Lease agreement and protection

Questioner

We have been renting an independent home since 1 Feb 2020. The contract for this home was for 1 year. The landlord has not sent a message that he wants to terminate the lease when the contract expires on 1 Feb 2021. However, we also did not ask whether we could extend the lease or whether we could enter into a new contract for an indefinite period. Now my question is: What is the status of the lease? Has it now expired and do we have no rental protection or has this automatically been converted into a contract for an indefinite period and do we have rental protection?

Lawyer

That's a good question. Normally, a rental agreement for a period of 1 year expires automatically. No notice is required for this. The landlord also does not have to give notice in advance (as is the case with a two-year contract). Based on the article below, it could possibly be argued that the contract has been extended. That does depend on all the circumstances of the case and what exactly is stated in the contract. You can contact me without obligation via my profile to briefly discuss your case. Art. 7:230 If, after the expiry of a rental agreement, the tenant retains the use of the rented property with the landlord's approval, the agreement will be extended for an indefinite period, regardless of the period for which it was entered into, unless a different intention is apparent.