Termination of lease

The lease can be terminated for a variety of reasons. These often depend on the type of lease agreement – whether it has been for a definite or indefinite period of time. 

Mutual agreement between tenant and landlord

Regardless of the type of lease agreement and terms of its duration, it is possible to terminate it by mutual consent of both parties – the tenant and the landlord. This agreement should have a written form and should contain the following parts: identification of all parties to the agreement, identification of the apartment under the lease, expression of consent to terminate the lease, specification of the day of termination of the lease, date of signing of the agreement and signatures of both parties. 

Expiration of the lease without renewal 

If you do not want to continue living in the apartment after the expiration of the lease agreement, it is not necessary to officially inform the landlord in advance. Of course, it is customary to let the landlord know about your intentions. 

According to the law, unless the agreement stipulates otherwise, the agreement will be automatically renewed if the tenant continues living on the premises for at least three months from the day of expiration listed in the agreement.

Notice of termination by the landlord or tenant 

In both cases, the notice has to be submitted in writing and delivered to the other party. The notice has to include the following information: the name of the addressee, the name of the sender, the intention (lease termination), and identification of the apartment. Moreover, in case there are more landlords or more tenants, the notice of termination should always be delivered to all of them. 

Lease termination by the tenant

The possibilities of termination by the tenant depend on the type of agreement (contract). 

A lease for an indefinite period of time

In case the lease has been agreed for an indefinite period of time, the tenant can give a notice without providing a reason. The notice period is usually at least three months long (unless the agreement stipulates otherwise), it can however be longer to the benefit of the tenant. The notice period starts on the first day of the month following the month in which the notice has been delivered to the landlord. 

A fixed-term lease

In order for the tenant to be able to give a notice of termination, there has to be a change of circumstances as opposed to those, under which the lease was agreed. This change means, that the tenant cannot be reasonably expected to continue in the lease. Examples of such change include: getting married, moving to a different city for work or study, purchasing of own accommodation, dire financial situation, and the like. The notice period is then three months and starts on the first day of the month following the month in which the notice was submitted. Thus, if you have a three-month notice period and you submit a notice of termination in April, the notice period starts in May and the lease will be terminated on the last day of July. The parties can however agree on a different length of notice period. 

If the landlord has gravely violated the terms of the lease, the tenant can give an immediate notice, effective the day on which it is delivered to the landlord. In such case, there is no notice period. 

Lease termination by the landlord

The landlord can terminate the lease agreement by giving a three-month notice, in case the tenants have gravely violated their duties. For eg. the tenant has been subletting an apartment to other people, while s/he lived elsewhere. In very exceptional cases, the landlord can file an immediate eviction: for example, if the tenant has failed to pay the rent and service fees for at least three months in a row. 

In all cases, the landlord always has to give a reason for termination/eviction. The tenant can challenge the eviction notice in court, asking it to review whether the reasons provided by the landlord were justified. The lawsuit can be filed within a period of two months starting on the date of delivery of eviction notice. After this period, no lawsuit can be filed. In case you are planning to file such a lawsuit, we recommend seeking legal assistance. 

Termination of sublease

There are various possibilities and reasons for terminating a sublease agreement. 

• The lease has ended. This is one of the main disadvantages of a sublease. If you are a subtenant and the agreement between the tenant and the landlord has ended, your sublease is thus also terminated. This is the case regardless of the conditions you have set in the sublease contract. The lease agreement thus takes precedence over the sublease agreement, and the subtenant is also obliged by it. Therefore, before entering into a sublease, it is a very good idea to check whether a lease agreement actually exists, and if yes, what are the terms of its duration. 
• The sublease period has expired. In case the period for which the sublease has been agreed has expired, and one of the parties does not wish to continue in the sublease, the contractual relationship has ended. 
• The sublease agreement has been terminated by the tenant or subtenant. The relationship between a tenant and a subtenant is less regulated by law than a relationship between a tenant and a landlord. Thus, the subtenant enjoys less legal protection. Sublease contracts can also be terminated for a wider array of reasons than lease contracts and the notice period can be shorter than three months. Thus, when entering into a sublease agreement, pay attention to stipulations related to notice of termination and make sure that their formulation is not disadvantageous for you. 

Handing over the apartment to the landlord 

Unless the contract stipulates otherwise, the apartment is handed over to the landlord on the last day of the lease. Normal wear and tear, such as small scuffs on the floors or furniture, is considered acceptable and the landlord should not ask for any compensation for it. If you are however returning the apartment with bigger, more significant, damage, the landlord is justified to ask you for reimbursement, and possibly directly deduct the corresponding amount from the security deposit. 

The condition of the apartment and its furnishings can be checked via a handover report – a document we advise you to fill out at the beginning and at the end of the lease. Information on the handover report and how to prepare it at the time of signing the contract is available HERE.

After the apartment has been handed over to the landlord, the latter cannot report further damages and ask for compensation. For example, if the owner calls you one hour after you have given the apartment back, and claims that damage has been found in the apartment, they cannot claim compensation nor can s/he deduct the funds for repair from the security deposit. 

Security deposit: refund and retention

According to the law, the security deposit has to be returned to the tenant immediately after the ending of the lease. The contract can however specify also a later date. Refunding the security deposit is however a common source of disputes between landlords and tenants. 

While scrolling social media, you may often run into the suggestion that in Czechia, the security deposit is not automatically refunded. This is not true. It is however important to know your rights and to be ready to defend them. It can happen that a landlord does not return the deposit without having a legal basis to do this. If you are sure that you did not violate any part of the agreement yet the landlord is reluctant to return the deposit, consult a lawyer, or non-profit organizations working with migrants, that have a legal department. In most cases, a well-written letter or a pre-trial summons  (předžalobní výzva) will suffice in order to resolve the dispute. In extreme cases, the lawyer will advise you how to file a motion with the court and will represent you. The list of organizations working with migrants is available on the website of the Public Defender of Rights.

However, in case the tenants have created a debt to the landlord in the period of duration of the lease agreement, the landlord has a right to deduct this debt from the security deposit. This can apply to unpaid rent or fees for services. You can also lose your deposit in case you suddenly move out of the apartment without respecting the notice period, during which you are obliged to pay the rent. 

The landlord does not have the right to deduct from the security deposit costs of minor damages incurred during the lease contract that are merely normal wear and tear.  However, if the apartment is handed over with bigger, more significant damages, the landlord is justified to ask for compensation and even deduct the corresponding amount from the security deposit. In this case, the burden of proof is on the landlord, who has to base  the documentation of the incurred damage on the handover report. The latter should ideally be accompanied by photographs taken on the day when the apartment is handed over to the tenant or by testimonies of witnesses. 

If the landlord refuses to refund the security deposit, or refunds it only partially, you can ask for an exact and detailed list of deductions from the deposit, including, for example, receipts for repairs or purchase of damaged property. 

By law, the lease agreement cannot stipulate in advance that a certain part of the deposit will not be refunded or that it will be used for a specific purpose (e.g. painting of walls). The contract however can require the tenant to paint the walls at his/her expense. This is not an improper requirement, because the tenant is obliged to paint the apartment walls as part of common maintenance. It however depends on the length of the lease. The longer you live in the apartment, the more probable it is that you will be asked to hand it over freshly painted. In case you have changed the wall color earlier, you have to paint it back to the original color before you leave.  

By law, the deposit is subject to interest. If the interest rate is not stipulated in the lease agreement, the landlord pays the tenant (or tenant to subtenant) usual interest rate charged for credit provided by banks in the place of residence or seat of the debtor at the time of conclusion of the contract. In general the interest will probably be between 4–16 % annually. This provision of the law is however not used very often, as the tenants often do not ask for the interest. It can however not be precluded/barred by the contract. If you paid a high deposit and you have lived in the apartment for a long time, it can certainly pay off to consult an expert about the interest rate to which you are entitled by law, and then demand it from the landlord. The sum could be quite high. 

Termination of an accommodation contract

There are several ways in which an accommodation contract can end. 

• Expiration of the contracted period: In case the accommodation provided refuses to prolong your contract or you do not wish to continue living on the premises, the contract ends on the last day of the contracted period. 

• Early termination by you or the accommodation provider: The accommodation agreement enables this basically from one day to another. The accommodation provider can terminate the contract before expiration especially if the residents are not paying accommodation fees, gravely violate the building code, and the like. It is however important that the resident first receives a warning (it can be merely verbal). The resident can also terminate the contract early, the accommodation provider can however claim lost profits incurred by early termination.