Blog: Rental Agreement Protects Tenant in Case of Property Sale
A tenant was confronted with the unilateral termination of the lease due to the sale of the rented property. Speer Advocatuur argued that this is not allowed without further justification and won the case in a court ruling. The client is entitled to continue renting the property.
Lawyer Jennifer Alspeer won a case for a tenant of a rental property.
Case summary
The tenant has an indefinite lease agreement. The landlord’s administrator terminated the lease. According to the administrator, the landlord has significant debts and needs to cover his care costs. It is important for the landlord to sell the property vacant. The landlord claims urgent personal use (Article 7:274, paragraph 1, sub c of the Civil Code). The court ruled against the landlord.
Firstly, the general rule is “sale does not break a lease.” This means a lease cannot be terminated by the landlord simply because the property is being sold. Secondly, the court ruled that a financial interest in selling a property is insufficient for claiming urgent personal use. Only in exceptional circumstances can a claim of urgent personal use justify terminating a lease. The landlord was found at fault. The tenant retains her indefinite lease and may continue to live in the rental property.
Conclusion
A lease can be terminated based on urgent personal use if the landlord urgently needs the property for themselves or intends to renovate or demolish it. The rule “sale does not break a lease” takes precedence and can only be broken in rare cases. Only in exceptional circumstances can this lead to the termination of a lease. Click here for the ruling.
