Won by the ÖH: Without initiating proceedings, the student can terminate her occupancy contract early after intervention by the ÖH and save herself several months of rent payments.
Student P wants to terminate the contract of use concerning her dormitory room prematurely because she has to end her studies suddenly due to an unforeseeable financial emergency. Her landlord, a private student housing provider, refuses, claiming that early termination is not legally permissible and that she must pay rent through the end of September whether or not she is still living in the room.
The student contacts the housing counseling service of the Österreichische Hochschüler_innenschaft (ÖH). The ÖH’s housing law advice service offers advice on all housing law matters of students, in particular on tenancy agreements for apartments, student dormitories or shared apartments (WGs).
The housing legal counsel contacts the home administration and clarifies the applicable legal situation. As a rule, contracts for the use of rooms in student dormitories are concluded for one academic year, i.e. twelve months. However, changes of study location, semesters abroad or unforeseen events may make early termination necessary. The Student Dormitory Act (StudHG) stipulates that dormitory residents, even if longer notice periods have been contractually agreed, may terminate their contract at the end of the next calendar month if there are important reasons for doing so. This special right of termination with one month’s notice is provided so that the students concerned do not have to pay rent for the rest of the year even though they have already had to move out. Important reasons in the sense of the law are the completion of military or civilian service, a change of study location, a graduation or a sudden social emergency. Often, however, new, private-sector and profit-oriented providers of student dormitory rooms do not observe these legally stipulated standards of the StudHG.
After intervention by the ÖH’s housing law counsel, the home’s administration finally relents and accepts the early termination with one month’s notice. In many cases, there is no need to initiate proceedings to resolve such disputes.
Won by the ÖH: Without initiating proceedings, the student can terminate her occupancy contract early after intervention by the ÖH and save herself several months of rent payments.
Further successes from consulting at www.oeh.ac.at/geschafft
