Personal use termination even with occasional use

The Federal Court (BGH) has (VIII ZR 186/17) decided that even then a tenancy can be terminated with the justification of their own needs, if the owner wants to use the apartment only a few weeks a year.

The underlying case concerns an apartment building owned by a family living abroad and wishing to use another flat twice a year for multi-day family reunions.

The tenant did not want to acknowledge this own needs and refused to move out, whereupon the landlord sought an eviction action. The Karlsruhe judges gave the landlord right and considered the termination in this case as justified.

In the view of the BGH, own needs do not require that the owner or his relatives set up their place of residence in the property. Also, a concrete minimum service life as a second home is not necessary. The decisive factor is that there are comprehensible and reasonable reasons for their own use. The desire to use must be seriously prosecuted and must not be abusive.