Sublease of a room in a shared flat (Austria)
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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 agreement by which the main tenant of a flat in Austria sublets a room in the shared flat: the room and shared use of kitchen and bathroom, rent with a flat-rate charge for costs, the deposit under § 16b of the Austrian Tenancy Act (MRG), house rules and notice. It asks how far the MRG applies, because the subtenant's protection turns on it: under full or partial application the main tenant too can end the sublease only through the court, with the ground of § 30 Abs 2 Z 12 MRG, and under full application the sublet rent is capped (§ 26 MRG). Open-ended or with an end date. In German, to print and sign.
What you fill in
The details the document asks for.
- How far the Austrian Tenancy Act (MRG) applies: in full, in part, or not at all
- Main tenant (sublandlord)
- Main tenant's academic degree (if any)
- Address of the flat (with staircase and door number)
- Subtenant
- Subtenant's academic degree (if any)
- Subtenant's date of birth
- Subtenant's current address
- Head landlord (landlord of the whole flat)
- Permission to sublet: the main lease does not forbid it, or the head landlord has agreed
- What the regime rests on: year of the building permit, public funding, number of units in the building, owner-occupied (condominium) flat
- Austrian Land (federal state) where the flat is
- Description of the room
- Shared areas the tenant may use
- Keys
- Inventory of furnishings
- Start date
- End of the contract (leave empty if it is open-ended)
- Monthly rent for the room and shared use, without costs
- Monthly flat-rate charge for operating costs, heating, electricity and internet
- Monthly charge for the room's furniture (if any)
- Total monthly amount (total rent)
- IBAN
- Deposit
- House rules for living together
- Other terms
- City
- Date
Preview
This document is produced for you. Your answers are typed into it and the finished PDF is yours to keep.
Common questions
- Is a subtenant in a shared flat in Austria protected against notice?
- Under full or partial application of the MRG, yes: the main tenant too can end the sublease only through the court and only for a serious ground (§§ 30, 33 MRG). The main tenant has a ground of their own, though, where continuing the sublease harms their important interests — needing the room for themselves or close relatives, say, or where living together has become unreasonable (§ 30 Abs 2 Z 12 MRG). Where the Act does not apply, as in a building with one or two units, notice needs no reason. If the main lease ends, the head landlord can require the subtenant to leave as well.
- How much may the rent for a room sublet in a shared flat in Austria be?
- Under full application of the MRG, § 26 MRG caps it: for part of a flat the sublet rent may exceed the matching share of the main rent the main tenant pays by at most 50 %. On top come the share of operating costs, a fair charge for furniture let with the room and the main tenant's spending on improvements, as far as it benefits the subtenant. A main tenant who passes on the whole flat for a grossly excessive rent risks notice from their own landlord (§ 30 Abs 2 Z 4 MRG).
- May a main tenant in Austria sublet a room without the landlord's consent?
- It depends on how far the MRG applies and on the main lease. Under full application a ban in the main lease binds only where there is a serious reason against the sublet — the whole flat is passed on, the sublet rent is grossly excessive, or more people move in than the flat has living rooms (§ 11 MRG). Under partial application or none, subletting is allowed if it does no harm to the landlord and the lease does not expressly forbid it (§ 1098 ABGB). Letting to changing guests also falls under the Land's rules — in Vienna at most 90 days a year without a permit.
- Does the three-year minimum term in Austria also apply to a room in a shared flat?
- That is not settled. § 29 Abs 1 Z 3 lit b MRG requires at least three years for flats under full or partial application of the MRG, five where the landlord is a business; whether it also applies to subletting a single room is open. A term of at least three years meets the rule where the main tenant does not let as a business; an open-ended agreement does not raise the question at all. A subtenant on a fixed term may leave after the first year on three months' notice to the end of a month (§ 29 Abs 2 MRG).
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
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