Transfer of lease to third party

Transfer of lease to third party

"My wife and I live in a flat with a lease and we would like our daughter to be able to use it after our death. Is it true that if she inherits our lease, the landlord could only terminate it if he plans to occupy the flat for his family?"

René, Geneva

There are several ways of ensuring that your daughter can benefit from your lease after your death. You can wait for your daughter to inherit the contract or transfer the lease today.

In general, the death of the tenant does not terminate the lease contract, which passes to the heirs with the rights and obligations arising therefrom in accordance with art. 560 of the Civil Code and art. 266i of the Code of Obligations. In this case, the lessor is not authorised to terminate the contract early unless, for exceptional reasons of a certain seriousness, performance of the contract becomes intolerable for him.

During your lifetime, you also have the option of transferring all the rights under the lease to your daughter. However, the Code of Obligations does not allow the lessee of a non-commercial property to impose such a transfer on the lessor. You can therefore only do so with the landlord's consent.

When your daughter becomes, by one means or another, the new tenant of your flat, the landlord will only be entitled to terminate the lease subject to the usual notice period and legal limits. He will then be able to terminate the lease by observing the notice periods for the terms laid down in the contract or by law. However, if this termination would have painful consequences for your daughter and her family without being justified by the interests of the landlord, she may request an extension of the lease. In this case, the competent authority will weigh up the interests and take into account any urgent need of the landlord or her family to occupy the property.