You want to buy an apartment that is currently let and later live there yourself. A nice floor plan and an appropriate purchase price do not yet answer an essential question: when and on what clarified basis would your planned personal use actually be possible? This article concerns Austria and helps to prepare the decision. It does not examine any specific ground for termination and does not replace individual advice on the existing tenancy.
Separate the present condition from your personal wish
First note the confirmed offer status: the apartment is currently occupied or let. Separately, note your personal wish for a specific move-in date. That wish does not become a confirmed characteristic of the offer simply because you urgently need it for your life planning.
Ask what concrete information a claimed later availability is based on. Is it a mere wish, a still open intention or documents that can be professionally assessed? Avoid inferring a already-secured move-out of the occupants from a casual conversation.
Have the existing contract reviewed before scheduling your own timeline
For a professional assessment the actual contractual situation and its legal framework are required. Have explained which documents and information are necessary for this purpose. These can include the tenancy agreement, relevant amendments and other information specifically needed for this question. Unnecessary personal documents of the tenant are not a substitute for an appropriate proof.
Insofar as § 2 MRG is applicable to the case, it deals, among other things, with the binding of legal successors to a validly concluded and transferred head tenancy agreement. [MRG2] The purchase is therefore not a sensible starting point for the unchecked assumption that the previous tenancy agreement is simply terminated. Which provision applies in the specific case and which particularities exist must be clarified individually.
Owner-occupation is a matter for examination, not a confirmation of date
The Austrian government portal explains, for the full and partial scope of application of the MRG, the protection against eviction and points to the strict examination of owner-occupation. [SCHUTZ] § 30 MRG contains concrete requirements and further restrictions on this. [MRG30] No blanket promise is derived here that your planned personal occupation is possible or can be enforced by a certain date.
Section 30(3) MRG specifies a concrete limit for a tenement house that the landlord acquired by an inter vivos legal transaction: for a termination on the ground of § 30(2) Z 8, at least ten years must elapse between acquisition and the termination date. [MRG30] According to the case law of the OGH this blocking period also applies if you buy a let owner-occupied apartment (OGH 8 Ob 75/20t). It concerns only the termination due to owner-occupation under § 30(2) Z 8 MRG and exceptionally does not apply if the previous owner side could already have asserted this owner-occupation. Before a purchase decision it must therefore be clarified whether the specific object of acquisition and the potential ground for termination fall exactly under this restriction. Even after the expiry of the stated period the other requirements are not automatically fulfilled.
Share with the advisor what you actually intend to use the apartment for and why the timeframe is important. The legal assessment should relate to your real situation and the specific property, not to a similar case from a forum.
Example: the new workplace starts before the clarified availability
An interested buyer needs an apartment at a new workplace soon in the hypothetical case. The offered property is let. In a conversation it is said that the occupants would “probably move out soon”.
The person does not base their own relocation solely on this statement. They have the basis of the expected availability clarified and additionally check which viable alternative they would have if the apartment were not free at their desired date. The example recommends neither a specific contractual reservation nor a termination; it illustrates the dependence between the purchase decision and an actually unresolved move-in.
Plan for different timelines
Our editorial recommendation: in addition to the desired schedule, draw up another personal plan in which the personal occupation is later or not yet determinable. What ongoing commitments and your own housing costs would then exist? Use the specific financing and known costs for actual amounts; open values remain visible as assumptions.
Also have the possibilities and limits of contractual arrangements in the purchase process explained. This article does not draft a universal clause and promises no easy unwind if a personal move-in wish is not fulfilled.
Keep tenant contact and purchase due diligence respectfully separate
Enquiries, viewings and information about the existing tenant are organised through the authorised, coordinated channels. An interest in purchase is no reason to pressure private move-out promises from tenants or to unilaterally change the use. Which actions and declarations are legally permissible will be assessed professionally.
Before a binding decision you should therefore have two comprehensible results: the existing tenancy situation has been appropriately classified, and your own housing schedule treats only as secured what is actually clarified. A let apartment can be an interesting offer. For your planned personal occupation, however, the documented concrete situation counts and not the general notion that, as future owner, every use will be immediately freely available.