Your landlord terminated your rental contract?

When can a landlord cancel my contract?

Firstly, it should be noted that tenants in Germany are well-protected by the law. This includes protection against arbitrary cancellation notices and unauthorized rent increases.

A landlord can only terminate the contract if there is legitimate cause to (§ 573 Abs. 1 Satz 1 BGB). The following three reasons may be valid (§ 573 Abs. 2 BGB):

Personal use “Eigenbedarf”: The landlord wants the apartment for themselves, their family or members of their household. A termination for personal needs only works in rare cases. The owner of the flat usually must be a private person and not a company. Furthermore, private landlords often make mistakes when it comes to their reasoning or their deadlines.

Violation of contractual obligations: The tenant has considerably violated their contractual obligations. In those cases we are often able to defend the termination as renters frequently violate contractual obligations that are not significant or culpable. Common contract violations include:

• Consistent violation of house rules
• Subleasing of the apartment to third parties without the consent or knowledge of the landlord- e.g. via Airbnb
• Delayed payment of rent
• Operation of a non-permitted, externally recognizable business
• Keeping a pet despite an existing, legal prohibition
• Multiple disturbances of domestic peace
• Rental property intentionally damaged or neglected

Appropriate commercial use: Your contract is obstructing the landlord from properly financially utilizing the property. In that case the landlord has to provide comprehensive evidence. Many times this reason for termination is only an excuse or not proven adequately.

How much does the service cost?

First and foremost: you only pay if we’re successful, i.e. we were able to reverse the termination of your rental contract or receive the disputed amount in compensation for an unlawful termination. We will handle the entire process for you. In the first case, our contingency fee amounts to one month’s basic rent (inclusive of VAT), in the latter the fee is one third of the corresponding sum.

How promising is defending a termination?

As the law differs from case to case we cannot make a universal statement on this. If we expect slim chances of success we will of course inform you about that. We only send you our offer on defending the termination or demanding a compensation if we have a good chance of success.

How long does the procedure take?

Due to the specifics of each case, it’s hard to estimate how long cases take to be solved. Depending on how quickly your landlord your or housing management take to react, a case can take anywhere from a few days to a longer period of time. We obviously try to minimise the duration of the procedure.

Will wenigermiete.de represent me in court as well?

Yes. If an out-of-court settlement is impossible to achieve and we believe your chances for winning in court are promising, we will lodge a complaint in court. Of course, we cover all court expenses.

When do we contact your landlord?

We only contact your landlord after you have mandated us, uploaded your complete rental contract as well as the notification of the contract termination, and we have deemed that you have a case.