Termination of rent when selling a house?

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If you are renting a house or renting an apartment in an apartment building and the house is sold, this initially has no effect on your tenancy. Because a rental termination is not automatically in the case of a house sale or a house purchase possible.

Buying doesn't break rent.
Buying doesn't break rent.

The German Civil Code (BGB) contains in the section on Tenancy law an iron principle: § 566 BGB says that purchase rent does not break. When a house is sold, the valid rental agreements do not simply become invalid.

No automatic rental cancellation when selling a house

  • When a house is sold, the new owner does not automatically acquire the right to immediately terminate all tenants. Rather, he occurs according to. Section 566 para. 1 BGB into all rights and obligations arising from the existing tenancy, so he becomes the new landlord. A rental termination is therefore not possible automatically.
  • Of course, the buyer may want to pursue different purposes with the property than the previous owner. The fact that he takes over all rights of the previous landlord also means, for example, that he can terminate the contract under the same conditions. This could be the case, for example, if he has a personal need for the apartment or the house can assert, cf. Section 573 para. 2 No. 2 BGB.
  • However, if rented living spaces are for sale, the tenants also have a right of first refusal, cf. Section 577 para. 1 p. 1 BGB. There is an exception to this for obvious reasons, however, if the landlord wants to sell the living space to his own family members, see. Section 577 para. 1 p. 2 BGB.

Know the "social clauses"

  • If you are a tenant of an apartment complex and the apartments have been converted into condominiums, then according to § 577a BGB a cancellation period of three years. Before three years after the transfer of ownership of the apartment or Registration of the new owner in Land register the new landlord cannot terminate you.
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  • In areas where there is a particular lack of living space, this period can be set by a state ordinance in accordance with Section 577a para. 2 BGB can even be extended. This is the case, for example, in NRW, where after the Notice blocking period ordinance (KspVO NRW) some cities have a blocking period of eight years.
  • If you are tenant of a social housing that has been subsidized with public funds, that goes Protection against dismissal usually continues and lasts as long as the apartment is socially bound subject.

A house sale does not initially automatically result in a rental termination. Nevertheless, a change of landlord can also have unpleasant consequences for a tenant in the long term.

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