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Please set subtitles to English.

 What is the impact on the lease if the tenant dies in rental property? What are the rights and duties of the heirs? Who can terminate the lease?

The heirs

According to art. 266i of the Swiss Code of Obligations, the heirs may terminate the contract by giving the legally prescribed notice expiring on the next admissible termination date.

The lease does not end automatically. The legal or instituted heirs succeed to the death or declaration of absence as universal heirs. Upon the opening of the universal succession, the rights and obligations pass to the heirs. If there are several heirs, they form a heirship and decisions must be taken jointly and unanimously or by a representative of the community. The heirs are personally and jointly and severally liable for the deceased's debts. If they do not terminate the lease, they become joint tenants.

Transfer or takeover of the lease

A commercial lease can be transferred to a third party with the written consent of the lessor. Watch my video on the transfer of a commercial lease. The possibility of transfer for a non-commercial object is not provided for in the law. The lessor can therefore refuse the takeover of the lease of a flat by an heir.

Repudiation of the estate

Each heir has the possibility of repudiating the estate by a written or verbal declaration to the competent authority, in Geneva to the Justice of the Peace (juge de paix). This declaration must be made within three months of the date of knowledge of the death. Repudiation is presumed if the insolvency of the deceased was established at the time of death. If all the heirs repudiate the estate or if the deceased is insolvent, the bankruptcy judge orders the liquidation of the estate.The bankruptcy procedure is lengthy and the landlord risks having to book a loss.

Termination by the heirs

The heirs can terminate the lease early for the next legal term. The first legal term and the legal deadline are from the day of death. The legal term is 3 months for a dwelling and 6 months for commercial premises. In Geneva, there is no term fixed by local custom, the legal term corresponds to the end of a quarter of the lease.

Other leases, e.g. for a furnished room or a separately rented parking space, can be terminated with a two-week notice to the end of a month. The legal period for a parking space rented together with a dwelling or business premises corresponds to the legal period for the main object, i.e. 3 months respectively 6 months.

If a co-tenant dies

In the case of a joint tenancy, if a joint tenant dies, the lease remains in force, but the joint tenant's heirs cannot terminate the lease at the next legal deadline. The community of co-tenants can possibly refer to art. 266 g of the Code of Obligations and terminate the lease for just cause, and the heirs of the deceased will also have to sign the termination. I site:

Art. 266 g

1 Where performance of the contract becomes unconscionable for the parties for good cause, they may terminate the lease by giving the legally prescribed notice expiring at any time.

2 The court determines the financial consequences of early termination, taking due account of all the circumstances.

The surviving spouse or registered partner

The surviving spouse or registered partner who did not sign the lease, as well as the remaining heirs, may jointly terminate the lease early.

Termination by the landlord

The landlord may not terminate the lease in advance due to the death of the tenant. 

 

The content of this article is given for information purposes and cannot be considered as judicial advice

 © Written by Esther Lauber, Real Estate Trustee with Advanced Federal Diploma of Professional Education and Training, property manager,
Articles in official English version from the portal of the Swiss goverment, partly translated from French to English with DeepL

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