Terminate a lease: free template (PDF & Word) – plus the notice calculator that names your earliest valid termination date
You want out of the flat, and the most common mistake costs you three months' rent: the wrong date. A lease termination is only valid for the local usual date with the right notice period. Miss it, and it slides to the next one automatically, and you keep paying. Here's the free, CO-compliant template. And a tool no one else has: the notice calculator, which works out your earliest possible exit in a second.
🏛️ What legally applies when terminating a lease
The good news first: as a tenant you can terminate your flat lease at any time, without giving a reason. You only need the right form and the right date. The termination must be in writing; only the landlord needs an official form, not you (Art. 266l CO). The 3-month notice applies to the local usual date, unless the contract sets something longer. For the full overview of all tenancy templates, see the Tenants & landlords hub. To draw up the lease itself, use the tenancy-agreement template.
The tricky part is the date. "Usual" means: the date that applies locally as a termination date, often end of March and end of September, but in many contracts also the end of each month. If you don't hit it with your notice, the termination stays valid and applies to the next possible date (Art. 266a para. 2 CO). That's exactly what the notice calculator below works out, so you don't waste a month.
These three form points you must observe as a tenant:
🧮 The notice calculator: your earliest exit
Here's the killer, which no other template portal calculates: from when can you leave at the earliest? That's why we built the ConvivaPlus notice calculator. You pick the lease type, the date model and the receipt date, and it names the earliest valid termination date under Art. 266a–266e CO in a second, with a countdown to the last timely posting date.
🧮 ConvivaPlus Notice Calculator
Pick lease type, date model and receipt date → your earliest valid termination date.
Guideline value without warranty. Your lease and local usage are decisive (termination dates vary by municipality). When in doubt, ask the Tenants' Association.
How the ConvivaPlus notice calculator works: it adds the statutory notice (3 months for flats, 6 for commercial premises, 2 weeks for furnished rooms) to your receipt date and finds the first allowed termination date after it. The deadline logic according to ConvivaPlus follows Art. 266a–266e CO. What always counts is receipt by the landlord.
✍️ Your termination letter in 2 minutes
No more searching for "terminate lease template Word free": fill in the fields, and the generator makes you a CO-compliant termination letter, with a request for confirmation of receipt and key handover. To download as PDF, print, sign, send by registered post. To adapt, copy the text and refine it in Word.
✍️ Termination-letter generator
Fill in the fields → lease termination letter ready as PDF or to copy. Free, no registration.
TERMINATION OF THE LEASE
… … Termination of the lease for … Dear Sir or Madam, I hereby terminate the lease for the property named above ordinarily and within the deadline for …. Should this date not be the earliest possible, the termination applies to the next possible date (Art. 266a para. 2 CO). Please confirm receipt of this termination in writing and propose a date for the handover and key return. Kind regards …
Tip: send the termination by registered post and keep a copy. For a family home, both spouses must sign (Art. 266m CO).
This template does not replace legal advice. In a disputed termination, the conciliation authority (free) or the Tenants' Association helps.
🚦 The termination check: is your notice watertight?
Most terminations fail not on substance, but on a missing signature or a delivery dispute. Answer four questions and the ConvivaPlus termination check tells you instantly whether your notice is valid (🟢), carries a proof or timing risk (🟡) or is simply void (🔴) — before you send it and lose three months.
🚦 ConvivaPlus termination check
Four yes/no questions → green, amber or red. Checks form, date, family dwelling and delivery of your tenant termination.
Is the termination in writing and signed by your own hand?
Family dwelling (married / registered partnership): did both partners sign?
Did you check and hit the notice period and date with the calculator?
Are you sending it by registered mail (or confirming receipt)?
How the ConvivaPlus termination check judges: it tests the four levers that, according to ConvivaPlus, decide validity or nullity — written form and signature (Art. 266l/266o CO), the joint signature for family dwellings (Art. 266m CO), notice period and date (Art. 266a CO) and provable receipt. Form defects turn red (void), timing and delivery risks amber.
⏱️ The deadline matrix: notice and date at a glance
Which notice and which date apply to your contract depends on the rented property. This matrix shows the statutory minimum notice periods, with the article to look up. Important: the contract may set longer periods, but not shorter ones to your detriment. If you only sublet a room instead of leaving, you don't need a termination: you need the sublease template — and when the sublet later ends, the sublease termination with notice-period matrix guides you step by step.
| Rented property | Notice | Date | Law |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flat | 3 months | local usual date | Art. 266c CO |
| Commercial premises | 6 months | local usual date | Art. 266d CO |
| Furnished room / parking space | 2 weeks | end of a one-month period | Art. 266e CO |
| Movable property | 3 days | at any time | Art. 266f CO |
| Fixed-term lease | no termination needed | ends on the agreed date | Art. 266 CO |
| Extraordinary (good cause) | statutory notice | at any time | Art. 266g CO |
⚡ Extraordinary termination and extension
Sometimes you can't wait for the next date. The law knows several extraordinary exits, and conversely it protects you with an extension when a termination hits you hard. Here are the key levers.
⚠️ The 5 costliest mistakes when terminating a lease
Each of these five mistakes has already cost someone months of rent, and the most common is the wrong date. Read them once and you'll make none.
Missing the local usual date. Whoever terminates too late pays until the next date. Calculate with the calculator above and send the termination in time, by registered post.
Only one spouse signed. For the family home, both must sign (Art. 266m CO). If a signature is missing, the termination is void, and you keep paying.
Not sent by registered post. Without registered post you can't prove timely receipt. What counts is receipt by the landlord, not the postmark.
"Terminating" a fixed-term lease. A fixed-term lease ends by itself (Art. 266 CO). A termination is superfluous and only creates confusion. First check the lease type.
Letting the extension deadline lapse. If a landlord's termination hits you hard, you have only 30 days to request an extension (Art. 273 CO). After that, the right is gone.
When terminating you rarely lose because you're in the wrong. You lose because you missed the date by a day.
✅ Terminate cleanly in 5 steps
Five steps, none longer than your coffee break, and at the end your lease is terminated securely, without a month's rent slipping away.
The lever almost nobody uses: Art. 264 CO. If you present an acceptable, solvent replacement tenant who takes over on the same terms, you're out of the lease immediately, without waiting for the date. The landlord must accept the replacement or release you anyway. Those who look early for a good replacement save themselves months of double rent, and that's exactly what almost everyone forgets.
Where do you stand?
One click – anonymous, no sign-up required.
❓ Frequent questions about lease termination
The questions that come up before every flat termination, answered briefly and honestly.
People also ask
Related questions from our magazine
All information without guarantee. Found an error? → support@conviva-plus.ch
A wrong termination date doesn't void the termination: it automatically applies to the next possible date (Art. 266a para. 2 CO). Those who know this don't panic but simply calculate the earliest valid date with the notice calculator.
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Discussion
6 voices from the community
I almost terminated a month too late, I thought end of month always worked. The calculator showed me: receipt this week, otherwise it slides to the next date. Saved 1,900 francs.
The key sentence for me: a wrong termination isn't void, it applies to the next date. It took the panic away when I'd miscalculated the date.
Thanks, Carla. Exactly, Art. 266a para. 2 CO is your friend here: better in time and on the wrong date than not at all. But aim for the earliest date with the calculator to avoid double rent.
We're married, I'd first only signed myself. Good thing the generator notes that both spouses must sign. Otherwise the termination would have been void.
Thanks to the tip about the replacement tenant (Art. 264) I got out two months earlier. Presented a solvent replacement, the management had to release me. This site saves real money.
Simple, clear, and with the registered-post tip. I sent the termination by registered post and asked for confirmation. Everything worked perfectly, thanks.
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