Divorce and the rental property – rights and obligations upon termination of the lease

Who is allowed to continue living in the rental property after the divorce?

Are you and your partner separating and currently living together in a rental property? On this page, you can read about who is entitled to stay in the home.

The rental property after the divorce

If you currently live in a rented house, you can decide together which of you will stay. Spouses and registered partners have an equal right to remain in the rental home after a divorce. It therefore does not matter whether you were married in community of property or under a prenuptial agreement. It also does not matter whose name is on the lease. Spouses and registered partners are always automatically co-tenants.

Once you have decided which of you will remain in the house, you can ask the landlord to change the name on the lease agreement. It is advisable to also request an interim inspection immediately, so that you can still have any necessary repairs carried out together. This ensures that the person staying in the house is not confronted with high costs later on.

Are you not getting along together?

Are you not getting along together? In that case, you can ask a mediator to assist you or (via a lawyer) ask the court to make a decision. The court will weigh several factors in its decision:

• If you have minor children, the court will usually award the house to the person with whom the children will spend most of their time.
• The duration of residence can also play a role. Did one of you live in the property significantly longer than the other? Then there is a high probability that this person will be awarded the property.

The rental property during the divorce – provisional measures

During the divorce proceedings, it may also be desirable for one of you to leave the property because living together is simply no longer possible. If this applies to you, you must make agreements about this. Will one of you live elsewhere temporarily? Or will you alternate moving in and out, allowing the children to stay in the home? And how will you handle the associated costs?

If you cannot reach an agreement together, you can engage a mediator or ask the court to make a decision for you in an expedited procedure (provisional measures). You will need a lawyer for this.

In this procedure, the court will also weigh various factors. For example, do you have minor children? The court will then consider who will take on the majority of the care during the divorce. The court also considers whether one of you can easily find alternative accommodation. The ruling the court subsequently makes is binding and applies until the divorce is finalized.

But please note: if you have submitted a request for provisional measures, you must also file the divorce petition with the court within four weeks. Only then can the provisional measures remain in effect until the divorce is finalized.