Shared apartments

A lease for a shared apartment can be a sublease or a master lease. A sublease is between the master tenant and the subtenant. A master lease, on the other hand, is when the lease is between the apartment seeker and the apartment or home owner.

The following contractual options exist:

  • One person can sign a lease, and the others move in as roommates. Disadvantage: If the person who signed the contract moves out, the lease may not be transferred to another member of the apartment community and everyone must move out.
  • All shared living community members sign the lease and are therefore legally equal as tenants. If one tenant moves out, it does not change the lease for the remaining roommates. In this case, it would be sensible to agree that the rights of the departing tenant can be assigned to the remaining tenants.
  • Separate leases are concluded with the landlord for the room occupied by the individual roommate. Disadvantage: The occupants of the apartment, for example, may not be able to influence who moves into a room that has become vacant.

Information on this topic can be found at the respective student union of your university.

Further links

Last update: 1 January 2023

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