Notice for own use: the tenant cannot find a new flat

The requirements for a notice for own use, the notice periods and the form are explained in the main guide on the notice for own use. This page only goes into the case where you cannot find a new flat by the end of the tenancy.

What happens if you cannot find a flat by the end of the tenancy?

If the notice is valid and you have not objected in time, the tenancy ends when the notice period expires, and you have to return the flat. If you stay, the following applies:

• No eviction without a judgment. The landlord may neither change the locks nor put your belongings out on the street. Only a bailiff may clear the flat, and for this the landlord needs an enforceable eviction order, usually a judgment or a court settlement.
• Compensation for use. For the period in which you withhold the flat, the landlord can demand the agreed rent or the rent customary in the area for comparable flats (Sec. 546a (1) BGB). If the customary rent is higher, it can therefore become more expensive.
• Further damage only to a limited extent. You only have to compensate any damage beyond this, such as the landlord's hotel costs, if you are responsible for the late return and to the extent that fairness requires (Sec. 571 (1) BGB). During a period to vacate granted by the court, you owe no further damages (Sec. 571 (2) BGB).
• Objection to continued use. The landlord must object within 2 weeks of learning of your continued use, otherwise the tenancy is extended for an indefinite period (Sec. 545 BGB). In practice, this objection is often already included in the notice.
• Eviction action and costs. If it comes to an eviction action and you lose, you generally bear the legal costs of both sides (Sec. 91 ZPO).

Waiting is therefore not a strategy. If you object in time and can prove your search, you are in a better position in court.

Is a lack of alternative housing a case of hardship?

Yes, the law names it expressly: there is also hardship if suitable alternative housing cannot be obtained on reasonable terms (Sec. 574 (2) BGB). But that does not mean that every unsuccessful search is enough. The hardship must be such that it cannot be justified even taking the landlord's legitimate interests into account (Sec. 574 (1) sentence 1 BGB). Only the reasons the landlord stated in the notice are taken into account, unless they arose later (Sec. 574 (3) BGB).

What "suitable" means

A suitable flat is one that matches your needs and your financial means. It does not have to be equivalent. You have to accept certain compromises on size, fittings and location. You can only limit yourself to a particular neighbourhood if there is a weighty reason for this, such as caring for a relative nearby.

How expensive may the new flat be?

A rent you can afford with your household income is reasonable. The fact that the new flat is more expensive than the old one does not make it unreasonable, because the rent for a newly rented flat is often higher than a long-standing existing rent. Whether and to what extent housing benefit (Wohngeld) or other benefits are included in the calculation is a question of the individual case.

How intensively do you have to search?

You must make serious and sustained efforts to find alternative housing, starting from receipt of the notice, not just shortly before the end of the tenancy. In a dispute, you must set out and prove the hardship, including that your search was unsuccessful. An occasional look at a property portal is not enough.

A serious search usually includes:

• regular searches on several property portals and in newspapers, with a saved search alert
• your own adverts ("flat wanted")
• contact with housing cooperatives and municipal housing companies, registration on waiting lists
• an application for a housing entitlement certificate (Wohnberechtigungsschein) if you might be entitled to one
• contact with the municipal housing office
• where appropriate, engaging an estate agent

Template: search log for your flat search

Keep a log from the first day and keep screenshots, emails and rejections. It serves as an annex to the objection and as evidence in court.

Date	Portal or contact	Flat (location, rooms, m²)	Rent incl. service charges	Result	Proof
[DD.MM.YYYY]	[portal, search alert]	[district, rooms, m²]	[amount]	[enquiry sent, no reply]	[screenshot of the enquiry]
[DD.MM.YYYY]	[cooperative]	[waiting list]		[registration confirmed]	[letter of confirmation]
[DD.MM.YYYY]	[viewing, private landlord]	[district, rooms, m²]	[amount]	[rejection]	[rejection email]

The information in square brackets is placeholder text. Also enter flats that you turned down yourself, and note the reason, for example "rent exceeds my budget" or "no lift, I have a walking disability".

What other grounds of hardship are there?

A lack of alternative housing is often not the only reason. Several reasons together can amount to hardship, even if each one alone is not enough. The Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof, BGH, Germany's highest civil court) requires a thorough investigation and careful weighing of interests in the individual case. According to its case law, general categories, such as a certain age or a certain length of tenancy, in which one side generally wins, cannot be formed (Federal Court of Justice, judgments of 22 May 2019, VIII ZR 180/18 and VIII ZR 167/17).

Ground of hardship	Examples	What you should prove	Possible consequence
No alternative housing	tight market, low income, large family	search log, rejections, proof of income	continuation usually for a limited period, until a search can realistically succeed
Illness	serious chronic illness, dementia, depression, risk of deterioration due to the move	medical certificate with the specific consequences of a move	if a certificate is submitted, the court usually has to obtain an expert opinion (Federal Court of Justice, VIII ZR 180/18 and VIII ZR 167/17); with a permanent illness, also possible for an indefinite period (Sec. 574a (2) sentence 2 BGB)
Old age	elderly tenant, roots in the neighbourhood	age alone is not enough; specific consequences of a move, such as loss of independence, ideally with a certificate	depends on the consequences established
Long tenancy	decades in the building, social environment, help from neighbours	duration, specific ties and dependencies	usually not sufficient on its own
Pregnancy, young children	move shortly before or after the birth	maternity record (Mutterpass), due date	usually continuation for a limited period
Training, school, exam	school-leaving or final exam shortly before the end of the tenancy	certificate from the school or university	limited until after the exam
Disability, need for care	barrier-free flat needed, care by neighbours or relatives	severe disability pass, care level, proof of the care arrangements	depends on alternative housing and care arrangements

Which illness protects against a notice for own use?

No illness protects automatically. What matters is what consequences the forced move would have for your health, how serious they would be and how likely they are to occur. If you submit a medical certificate showing that the move would worsen your state of health, the court must usually obtain an expert opinion of its own motion. It also matters whether the consequences can be reduced by support from those around you or by medical care (Federal Court of Justice, VIII ZR 180/18 and VIII ZR 167/17). So get a certificate that describes specifically what a move would mean for you, not just the diagnosis.

Is unemployment a case of hardship?

Unemployment is not a ground of hardship of its own in the law. However, it can mean that you cannot find a flat on reasonable terms, for example because landlords reject you for lack of proof of income. It then has an effect via Sec. 574 (2) BGB.

Lodging an objection: form, deadline and content

The objection is the key. Without it, the landlord can refuse to continue the tenancy if you are too late.

• Form: Text form is sufficient (Sec. 574b (1) sentence 1 BGB). This is a legible declaration on a durable medium in which you are named as the person making it (Sec. 126b BGB), i.e. a letter, fax or email. A handwritten signature is not required.
• Deadline: The objection must reach the landlord no later than 2 months before the end of the tenancy (Sec. 574b (2) sentence 1 BGB). So if your tenancy ends on 31 July 2027, it must reach the landlord by 31 May 2027 at the latest.
• No notice from the landlord: If the landlord did not inform you in good time before the objection deadline of the right to object, its form and its deadline, you can still declare the objection at the first hearing of the eviction action (Sec. 574b (2) sentence 2 BGB). Do not rely on this all the same.
• Reasons: You do not necessarily have to state reasons in the objection. However, if the landlord asks, you should provide information without delay (Sec. 574b (1) sentence 2 BGB). If you do not provide the information, the court can order you to pay legal costs even if you win (Sec. 93b (2) ZPO). It is better to state the reasons straight away.
• Proving receipt: Send the objection in a way that lets you prove receipt, for example by messenger, or by email in advance and additionally by letter.

Building blocks for your objection

1. Name and address of all tenants, name of the landlord
2. Reference to the notice: "Your notice of [date], received on [date]"
3. Declaration: "I object to the notice under Sec. 574 BGB and demand that the tenancy be continued."
4. Desired duration: limited until [date] or for an indefinite period, with brief reasons
5. Grounds of hardship with proof as an annex: search log, medical certificates, other certificates
6. A statement that you do not thereby accept the validity of the notice itself, if you also consider it invalid
7. Date and name; with several tenants, from all of them

We deliberately do not publish a complete template. Which reasons you give and how much weight you give them depends on the individual case.

What happens after the objection?

If the landlord does not accept your objection, they will bring an action for eviction. The local court (Amtsgericht) then examines two questions in turn: Is the notice valid? And if so, does your hardship outweigh the landlord's interest?

If your hardship outweighs it, the tenancy is continued for as long as is reasonable taking all circumstances into account (Sec. 574a (1) sentence 1 BGB). If it is uncertain when the hardship will end, for example with a permanent illness, the court can order the tenancy to continue for an indefinite period (Sec. 574a (2) sentence 2 BGB). If continuing on the previous terms cannot reasonably be expected of the landlord, the court can change the terms appropriately, for example the rent (Sec. 574a (1) sentence 2 BGB). The court decides on this in the judgment even without an express application (Sec. 308a (1) ZPO).

If the tenancy was continued for a limited period and the hardship has not ended after that, you can only demand a further continuation if circumstances have changed significantly or an expected circumstance has not occurred, for example the promised cooperative flat (Sec. 574c (1) BGB).

You have no right to object if the landlord would be entitled to terminate without notice, for example because of significant rent arrears (Sec. 574 (1) sentence 2 BGB).

Period to vacate and protection against enforcement

If you lose the case, you do not have to move out the very next day. There are two further levels of protection.

Period to vacate (Sec. 721 ZPO)

If the court orders you to vacate residential space, it can grant you a reasonable period to vacate on application or of its own motion (Sec. 721 (1) sentence 1 ZPO). You must file the application before the close of the oral hearing on which the judgment is based (Sec. 721 (1) sentence 2 ZPO). The period can be extended on application, and the application for an extension must be filed no later than 2 weeks before the period to vacate expires (Sec. 721 (3) ZPO). In total, the period to vacate may not exceed one year, calculated from the date on which the judgment becomes final or, if the judgment only orders eviction on a later date, from that date (Sec. 721 (5) ZPO).

If you agree with the landlord on a moving-out date in a court settlement, the local court can also grant you a period to vacate. The application must be filed no later than 2 weeks before the agreed eviction date, and here too the limit is one year, calculated from the conclusion of the settlement or, if under the settlement the flat only has to be vacated later, from the agreed eviction date (Sec. 794a (1) and (3) ZPO).

During the period to vacate, you continue to pay the compensation for use, but no further damages (Sec. 571 (2) BGB). Use the time for your search and keep documenting it. This matters if you apply for an extension.

Protection against enforcement (Sec. 765a ZPO)

If the period to vacate has expired and the bailiff has set an eviction date, protection against enforcement remains as the last option. The enforcement court can lift, prohibit or temporarily suspend the eviction if, because of very special circumstances, it means hardship that is incompatible with public morals (Sec. 765a (1) ZPO). The hurdle is very high. A lack of housing alone is usually not enough; serious risks to life or health are more likely to qualify. You must file the application no later than 2 weeks before the eviction date, unless the reasons arose later or you were prevented without fault (Sec. 765a (3) ZPO).

For landlords: the tenant cannot find a flat

Expert opinions, the taking of evidence and a period to vacate can significantly delay your move-in. What you can do:

• Put all your reasons in the notice. In the weighing of hardship, only the reasons stated in the notice count, unless they arose later (Sec. 574 (3) BGB).
• Point out the objection and the deadline. The landlord should point out in good time the possibility of objecting and the form and deadline for doing so (Sec. 568 (2) BGB). If this notice is missing, the tenant can still object at the first court hearing (Sec. 574b (2) sentence 2 BGB).
• Ask for the reasons for the objection. Request information about the reasons (Sec. 574b (1) sentence 2 BGB). If the tenant fails to provide it, the court can order them to pay costs even if they win (Sec. 93b (2) ZPO).
• Offer vacant flats in your portfolio. If you have a comparable flat in the same building or the same residential complex that becomes vacant before the notice period expires, you must offer it. Details in the main guide on the notice for own use.
• Help with the search. Specific offers that match the tenant's size requirements and budget improve your position if the tenant argues a lack of alternative housing. Document what you have offered.
• Moving-out agreement. A fixed moving-out date with help with the move or a payment is often faster than litigation. A court settlement is enforceable, but a period to vacate under Sec. 794a ZPO remains possible.

How the procedure up to eviction works and what an eviction action costs is explained in the main guide under periods. For other questions about your tenancy, there is written advice from our tenancy lawyer, also at a fixed price.