Commercial Eviction Processes in Lower Saxony: Deadlines & Clearance

The end of a commercial tenancy in Lower Saxony is legally noticeably different from residential properties. Because commercial tenants are not threatened in their private livelihoods (housing), there is no statutory tenant protection in the course of ordinary terminations. Nevertheless, landlords face lengthy eviction processes in the event of formal errors.

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1. The Regular Ordinary Termination

An ordinary termination only comes into play with open-ended contracts. However, the vast majority of commercial leases in downtown areas (such as Hanover or Göttingen) are concluded as real fixed-term contracts (e.g., fixed for 5 or 10 years), which cannot be terminated ordinarily at all before the contract term (or option) ends.

No Reasons Required

In the case of an open-ended commercial lease, the landlord – unlike with residential space – requires no statutory reason for termination such as personal need. They can dissolve the contract without cause. , the commercial tenant is not entitled to the strict right of objection according to the social clause (§ 574 BGB).

The Statutory Notice Period (§ 580a Para. 2 BGB)

Unless otherwise agreed in the contract (which is almost limitlessly permissible in commercial law), the BGB provides for a notice period of effectively almost six months for commercial properties:

Termination is permissible no later than the third working day of a calendar quarter to the end of the next calendar quarter.

• Example: Receipt of termination by the tenant on January 4th -> End of contract is June 30th.

2. Termination Without Notice (Extraordinary)

An immediate termination of the contract is permissible if there is an " reason" according to § 543 BGB, which makes the continuation of the contract unreasonable for the landlord. This primarily affects default of payment:

• The tenant does not pay for two consecutive rents.
• The tenant is in arrears over more than two months with a total amount that reaches two gross monthly rents.

Other reasons from the landlord's point of view:

• Delaying insolvency / filing for insolvency (special law of the Insolvency Code, pay attention to blocking periods in preliminary insolvency proceedings!).
• Unasked subletting of the majority of the commercial space despite a warning.
• Misappropriation or severe endangerment of the rented property (building substance) in ignorance of warnings.

Attention Healing: Commercial tenants can – much like residential tenants – invalidate the termination without notice ("healing") by settling the entire arrears before the termination is received or partly even in the course of the beginning process. However, in commercial law, this is more strictly capped and often limited to one time in a longer period.

3. Option Rights & Extension Clauses

Especially in commercial real estate, the termination or extension process often depends on extension options. Usually, the entrepreneur rents for "5 years fixed with an option for a further 3x5 years."

• If the landlord actually wants to get rid of the tenant, but the option right lies solely with the tenant, the landlord loses out. If the tenant exercises the option in good time (usually 6 months prior to the deadline), the tenancy is automatically renewed.

4. The Judicial Commercial Eviction Process

If the commercial tenant does not move out as agreed, the commercial landlord in Lower Saxony only has the option of going to the locally competent Regional Court (Landgericht) for an eviction lawsuit (for amounts in dispute > €5,000 annual cold rent, which is almost always the case in commercial real estate, instead of the local court). Representation by a lawyer is mandatory before the Regional Court.

1. Eviction Order / Judgment: Because witness questioning e.g. on defects is often pending in commercial space, litigations in commercial law sometimes drag on for years until they are finally clarified in all instances. This threatens an immense loss of rent if the tenant (as is often the case with insolvency risks) does not pay compensation for use.
2. The Eviction: The forced eviction of an open-plan office or a restaurant including cold stores and bulky inventory sometimes causes exorbitant eviction cost advances (often 5-digit or 6-digit) to the bailiff. Often commercial landlords in Lower Saxony then also use the limited eviction ("Berlin model"), in which they exercise their landlord's lien on the commercial tenant's brought-in inventory (office furniture, production machines) to initially physically lock the tenant out.

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