Leaving our lease to our daughter?

Leaving our lease to our daughter?

"Very interested in your answer about "keeping grandma's lease", we would like to know if we can bequeath the lease of our flat to our only daughter without a massive increase in rent."

May-Christiane and René, Geneva

Under inheritance law, a deceased person may be succeeded by legal heirs such as descendants, the spouse or even the parents of the deceased, instituted heirs (i.e. those chosen by will or by inheritance agreement) or legatees.

The heirs of the deceased succeed "à titre universel", i.e. they acquire all the rights and obligations of the deceased by the sole fact of the latter's death, whereas the legatees succeed "à titre singulier", i.e. they are not part of the community of heirs and have only a claim against the heirs.

As indicated in the article published on 14 January, the lease does not terminate on the death of the tenant, but passes automatically to the tenant's legal or instituted heirs. The lessor is not entitled to terminate the lease on the grounds of the lessee's death, unless there are good reasons for doing so, such as the heirs' notorious insolvency.

Where there are several heirs, all the assets become their joint property, which means that they must take decisions unanimously until the estate is divided. At the time of division, a commercial lease may be transferred to one of the heirs, with the written agreement of the lessor, who may only refuse on the grounds of just cause. However, this is not possible in the case of a residential lease, and the lessor may freely object to the transfer of such a lease. With regard to the division of the estate, the deceased may, by disposition mortis causa, prescribe rules such as the partial postponement of the division. It should be noted, however, that these rules cannot be invoked against heirs with reserved rights who have lost their reserve and that heirs with unanimous consent can derogate from them.

It follows from the above that in the event of the death of one of you, your daughter will automatically become joint owner with the surviving spouse of the lease. It is possible for you to stipulate in a will or inheritance agreement that this situation remains unchanged. Finally, on the death of the surviving spouse, your daughter will remain sole holder of the lease if you have no other legal heirs. It should be pointed out, however, that the lessor remains free at any time to increase the rent for the next contractual term in accordance with the terms and conditions laid down by law.