Termination of the rental contract after the death of your spouse or partner
On the death of a tenant, the rental relationship is not automatically terminated. If persons close to the deceased tenant lived in the same household, such as their spouse, life partner, children, or other relatives, the rental agreement continues with them.
Can I as a relative nevertheless terminate the agreement?
One day after the tenant's death, the tenant's legal heirs can usually give notice to terminate the rental agreement on the next statutory deadline. Contractual termination dates do not need to be observed. All the heirs must act together for the termination to be valid. Important: The agreement must be terminated as quickly as possible, in other words the next possible termination deadline must be complied with. If the next notice period starts immediately after the death of the tenant, the heirs will be granted a period for reflection of approximately two weeks.
I rented the apartment together with the deceased, but am not an heir. Can the heir(s) now terminate the rental agreement?
If you were also a co-tenant, you can prevent a termination of the agreement by refusing to agree to the termination.
Our sample letter will help you in this case.