How it works eviction due to expired contract and, above all, how can we proceed against the tenant? Generally speaking, when the rental contract comes to an end, the tenant is required to return the apartment to the owner. Yet, sometimes it can happen that the tenant refuses to vacate the premises, remaining in the house even if the contract itself has now expired.
The owner who is unable to regain possession of his apartment at the end of the tenancy can request it eviction due to termination of tenancy. To do this, you will have to contact a lawyer and request the intervention of the court, attaching the expired rental contract and the notice of termination, sent to the tenant six months before the expiration of the same agreement. To avoid finding yourself in this unpleasant situation, before leasing a property to third parties it is useful to check the Real Estate Delinquency Databaseso as to ascertain the payment history of the potential tenant.
What is eviction due to termination of tenancy
As already mentioned at the beginning, it may happen that the owner of a property finds himself having to manage a tenant who does not want to vacate the apartment, despite the contract having now expired. On the other hand, the landlord has all the right not to renew the lease upon its natural expiry, provided that it is communicated within six months of the same.
To return to legitimate possession of the rented property, in this case the owner has no choice but to resort to eviction. The latter is divided into two main types:
- the eviction for non-paymentwhich can be used when the tenant is not up to date with the payment of the rent or expenses due to him;
- the eviction due to termination of tenancywhich occurs when at the end of the contract the tenant does not return the premises, regardless of whether he is in arrears or not.
Regulated byarticle 657 of the Code of Civil Procedure, eviction due to the end of the tenancy is permissible when the tenant has been notified of the intention not to renew the contract, as seen within six months of its natural expiry. In fact, the law provides that it is not possible to resort to it in the presence of one tacit attributionor when appropriate notice of cancellation is not given within the contractual terms.
How to kick out a tenant with an expired contract
Including the legal contours of eviction due to the end of the tenancy, how can it be accessed? In other words, how can the owner evict the tenant who, faced with an expired contract and a duly communicated cancellation, does not want to leave the apartment?
First, the owner must ensure that he has followed the correct steps for the failure to renew the rental contracttherefore respecting the provisions of the aforementioned article 657 of the Code of Civil Procedure.
Afterwards, in order to activate the eviction procedure due to the end of the tenancy, the landlord must contact his own trusted lawyerwho will request theintervention of the court. Unlike other types of eviction, it is not essential that an estimate is sent to the tenant warning letter. However, this tool is still useful, because:
- can lead to a agreement between tenant and landlordthus avoiding the understandably long time required for justice;
- It happens quite frequently that the tenant does not leave the house at the end of the contract, simply because he does not yet have a new lease. In this case, a good compromise is to agree to continue with the payment of the rent until the tenant has found new accommodation, provided that within a reasonable time.
The procedure for eviction after an expired contract
The process begins with the submission of theeviction notice for termination of tenancyto which the subpoena for the validation hearing. The latter, as a rule, is set no earlier than 20 days from the notification of the same document.
Once you reach the validation hearing, three different situations can occur:
- the tenant doesn’t show up: in this case, the judge will proceed to validate the eviction, making it enforceable;
- the tenant presents himself, but does not object to the validation: also in this case, the outcome is that of validation of the eviction;
- the tenant shows up and objects: in this case, the tenant presents valid reasons for opposing the eviction, for example because the notice of cancellation was not sent or, even, not within the deadline. If the opposition is deemed well founded, the judge changes the procedure, sending it back to ordinary justice. If unfounded, however, it issues a non-challengeable release order, as provided for in article 665 of the Code of Civil Procedure.
Although rarely, it may happen that the owner himself does not appear at the hearing, for example because in the meantime the tenant has vacated the property or, again, when another type of agreement has been reached between the parties. In this situation, the request for eviction due to the end of the tenancy is extinguished.
The validation of the eviction entails for the tenant, in addition to the order to return the apartment, also the payment of some expenses:
- those proceduraladvanced by the lessor;
- those relating to rental fee for the excess period of stay in the apartment;
- those for the eventuality compensation for damages suffered by the ownersuch as the lack of possibility to rent the property to third parties, provided that they are founded and appropriately documented.
Is it possible to request a grace period in eviction due to the end of the tenancy?
It is useful to underline that, for eviction procedures for failure to return the apartment after the contract has expired, the tenant cannot make use of the grace period.
This possibility, foreseen by thearticle 55 of Law 392 of 1978, offers the tenant in serious economic difficulty the opportunity to take advantage of a deadline – usually 90 days – to proceed with the payment of unpaid rent and rental expenses. As is easy to imagine, this is therefore a hypothesis valid only within eviction for non-payment – that is, when the owner wants to get rid of a non-paying tenant – while it does not apply to eviction for termination of tenancy.
When you cannot access eviction due to an expired contract
Finally, it is necessary to underline that it is not always possible to access eviction due to an expired contract. Obviously, the main prerequisite is the existence of a duly registered rental contract between the parties. Furthermore it is necessary that:
- there expiration is reported in the contract;
- the owner, as already seen, has sent regular cancellation within six months of the expiry;
- there is no possibility of renew the contract under new conditions.
Furthermore, it is not possible to benefit from eviction due to the end of the tenancy in cases of refusal to renew the rental contract on the first expiryif the conditions established by thearticle 3 of Law 431/1998relating to rentals for residential use, and byarticle 29 of Law 392/1978 for leases for different uses. In essence, these rules specify all the situations that allow the lessor not to renew the contract at its first expiration, such as the need to carry out renovation works for a seriously damaged building or, again, when it is necessary to rent the property to a relative up to the second degree. In these cases, it is necessary to follow a different procedure: for this purpose, it is useful to seek advice from your trusted lawyer.
