Information and advice on temporary furnished rental-agreements
This draft of a rental contract for temporary use made available for use was drawn up on the basis of the current legal situation and case law in Germany.
Open example rental contract
The draft of the rental agreement provided contains the following advantageous provisions for landlords:
- The specific reason for renting by the tenant for a short-term, manageable period is explicitly mentioned in the contract in order to effectively deal with any disputes with the local authorities about any misappropriation of the living space.
- An extension of the rental period is only possible with the prior agreement of the contractual partners.
- The rental agreement shows an inclusive rent. This means that the tenant has to bear all ancillary costs as well as the costs for internet use and TV reception, without these costs having to be billed separately later.
- The first rent is due for payment before the apartment is handed over to the tenant.
- If the tenant gives cause to terminate the rental contract without notice, the tenant is also obliged to compensate the landlord for any damage caused by the fact that he cannot immediately re-rent the apartment.
- The tenant is prohibited from subletting or otherwise leasing to third parties
- Smoking and pets are generally not permitted in the apartment.
We ask you to observe the following information and notes before concluding a rental agreement for the temporary use of an apartment:
- We recommend that you prepare a handover protocol with the tenant before each rental, in which the rented inventory is listed in as much detail as possible in order to avoid later disputes about it.
- According to German law, the tenant is entitled to pay a deposit in three equal installments. The first installment is due at the beginning of the tenancy. We recommend informing yourself about the landlord's further obligations to keep the deposit amount under German law.
- If there are house rules for the house, we recommend that you hand over a copy of these to the tenant and note this in the handover protocol.
- For almost all residential properties (with the exception of listed properties), the landlord is obliged to hand over a copy of the energy certificate to the tenant at the latest when moving in. A violation of this obligation can be punished as an administrative offense with a heavy fine. The energy certificate can usually be obtained from the property management.
- It is advisable to read the meter readings for gas, water and electricity before and after each new rental and to record them in the handover protocol.
- The EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requires landlords to provide their tenants with information on data protection. In addition, a data processing directory must be kept. We advise you to find out about these obligations before renting for the first time.
- Even if the rental is only for a short period of time, you as the landlord should issue your tenant with a confirmation of the owner of the accommodation, stating the date of moving in and moving out, your name and address, the address of the apartment and the name of the tenant.
- If you rent commercially, a private tenant has a statutory right of withdrawal of 14 days with regard to the rental agreement. This is taken into account in the draft provided.
- As soon as you rent commercially, we strongly recommend registering a business with the responsible trade office.
This does not replace legal advice in a specific individual case. For further legal advice, we therefore recommend consulting a specialized lawyer if necessary. We would be happy to recommend our partners in Cologne and Berlin:
STEINRÜCKE . SAUSEN
Gustav-Heinemann-Ufer 58, 50968 Köln
Kurfürstendamm 194, 10707 Berlin
Contact by email
Globalflats UG
Reischplatz 2, 50679 Cologne
+49 221 968 80 100