Is is legal to pay an extra fee for moving out early of an apartment in Germany?

Asked Aug 16 '16 at 09:19

Active Aug 16 '16 at 09:19

Viewed 110 times

I live in an apartment in Germany. The whole building belongs to a private company.

My rental contract ends at the end of a month. I asked to move out at the middle of the month (still paying for the whole month). They want to charge me an extra 50€ for this "special appointment", and I have to pay in cash.

Is it a common practice in Germany? Is it even legal?

asked Aug 16 '16 at 09:19

Tom Cornebize

3

Just checking to clarify: That special appointment is for handing over the apartment and keys, right? – Wrzlprmft Aug 16 '16 at 09:26
@Wrzlprmft yes, exactly. – Tom Cornebize Aug 16 '16 at 09:38
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Since you are paying until the end of the month anyway why don't you handover the apartment on the designated date ? – Rsf Aug 16 '16 at 14:34
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@Rsf For convenience. It is mandatory to rent until the end of a month (you cannot stop the contract in the middle of a month for instance), but I need to leave before. Coming back to Germany afterward just to do the handover would be more expensive than this 50€. – Tom Cornebize Aug 16 '16 at 19:53
I strongly suspect that it is illegal. I don’t have any laws or court rulings to back that suspicion, though. – Jan Jun 13 '17 at 23:38
I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it's not a problem that solely affects expats, sorry. – Mark Mayo Jul 18 '17 at 02:11
Perhaps they are paying someone to go out of their way to collect those keys from you? – Mawg says reinstate Monica Jan 18 '18 at 15:49
@MarkMayo According to the upvoted and accepted answer on this meta question, problems that equally accept to locals are not necessarily off-topic. – gerrit Nov 02 '18 at 11:28
@gerrit indeed, but then this isn't even travel related. It's apartment related. – Mark Mayo Nov 27 '18 at 00:45

Is is legal to pay an extra fee for moving out early of an apartment in Germany?

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