Many landlords want to prevent tenants from getting rent protection and therefore being able to stay in the property for life. If you want to temporarily rent out your own home, a lease with a diplomatic clause may be a solution.
By the way, it is not a requirement that you go abroad if you want to use the diplomatic clause. So you can also use it, for example, if you want to live with your parents again temporarily for a while or if you want to try living together, for example.
The problem is that many people have temporarily rented their property without a diplomatic clause and want to extend the lease for another period WITHOUT extending tenant rent protection. If you renew a lease and if there is no diplomatic clause in the lease then the tenant ALWAYS gets rent protection after this. Earlier we wrote this article on how you can possibly solve this creatively, but beware: this is a rather risky construction that does NOT give you, the homeowner, any assurance that you will get the tenants out!
If my tenants move somewhere else temporarily, can I renew without rent protection?
The answer to this question is: no. You simply run too much risk. The courts could interpret the introduction of such a temporary “rent break” as a way to circumvent rent protection laws. And let’s face it, then, of course, in most cases it is.
In fact, it is possible that the court may consider the second contract to be a continuation of the first contract, making the diplomatic clause inapplicable. This would carry the risk that the landlord could not simply terminate the lease and thus the tenant would enjoy rent protection.
Therefore, the advice to landlords is: don’t do it! By the way, the same applies if you have the lease put in another name (for example, this time in the partner’s name or someone else’s). These are all “revolving door constructions” that the courts are very unlikely to step into!
