The following is a list of ten common situations of renting a rent, citing legal provisions and annotations, adding examples and explanations, taking laws and regulations as the yardstick, striving to correct misunderstandings and deviations, and providing a comprehensive and specific reference for both parties to rent as much as possible.
1. If the lease is surrendered normally upon expiration, the lessee shall return the leased property.
Legal Provisions: [Tenant Returns Leased Property at Expiration of Lease Term] Article 733 of the Civil Code Upon expiration of the lease term, the lessee shall return the leased property. The returned leased property shall conform to the state in which it is used in accordance with the agreement or according to the nature of the leased item.
Explanatory note: At the expiration of the lease term, the lessee shall return the leased property to the lessor, which is one of the main obligations of the lessee in the lease contract. If the lessee reconstructs, modifies or adds attachments to the leased property without the consent of the lessor, it shall restore the leased property to its original state;If the lessee's actions are agreed by the lessor, the lessee may not make restitution and may claim reimbursement from the lessor to the extent of the existing added value.
Examples: 1. When the contract expires, the leased property will be returned within the time limit. It may be that the lessor fails to return the leased property in time or delays the return of the leased property due to forgetting the time, failing to remove the items in time, leaving the items in time, leaving the items in a timely manner, not cleaning the hygiene, leaving without saying goodbye, etc., resulting in the lessor's failure to re-lease in time, and the refusal of the lessor to return the deposit on the grounds of breach of contract (here it is understood that the deposit is converted into liquidated damages).
2. The contract expires and the leased property is not restored to its original state. For example, if the tenant nails or stickers on the wall without the consent of the lessor, causing the hole in the wall and the wall skin to fall off, the lessor refuses to return the deposit on the grounds that it has not been restored to its original state (the leased property is damaged). The written consent of the lessor must be obtained for the nails and stickers on the wall, otherwise the wall will be damaged, not natural wear and tear, and the lessee shall bear the responsibility for repair.
3. At the expiration of the contract, the lessee has no other breach of contract, and the lessor refuses to return the deposit on the grounds of "not giving notice of surrender one month in advance". There are generally four situations of this kind of "advance notice", one is that the lessor says it orally, the second is that there is a clause in the contract that "one month in advance notice is required to quit the lease", the third is that there is a clause in the contract that "no deposit will be refunded if the lease is not notified one month in advance", and the fourth is that there is a clause in the contract that "if the lease needs to be renewed, one month in advance shall be notified". Personally, I believe that any of the first three situations does not constitute a reason for refusing the deposit. The lessee has fulfilled its obligation to pay rent in accordance with the contract, and has fulfilled its main obligations under the contract. As for the clause of "one month's notice of surrender", even if the contract stipulates the lessee's obligation to "inform", this obligation is only an ancillary obligation and a general obligation, and does not constitute a fundamental breach of contract. Furthermore, the lessor's attention to the foreknowledge of the "expiration of the lease term" was to take back the house on time and to rent another lease, and the lessee's attention to the foreknowledge of the "expiration of the lease term" was to return the house on time, and the lessee did not remind the lessor of the duty of care to "take back the house on time".
In addition to the "need to renew the lease, one month's notice is required", the "advance notice to quit the lease" in other situations can also be understood as aggravating the lessee's obligations. Article 497 of the Civil Code includes "the party providing the standard clause unreasonably exempts or reduces its liability, increases the liability of the other party, and restricts the main rights of the other party".
In addition, Article 498 of the Civil Code stipulates that if there is a dispute over the interpretation of standard clauses, it shall be interpreted in accordance with the common understanding. Where there are two or more interpretations of the standard clauses, an interpretation unfavorable to the party providing the standard clauses shall be made. The lease contract is generally a standard contract of the lessor, and obviously, the unfavorable interpretation for the lessor is that "failure to give one month's notice to quit the lease" does not constitute a breach of contract.
Important reminder: Do not return the leased property after the expiration of the period, check and clean the leased property in advance, return the leased property in accordance with the agreed state, and carefully check whether the contract has any clauses that increase obligations.
2. If a written contract is not signed, it shall be regarded as an indefinite lease, and both parties to the lease may terminate the contract at any time.
Legal Provisions: [Legal Consequences When the Lease Term Is Not Agreed or the Agreement Is Unclear] Article 730 Where the parties have not agreed on the lease term or the agreement is not clear, and it is still uncertain in accordance with the provisions of Article 510 of this Law, it shall be deemed to be an indefinite lease;The parties may terminate the contract at any time, provided that they notify the other party within a reasonable period of time.
Annotation of the Provisions: According to the provisions of this Article, if the parties have not agreed on the term of the lease or the agreement is not clear, they shall first supplement the agreement in accordance with the provisions of Article 510 of this Law. If the parties to the contract are unable to reach a supplementary agreement on the term of the lease, nor can they collect rent in accordance with the relevant terms of the contract or the transaction customs, it indicates that the lease relationship still exists, but the lease at this time is regarded as an indefinite lease, and the parties can terminate the contract at any time. If the lessee has achieved its purpose after using the leased property and has fulfilled its obligations at the same time, it may terminate the performance of the contract;If the lessor needs to use the leased property for objective reasons, and not out of other malicious intent, it can recover the leased property under the condition that the interests of the lessee are not harmed. However, when the lessor terminates the contract, it shall notify the lessee in good faith before a reasonable period of time.
Examples: 1. After the expiration of the lease term stipulated in the contract (the contract period is from November 25, 2019 to November 24, 2020), the tenant continues to use the leased property and the landlord does not raise any objection, so the original lease contract between the two parties continues to be valid, but the lease term is indefinite. The landlord asserted that the term of the lease should be until November 24, 2021, but there was no evidence to prove that the parties had reached an agreement on the deadline for continuing to lease the premises, so the landlord's claim that the lease should be leased for the whole year in accordance with the original lease contract and that the renewal period should be until November 24, 2021 lacked basis.
In May and July 2021, the tenant had informed the landlord that he would use the premises until the children would go to school in August, that is, the tenant had notified the landlord in advance to terminate the lease contract, in which case, the termination of the lease contract between the two parties on August 1, 2021 was in accordance with the law.
2. A housekeeping service department submitted a "Housing Lease Contract" to the court, but the tenant did not sign the contract to confirm it. The evidence in this case was insufficient to show that there was a written agreement between the domestic service department and the tenant regarding the tenancy period, so the relationship between the parties should be an indefinite tenancy contract. In the case of the tenant's failure to pay the rent of the house, the housekeeping department gave the tenant a reasonable period of time and required the tenant to vacate the premises involved in the case on a certain day.
Special reminder: a written contract must be signed for renting, and the written contract must be renewed after the expiration of the term.
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