before September 2001, it was not necessary to specify a reason for the fixed term. In these contracts, the tenant had the right to express a request for continuation. If the landlord received this request two months before the end of the contract, he could only terminate the tenancy if he had a valid reason, such as own use of the apartment. Other contractual forms in a tenancy are graduated or index-linked leases.
Source: DMB
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