⏳ Rent arrears and grace-period payment
In brief
The landlord may terminate without notice if you are in default with the rent for two consecutive due dates. Or if arrears of two months' rent build up over several due dates.
There is a rescue, the grace-period payment (Grace-period payment). You pay the whole outstanding amounts at the latest two months after the eviction action is served. Then the termination without notice becomes ineffective. The Jobcenter or the social welfare office (Sozialamt) can also do this for you.
For residential premises, arrears of more than one month's rent are also required (§ 543 Abs. 2 Nr. 3, § 569 Abs. 3 Nr. 1 BGB). Important: according to settled Federal Court of Justice case law, this rescue does not also apply to an ordinary termination issued at the same time. Whether the "Mietrecht II" bill changes this is still open.
Do not wait. Contact the Jobcenter or social welfare office and an advice centre immediately.
Step by step
- Work out the debtCalculate what is outstanding. Keep proof of payments.
- Seek help immediatelyContact the Jobcenter or social welfare office (Sozialamt). Apply for the debts to be taken over.
- Pay after the lawsuitIf an eviction action arrives, make sure the entire arrears are paid within two months after service.
- Use adviceCheck with a tenants' association (Mieterverein) or debt counselling (Schuldnerberatung) whether an ordinary termination is also threatened.
Deadlines
- According to the wording of the law, the grace-period payment covers termination without notice. According to settled Federal Court of Justice case law it does not cure an ordinary termination (BGH 13 October 2021 – VIII ZR 91/20; 2024 – VIII ZR 106/23); only parts of lower-court case law (LG Berlin) take a different view.
- The "Mietrecht II" draft wants to extend the grace-period payment to ordinary terminations; it is not in force.
- If the authority pays, the grace period likewise applies once the landlord is "satisfied".
- Without payment, an eviction judgment and loss of the home threaten. React early.
In depth · legal basis, figures and practice – for advisers and professionals
Termination without notice, § 543 Abs. 2 Nr. 3 BGB
There is good cause if the tenant is in default with paying the rent, or a not insignificant part of the rent, for two consecutive due dates, or, over a period covering more than two due dates, is in default with paying rent in an amount reaching two months' rent. Under § 543 Abs. 3, a warning is not required in the case of default on payment.
Residential premises, § 569 Abs. 3 BGB
The outstanding part of the rent is to be regarded as not insignificant only if it exceeds one month's rent (no. 1). Under no. 2, the termination becomes ineffective if the landlord is satisfied, at the latest by the end of two months after the eviction claim became pending, in respect of the rent due and the compensation due, or if a public body commits to satisfying him. No. 2 does not apply if the termination was preceded, not more than two years earlier, by a termination that had become ineffective (§ 569 Abs. 3 Nr. 2 Satz 2 BGB).
Ordinary termination
According to settled Federal Court of Justice case law, the grace-period payment does not cure an ordinary termination issued in the alternative (BGH 13 October 2021 – VIII ZR 91/20; 2024 – VIII ZR 106/23). Only parts of lower-court case law (LG Berlin) deviate.
Takeover by the authority, § 22 Abs. 8 SGB II
Debts can be taken over if this is justified to secure accommodation or to remedy a comparable emergency; they should be taken over if homelessness would otherwise threaten. Assets must be used first; cash benefits should be provided as a loan.
Planned change
According to the BMJV, the grace-period payment is in future to be able to avert an ordinary termination for rent arrears once as well (government draft "Mietrecht II", not passed as of September 2026).
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