How to terminate the lease agreement (hiring) of an apartment? Sample Notice and Agreement

The apartment lease agreement is regulated by Art. 606 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. After all, not just a room is rented out, but a residential apartment.

The law requires that contracts for a period of more than 12 months be registered with Rosreestr. If you have concluded such an agreement, then the termination of the agreement must also be registered and will take effect from the date of registration with Rosreestr. To avoid unnecessary formalism, contracts are usually concluded for 11 months and 29 days.

For termination lease agreements the parties are given more freedom than to terminate the contract of employment. This is explained by the fact that under a lease agreement an apartment is rented to a legal entity, and under a lease agreement - to an individual. And in this case, the legislator was guided by the fact that to prevent unlawful eviction of citizens from rented apartments.

General provisions for termination of contracts are described in ch. 29 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation.

1. A lease agreement is a documentary agreement on the rights to transfer property for temporary use.
2. The clauses of the agreement take precedence in judicial debate.
3. Termination of the contract is possible with the consent of both parties.
4. Unilateral termination of the contract is possible if it is written in the text of the lease transaction itself. Otherwise, the participants in the relationship will face a lengthy trial.
5. One of the most common reasons for early termination of the document: late payment and damage to property.

Grounds for terminating lease (hiring) agreements

article 450 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation The following grounds are provided for termination of contracts:

1. Agreement of the parties
2. Court decision at the request of one of the parties in case of material breach of the contract by the other party
3. Court decision at the request of one of the parties in cases provided for by the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, other laws or the contract itself
4. Unilateral refusal to perform the contract by one of the parties, when such refusal is allowed by law or by agreement of the parties.

The lease agreement can be terminated both by agreement of the parties, and simply after its expiration. However, there are grounds under which the parties may terminate the apartment rental agreement unilaterally.

Russian legislation provides for several grounds for terminating an apartment lease agreement for both the tenant and the landlord.

The landlord has the right to terminate the lease if:

• The tenant does not pay rent for two months.
• There are complaints about the tenant from the neighbors.
• The tenant does not pay any utility bills.
• Creates obstacles to the access of the landlord to the dwelling.
• The actions of the tenant cause damage to the technical or sanitary condition of the living space.
• Tenant refuses to pay rent in full.
• The tenant, without the consent of the owner, carried out repairs, redevelopment, or simply rearranged the furniture.
• Without the consent of the owner, the tenant brought pets.

As a rule, if there is any of these grounds, the landlord has the right to terminate the contract unilaterally. To do this, he must only notify the tenant and give him a reasonable time to leave the occupied premises. Usually this period is prescribed in the contract and is one month.

If the tenant does not want to recognize the existence of grounds for terminating the contract or does not want to leave the apartment, then the only way to protect their rights is to go to court as soon as possible.

Since you will have to prove your position in court, you need to seek the help of a lawyer. This specialist will help you collect all the necessary evidence for your position and ultimately help you win the case.

The landlord can secure his position in advance, for example, with the help of a well-drafted contract. If all the necessary conditions are prescribed in the contract, then it will not be difficult to terminate the contract. In addition, if, for example, a list of furniture, appliances and their technical condition at the time of the conclusion of the contract is included in the contract, then it will not cause any trouble to prove that the tenant caused damage to this property by his actions.

The tenant also has the right to terminate the contract. The easiest way to do this is to simply wait until it expires or notify the landlord within a reasonable amount of time prior to the intended move out of the apartment.

There are also several grounds, according to which the tenant can terminate the contract:

• The landlord has not provided the apartment for use or creates obstacles to its use.

This condition means that if the landlord changed the locks or moved in other tenants instead of you, then this is the basis not only to terminate the contract, but also to go to court.

• The landlord hid significant shortcomings of the property, did not warn the tenant about their presence, or the tenant did not know about their existence.

These disadvantages can be: the sanitary or technical condition of the apartment that is impossible to live in; the presence of unauthorized persons who have the right to live in the apartment; the absence of any property specified in the lease agreement.

• Due to circumstances beyond the control of the tenant, the apartment has ceased to be habitable.

This can be either a force majeure or a simple flooding of the apartment by neighbors from above. In this case, it is simply necessary to notify the landlord that you are terminating the lease.

If the landlord does not want to terminate the contract and withholds, say, a deposit for several months in advance, then this is a reason to go to court.

The procedure for terminating a lease or rental agreement

According to Art. 452 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation an agreement to terminate the contract is made in the same form as the contract.

That is, if the contract is concluded in a simple written form, then an agreement signed by the parties is sufficient for termination. But if the contract was registered in accordance with the requirements of the law, then its termination must be registered in the same manner.

What happens after the contract is terminated?

Indeed, what will happen after the termination of the lease agreement, what is it for?

Upon termination of the contract, the obligations of the parties cease ( paragraph 2 of Art. 453 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation). That is, after the termination of the contract, you no longer have to provide your apartment to the tenant / tenant, respectively, he must vacate the premises. He, in turn, also no longer has any obligations: neither to pay rent, nor to maintain the leased property.

The contract will be considered terminated from the moment the agreement on its termination is concluded or after the state registration of such an agreement (if the contract itself was registered) ( paragraph 3 of Art. 453 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).

Please note that when renting a dwelling (under a contract concluded for a period of at least one year), it is not the contract itself that is subject to registration, but the encumbrance of property rights arising on the basis of such a contract. Accordingly, the termination of the rental of residential premises must also be registered (clause 6, article 26.1 of the Federal Law of June 21, 1997 “On State Registration of Rights to Real Estate and Transactions with It” No. 122-FZ).

If you were forced to terminate the contract by a material breach of the terms of the contract of the other party, then you have the right to demand compensation for losses caused to you by such termination ( paragraph 4 of Art. 454 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).

Reasons for going to court

What to do if it was not possible to terminate the lease agreement, and the parties could not reach an agreement on this issue? You need to go to court.

The tenant has the right to terminate the contract in advance, but in this case the landlord may be at a disadvantage. In order to protect your rights, you can provide a clause in the contract, according to which, if the tenant terminates the lease in advance, he is obliged to pay compensation to the landlord. Even if he does not do it voluntarily, then it can always be recovered in court.

On the other hand, the landlord himself may play a dishonest game and look for grounds for terminating the apartment lease agreement. For example, he may claim that the landlord does not pay the rent in full and thereby violates the rights of the owner of the apartment. To defend their rights, the tenant will have to go to court.

In court, you will need to provide documents or testimonies confirming the position of the tenant. And in order for the tenant to have something to provide in defense of his position, it is necessary that the contract states that all funds will be given against receipt. Then in case of dishonest behavior of the landlord, you can always defend your rights.

Lease termination notice

If it becomes necessary to terminate the agreement on one of the above grounds, an appropriate notice of termination of the lease agreement should be prepared and sent.

This notice must be in writing. It should be handed over to the employer in person or by mail with acknowledgment of receipt.

As with all documents, a lease termination letter must include the following information:
Title of the document;
Details of the party sending the notification and the recipient of the notification;
Details of the contract to which this notice relates;
The grounds on which this notification is sent;
The content of the requirement expressed in the notification.

Peculiarities of terminating a tenancy agreement

Unlike a lease agreement, a lease agreement can be terminated only in the manner prescribed by law. The parties themselves cannot include grounds for termination in the contract other than those contained in the Civil Code of the Russian Federation.

Employer may terminate the contract at any time with the consent of citizens permanently residing with him, by notifying the landlord in writing 3 months in advance ( paragraph 1 of Art. 687 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).

Such notice must be given in person or by mail with acknowledgment of receipt. The list of details of the notification is generally similar to the notification used when terminating a lease agreement. The main difference is that in the notice of the contract of employment, the employer does not need to justify the reason for the notice, because for him, the right to terminate the contract is enshrined in law.

Also, the tenant can apply to the court with a request to terminate the contract if the rented premises are no longer suitable for living or are in disrepair ( paragraph 3 of Art. 687 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).

For landlord the possibilities of terminating the contract are quite severely limited. In accordance with Clause 2 of Art. 687 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the tenancy agreement can be terminated by court order at the request of the landlord in cases:

• non-payment by the tenant of payment for residential premises for six months, unless a longer period is established by the agreement, and in case of short-term hiring, in case of non-payment of payment more than twice after the expiration of the payment period established by the agreement;
• destruction or damage to the premises by the tenant or other citizens for whose actions he is responsible.

At the same time, by a court decision, the tenant may be given a period of not more than a year to eliminate the violations that served as the basis for terminating the contract for renting a dwelling. If, within the time period determined by the court, the tenant does not eliminate the violations committed or does not take all the necessary measures to eliminate them, the court, upon repeated application of the landlord, decides to terminate the contract for renting a dwelling.

And at the request of the employer, the court in the decision to terminate the contract may postpone the execution of the decision for a period of not more than a year.

The landlord also has the right to apply to the court with a request to terminate the contract if the tenant or the citizens for whose actions he is responsible use the premises for other purposes, systematically violate the rights and interests of neighbors. But before going to court, in this case, the landlord must warn the tenant about the need to eliminate violations.