Legal tip 402. Legals for rentals VIII. Cancellation of rental contracts.
Friday, November 26, 2010 @ 12:23 PM
First cancellation cause of a rental contract is the expiration of the rental period.
It must be commented that, even when parties can freely establish the duration of the contract, if the agreement was for a period under 5 years, the tenant can stay at the house up to the 5 years period, without any possibility of valid opposition by the landlord. After this period, the landlord can communicate to the tenant on his cancellation will.
Secondly, both landlord and tenant can ask for the cancellation of the rental contract if they fail to meet their respective obligations.
This way, landlord can cancel the rental contract if the tenant:
- Failed to pay the rent or the guarantee.
- Subletted or assigned the house to a third party without the consent of the landlord.
- Caused intentional damages to the house or made works without the consent of the owner.
- Performed annoying, unhealthy, noxious, dangerous or illegal activities in the house.
- Stopped occupying the house as a first place of residence.
The tenant can cancel the rental contract if the landlord:
- Didn’t make the needed reparations to keep the house in the appropriate habitability conditions.
- Disrupted the tenant when using the house.
Finally, the rental contract can also be cancelled if the house is destroyed by causes beyond the control of the tenant (for instance, an earthquake) and because an official declaration of the house as a ruin done by the competent authority.
White Village in Spain by Dirk Huijssoon at Flickr.com