How to Cancel a Rental Contract in Germany (Mietvertrag kündigen) – Free Template

Moving out and wondering how to cancel your German rental contract properly? As a tenant, this is actually more straightforward than you might expect — the key rule is spelled out clearly in the law, and with the right template you’ll be done in a few minutes. Here’s a ready-to-use letter (in German, since that’s what your landlord needs) plus everything you should know about the legal notice period.

The Legal Notice Period: Three Months

Under §573c of the German Civil Code (BGB), tenants have a uniform notice period of three months to the end of a month — regardless of how long you’ve lived in the apartment. That’s one of the big differences compared to landlords, whose notice period actually gets longer the longer a tenant has lived there. As a tenant, you only need to remember one rule: your cancellation has to reach the landlord by the third working day of a month, and the contract then ends at the end of the month after next. Saturdays count as working days here.

Example for November 2026: November 1st is a Sunday, so the first three working days are Monday the 2nd, Tuesday the 3rd and Wednesday the 4th. If your cancellation reaches the landlord by Wednesday, November 4th, the tenancy ends on January 31st, 2027. If it arrives on Thursday, November 5th instead, the end date moves back to February 28th, 2027. Those first three working days of the month matter a lot — build in a few days of buffer rather than cutting it close.

What Your Rental Contract Might Say Differently

For an open-ended rental contract, the statutory notice period is generally mandatory in the tenant’s favor — your landlord can’t contractually extend it against you. Fixed-term contracts (Zeitmietverträge) are different: ordinary termination during the agreed term is often excluded entirely, unless the contract explicitly allows early termination. Worth checking your contract before you draft the letter.

The Template (Keep This in German)

Since your landlord operates in Germany, the letter itself needs to be in German — sending it in English risks delays or simply not being processed. Copy the template below and fill in the bracketed parts:

—

[Dein Name]
[Deine Adresse]
[PLZ, Ort]

[Name des Vermieters]
[Adresse des Vermieters]
[PLZ, Ort]

[Ort], den [Datum]

Kündigung des Mietverhältnisses, Wohnung [Adresse der Wohnung]

Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren,

hiermit kündige ich das zwischen uns bestehende Mietverhältnis über die oben genannte Wohnung fristgerecht zum [Datum einfügen, unter Einhaltung der gesetzlichen Kündigungsfrist von drei Monaten].

Ich bitte Sie um eine schriftliche Bestätigung des Kündigungseingangs sowie um einen Termin zur gemeinsamen Wohnungsübergabe.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen

[Unterschrift]
[Name in Druckbuchstaben]

—

Quick translation for your reference (don’t send this part): This letter cancels the rental agreement for the stated apartment, effective on the date you specify, respecting the statutory three-month notice period. It asks for written confirmation of receipt and a date for the joint apartment handover.

Written Form Is Mandatory

Unlike many contracts, email or fax isn’t enough here — German law explicitly requires Schriftform (§568 BGB): a signed letter, sent by post. Without a handwritten signature, the cancellation is formally invalid, even if the landlord received it. What counts is when the letter actually reaches the landlord, and you have to be able to prove that — especially given the three-working-day rule at the start of the month. The safest route is handing it over in person with a witness. A Einwurf-Einschreiben (registered mail that is dropped into the mailbox, with the date and time documented) is a solid second choice. A Übergabe-Einschreiben (registered mail the landlord has to sign for) is riskier: if he isn’t home and never picks it up, delivery is uncertain.

More Than One Tenant on the Lease?

If multiple people are listed as tenants on the contract, all of them generally need to cancel together and sign the letter. A cancellation from just one of several tenants is usually invalid unless the others have given that person power of attorney. This gets overlooked a lot in shared flats and couples — check who’s actually named on the contract before sending anything.

Handover and Deposit

After cancelling, arrange a handover appointment (Wohnungsübergabe) promptly. A joint handover protocol with meter readings and the apartment’s condition protects both sides from later disputes — especially over the deposit, which landlords must typically return within a reasonable period (usually up to six months), minus any legitimate deductions.

Common Mistakes

The classic one: missing the three-working-day rule and ending up stuck for an extra month. Another: sending the cancellation by ordinary mail with no proof — if there’s ever a dispute about the delivery date, you have nothing to show for it. And with multiple tenants, forgetting to collect every signature before sending.

Bottom Line

As a tenant, ordinary termination is comparatively simple: three months‘ notice, a fixed rule, no reason required. Use the German template above, watch the three-working-day rule at the start of the month, and send it by registered mail. Need to leave faster — say, because of a defect like mold? Check our guide to extraordinary termination instead.