The lease agreement

The lease agreement

The rental agreement, which is usually concluded in writing between the landlord and the tenant, seals your right to use living space in relation to a specific residential unit at a specific location, starting from date xy - in short, a contract between you and the landlord about your new one Stay from a specific date.

Essentially, the contract regulates the rights and obligations of both contracting parties. This is done in accordance with the principle pacta sunt servanda, which means contracts must be adhered to. This is particularly important for oral contracts.

The oral contract

In principle, an oral contract has the same legal binding as a written contract. All that needs to be regulated are at least the two main obligations: on the one hand, the rental property being made available for use and, on the other hand, the amount of rent to be paid. (§ 535 BGB) The contract is considered concluded when both parties have made their declaration of intent, i.e. agreed.

It should be noted that an oral contract cannot be concluded for a limited period of time. A contract concluded orally is valid for an unlimited period. In plain language: According to the law, temporary rental contracts must be concluded in writing. In return, this does not mean that verbally concluded temporary rental agreements are invalid, they simply automatically convert into permanent rental agreements.

The advantage of a verbal rental agreement can - if there are no additional agreements - be clearly on the tenant's side. If there are no regulations regarding cosmetic repairs or additional costs, these are considered to be covered by the rent.

The written contract

The written rental agreement can be concluded for a limited or unlimited period. There are no specific formal requirements regarding the conclusion. As a rule, however, the necessary rental parties, the rental property, the start of the rental period, the rent amount and, if necessary, other clauses are agreed. In particular, this concerns the number of keys handed over, the amount and billing of heating and operating costs, defects, damage and cosmetic repairs, keeping animals, ordinary and immediate termination and the amount of the deposit.

TIP:

It is essential to create a list of defects for each rental agreement when the apartment is handed over. This declares what damage or defects already existed when the apartment was handed over. You should therefore carefully inspect the apartment and note any inconsistencies. At the end of the rental period, the landlord cannot insist on the removal of defects that were already present at the start of the rental period. This list should be countersigned by both tenants.

You can find a rental agreement template here !

The rental agreement, which is usually concluded in writing between the landlord and the tenant, seals your right to use living space in relation to a specific residential unit.