Tenant's notice ending a residential lease (Germany)
Published byDocMuse
This document is in German
The PDF you download is in German — that is the language it has to be filed in, so it is not translated. Everything on this page is here to tell you what it says.
The letter a tenant in Germany uses to end a residential lease. Under § 573c of the German Civil Code (BGB) the tenant's notice period is three months: notice that arrives by the third working day of a month ends the tenancy at the end of the month after next. The letter gives notice to the chosen date, or else to the next possible one, and can invoke the special rights after a rent increase (§ 561 BGB) or a refused sublet (§ 540 BGB). Written form is required (§ 568 BGB): print it and have every tenant sign by hand — by e-mail it is void. In German.
What you fill in
The details the document asks for.
- Tenant
- Tenant's address
- Landlord
- Landlord's postal address (street, then postcode and town on the next line)
- City
- Date
- Address of the property
- Date of the contract
- Who gives notice: the only tenant, or all tenants together (where there are several, all give notice and sign)
- Kind of notice: ordinary, after a rent increase (§ 561 BGB) or after refused permission to sublet (§ 540 BGB)
- Date of termination
- Contact phone
Preview
This document is produced for you. Your answers are typed into it and the finished PDF is yours to keep.
Common questions
- Can a tenant in Germany give notice on a flat by e-mail?
- No. Ending a residential lease requires written form (§ 568(1) of the German Civil Code, BGB): paper, signed by hand by every tenant named in the lease. An e-mail, a fax, a scanned letter or a WhatsApp message is void, and a void notice starts no notice period. A qualified electronic signature can replace the handwritten one (§ 126a BGB), but only if the signed file itself reaches the landlord; paper is safer.
- By when must a tenant's notice reach the landlord in Germany?
- The tenant's notice period is three months, however long the tenancy has lasted. The notice must reach the landlord by the third working day of a month; the tenancy then ends at the end of the month after next (§ 573c(1) BGB). Saturday counts as a working day here (BGH VIII ZR 206/04), Sundays and public holidays do not, and which holidays apply can depend on the federal state. If in doubt, deliver a few days earlier. A notice that arrives late takes effect on the next possible date, which the letter names as a fallback.
- How can a tenant in Germany prove the notice arrived in time?
- What counts is receipt by the landlord, not sending (§ 130 BGB). The safest routes are handing over the signed original against a written receipt, or having a messenger who has read the letter post it and note the day, time and letterbox. The tracking status of an Einwurf-Einschreiben does not prove receipt (BAG 2 AZR 68/24); if you post it, ask for the delivery record. If a representative signs, enclose the original power of attorney, or the landlord may reject the notice (§ 174 BGB).
- When does a tenant in Germany have a special right to give notice?
- After a rent increase to the local comparative rent (§ 558 BGB) or for modernisation (§ 559 BGB), the tenant may give notice until the end of the second month after receiving the increase, to take effect at the end of the month after next; the increase then does not take effect (§ 561 BGB). If the landlord refuses permission to sublet without an important reason concerning the subtenant, the tenant may give extraordinary notice with the statutory period (§ 540(1) second sentence BGB). Both grounds are choices in the letter.
- Can a tenant in Germany leave early by finding a replacement tenant?
- There is no statutory right to do so. Unless the lease has a replacement-tenant clause or the landlord agrees, rent runs until the notice period ends; a replacement can only be offered. Check the lease too: a mutual waiver of notice of up to four years also binds the tenant, and a valid fixed-term lease (§ 575 BGB) cannot be ended early by ordinary notice. The three-month period applies however many years the tenancy has lasted.
How you can sign this document
- Print it and sign by hand. The signature lines in the document are left blank on purpose — sign on them in ink.
- Sign it yourself with a qualified electronic signature. If you already hold a QES — Evrotrust, B-Trust, StampIT, ZealiD or any qualified provider on the EU Trusted List, on a card, a USB token, in a mobile app or in the cloud — our signing guide explains step by step how to sign this exact file without invalidating it. Step-by-step help, and a way to check it worked
DocMuse sells documents, not legal advice. Acceptance always depends on the recipient's rules and your local law.
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