Er opsigelse afsendt d. 29.03.1997 rettidig?

Forgive me for writing in English, I do not write Danish well. I do read it fluently, however. Feel free to send your reply in Danish.

On the 27. of March, we decided to make a move back to Canada. Because of the Easter holidays, we were unable to send our letter of termination (opsigelsesbrev) until 29. March. My landlord, who lives in England, is refusing to accept our termination as effective 1. April. He says that he did not receive the 'opsigelse' until 2. April.

The post office told us it would take two days for the letter to arrive.

We have been told by many people, including our landlord, that it is the postmark and letter date that determines when the termination is effective. Now that it doesn't suite him, he is telling us a different story!

Because of all the holidays, we could not send the 'opsigelse' earlier.

If the landlord lived in Denmark, he would have received it by 1. April. Our lease says nothing about the 'opsigelse' being 'in his hand' on the first -- only that termination must be made by the first.

Is there anything we can do?

Svar:

Opsigelsen skal være kommet frem til udlejer inden udløbet af marts 1997. Det er ikke nok, at I har afsendt brevet påskelørdag d. 29. marts 1997. Dette gælder, selv om de sidste dage i måneden var helligdage. Jeres udlejer har således ret til at lade jer hænge på lejemålet helt frem til d. 01. august 1997. Dette ville også gælde, hvis opsigelsen var kommet frem til udlejeren tirsdag d. 1. april 1997.

Som en lille trøst vil jeg henlede jeres opmærksomhed på lejelovens § 86, stk. 3, som lyder således:

Fraflytter lejeren inden opsigelsesvarslets udløb, skal udlejeren bestræbe sig på at genudleje det lejede. Hvad udlejeren indvinder eller burde have indvundet ved genudlejning, skal fragå i hans krav over for lejeren.

Du kan læse mere om opsigelse af lejemål på emne nr. 751.

Med venlig hilsen

Jørgen U. Grønborg