Mittwoch, 26.11.2025
Chronically late rent payments – when termination is possible
from
Stefan ZieglerLawyer
Specialist lawyer for tenancy and property law
Give me a call: 0261 - 404 99 24
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It often happens that tenants transfer their rent late. This raises the question for landlords as to whether they are entitled to terminate the tenancy agreement. Persistent late payments generally entitle the landlord to terminate the lease without notice or with regular notice. The decisive factor is that the delays significantly exceed the due date and continue over a longer period of time.
The lease should be carefully reviewed before any termination. As a rule, the statutory due date is the third business day of the month, but deviating agreements are permissible. Only if the tenant repeatedly pays significantly late can a termination be issued after a warning. This gives them the opportunity to change their behavior and pay on time in the future.
Tenants often argue that they do not receive their salary until the middle of the month and are therefore unable to pay earlier. However, this does not justify arbitrarily changing the due date. Such goodwill arrangements are at the sole discretion of the landlord. Anyone who consistently pays their rent late risks the termination remaining effective and enforceable in court.
Important to know: Even if the tenant assures the landlord after termination that they will pay on time in the future, this does not automatically remedy the termination. Only a mutually agreed continuation of the tenancy can create a new basis.
The conclusion is that chronic late payments can justify effective termination. Landlords should always keep an eye on actual payments received and react in good time in the event of repeated delays.
The statements represent initial information that was current for the law applicable in Germany at the time of initial publication. The legal situation may have changed since then. Furthermore, the information provided cannot replace individual advice on a specific matter. Please contact us for this purpose.