In this article you will find explained the difference between termination and cancellation in a lease, and the what changes if you are landlord or tenant.
If, on the other hand, you are looking for facsimile forms for withdrawal or termination,
you don't need to read the whole thing, you can download them directly at the end of the article 😉 !!
Termination and withdrawal in the lease agreement: differences
In my first - and embarrassing (ed.) - videos I made, I addressed the topic of lease termination. What is the difference between termination and cancellation, how to withdraw from a lease, and all the aspects that constitute this contractual phase. Well among the different monologues that I recorded, I noticed that about a year later, these issues received more views overall than the other content I published.
Is this a case?
I think therefore, it is appropriate to write a nice post that puts in black and white the correct procedure for terminating a lease.
I often hear people improperly talk about termination and withdrawal (or termination as they may be) as if they were the same thing, even though they are actually two quite different "institutions."
How to make a lease termination
We mean by termination the option reserved for both the landlord and the tenant to express their willingness not to renew the existing lease, at the term stipulated in the lease itself ( the 4 or 8 years in classic 4+4 or the third or fifth year in 3+2 ).
This option is regulated ( for residential leases ) by Article 2 of Law 431/89 Paragraph 1, which states:
"The parties may enter into leases for a term of not less than four years, after which the leases shall be renewed for a period of four years, except in cases where the landlord intends to use the property for the uses or carry out on the same the works referred to in Article 3, (what Article 3 contains you will read in the next post) ..."
".. Upon the second expiration of the contract, either party shall have the right to activate the procedure for renewal under new conditions or to waive the renewal of the contract by notifying the other party of its intention by registered letter to be sent to the other party at least six months before the expiration. The requested party shall respond by registered letter within sixty days from the date of receipt of the registered letter referred to in the second sentence. In the absence of response or agreement, the contract shall be deemed to have expired on the date of termination of the lease..."
Summing up:
The landlord can send the termination of the lease at the first expiration date (4th year in 4+4 or 3rd year in 3+2) only and exclusively in the cases stipulated in Article 3 of the above law.At the second expiration date instead (8th year in 4+4 or 5th year in 3+2) , he can send the termination without there being a special reason.
The tenant, whether on the first or second term, does not have to justify the reasons for the request not to renew the contract.
The termination of a lease agreement
Termination, on the other hand, is the option that is granted only and exclusively to the tenant, during the entire period of the lease, whereby in case of serious reasons, he can request termination of the contract from the landlord with 6 months' notice.
The article in question that regulates the tenant's right to terminate the lease at any time during the lease is 3 Paragraph 6 always obviously referring to the "Zagatti" law, which reads:
"The tenant, if there are serious reasons, may terminate the contract at any time by giving six months' notice to the landlord."
I will not go into the serious reasons, which I will elaborate on in another article, but I do want to say 2 words regarding the notice period: in the historical period in which we live having 6 months' notice to terminate a lease is - from my point of view - quite inappropriate. Sudden job relocations (the main cause of lease terminations) and unforeseen events that result in changes of direction in life certainly do not have a 6-month notice period.
That is why I believe that such notice, besides being unnecessary, is in some cases harmful!
It is also fair to point out that very rare are the cases in which a potential new tenant is looking for a house 6 months before actually moving in (for the reasons just seen), so even the landlord, in most cases, will not get any benefit from this rule.
For several years now, in the lease contacts I have had signed, I have provided an exception to the law, signed by the parties, reducing this notice from 6 to 3 months, a much more reasonable time frame for the contractors.
When does the notice for termination or cancellation start?
Another popular topic in various online forums is the effective date when the notice begins to take effect.
When do I sign the registered letter?
When do I send it out?
When do I get the return receipt?
Regarding the validity of the service of the registered letter containing the intention not to renew or terminate the lease, we must refer to the regulations provided by the Code of Civil Procedure in the field of service (even if it is the one that regulates the service of judicial documents by bailiff) and case law, which qualify as the effective date of the notice the moment of the recipient's knowledge of the communication, thus when either of the two contracting parties receives the registered letter.
In the (frequent) case where, at the time of delivery, the person concerned is not present at the domicile indicated in the contract, the effective date will be from when the registered letter is picked up at the post office. In the event that the time limit for collecting the registered letter itself expires and it is returned to the sender, the date on which it was deposited for collection at the post office will be effective.
It is good to point out that since most leases contain an advance monthly rent, if your counterpart receives the registered letter on the 13th of the month, we cannot count the notice from the current month, but it will always be considered from the following month.
EXAMPLE:
I mail the registered letter on Feb. 1 ===> is delivered and received on Feb. 12 ===> the effective date of notice will not be February but March
in this case it is better to indicate in the letter that the property will be returned on August 31 ( if the months of notice are 6 )
Advice?
Don't take it at the last minute to send the registered letter to avoid potential challenges from those who receive it!!!
Do you need to send in the termination/termination of your lease but don't know how to do it?
DOWNLOAD THE FAC SIMILE TO FILL OUT WITH INSTRUCTIONS HERE
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DISMISSAL landlord 1st term
DISMISSAL landlord 2nd term
