In our blog on the diplomatic clause, we already told you a lot about how to use it if you want to temporarily rent out your property without being stuck with your tenant. Many people wonder:
When can you use the diplomatic clause and when not?
The diplomatic clause has NOTHING to do with “diplomats. What matters is that you, as the owner of a property, will at some point return to that property you want to rent out temporarily.
In this regard, it is irrelevant why you are temporarily living somewhere else or where.
As long as you are going to use the property again yourself at some point when you terminate the lease. So the clause is NOT meant for real estate investors who want to try to use it so as not to be stuck with tenants in their properties.
When you may and can use the diplomatic clause is, for example, in the following cases:
- You want to go ‘trial cohabitation’
- You want to take a trip
- You want to temporarily live elsewhere in the Netherlands or abroad for whatever reason
- Your relationship is not going well and you both want to live somewhere else for a while
- You want to live temporarily with your parents or a friend for financial reasons
Move back into the home you temporarily rent with a diplomatic clause
As you read in our earlier comprehensive article on the diplomatic clause, you and the tenant are both stuck with the agreed-upon term of the lease or the written extension to it. You as the landlord must ALWAYS give written notice of the lease and be on time with this (see below). If you are going to cancel in writing indicate in your notice:
-that you need the property again for your own use and are going to move in there
-that you terminate under the diplomatic clause agreed upon in the lease agreement
-you want the tenant to deliver the property to you vacated
If the tenant does not agree to that termination, the termination will have to go through the subdistrict court. The court could then review whether you, as the landlord, are moving back into the property yourself. Therefore, do make sure that you sincerely really are going to reoccupy that property yourself and can also demonstrate that you will do so.
What is the landlord’s notice period under a diplomatic clause?
The notice period for the landlord in a lease with a diplomatic clause is at least 3 months before the expiration of the contract and for each year that the tenant is already in the house, an additional 1 month notice period is added with a maximum of 6 months.
Temporarily renting out your property and need help?
We can help you well. Please take a moment to contact us or call Floris (see below).
Disclaimer: Multiple sources were used to arrive at the content of this article, but the author cannot guarantee the complete accuracy of the information cited. Use of the information contained in this article is therefore entirely at your own risk and the author shall not be liable for any damages arising from such use.