Changing managers
Changing your unit manager (Sondereigentumsverwaltung): notice, handover, informing the tenant
Short answer
You sign the unit management contract yourself, not the owners’ association, so you can terminate it without a meeting. The contractual notice periods apply; towards consumers, standard terms with an initial term over two years are invalid, and in newer contracts so are notice periods over one month. After that, the deposit, tenant accounts and records are what matter.
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Two kinds of management, two contracts
If you own a let condominium flat in Germany, you often have two managers without calling them that. The WEG manager looks after the common property and is appointed by the owners’ meeting. Unit management (Sondereigentumsverwaltung, SEV) looks after your flat and your tenancy: rent collection, the tenant’s Nebenkostenabrechnung, tenant changes, repairs inside the flat. What it covers is described in our article on unit management for investors.
The key difference when changing: you instruct the unit manager alone. You need no meeting, no resolution and no majority. You give notice yourself.
Often both roles sit with the same company. You can then change the unit management without changing anything about the WEG management — or tackle both. How the WEG side works is covered in property manager not responding and changing manager: deadlines and handover.
Notice periods
What the contract says. The contractual provision applies first. Check the term, notice period and required form.
What applies to consumers. If you let your own flat, you usually act as a consumer. In pre-drafted contracts for regular services, an initial term of more than two years is invalid (§ 309 no. 9 BGB). For contracts concluded from March 2022, notice periods of more than one month are also invalid, and a tacit extension may only be for an indefinite term with monthly notice. For older contracts, extensions of up to one year and notice periods of up to three months were permitted. A fixed five-year term is therefore almost always open to challenge towards consumers.
What applies if nothing is agreed. If the contract is silent and the fee is calculated monthly, notice can be given by the 15th of a month to the end of that month (§ 621 BGB).
Without notice. With good cause — misappropriated rent, persistently missing statements, serious breaches of duty — termination without notice is possible (§ 626 BGB). It must be declared within two weeks of learning of the reason. Document the reasons.
Give notice in writing in a way that lets you prove receipt. Registered post or email with acknowledgement of receipt usually suffices; what the contract says about form is decisive.
What the old manager must hand over
The manager must hand over everything obtained on your behalf and account for it (§§ 666, 667 BGB). For a let flat, that means:
Tenancy agreement with all addenda, handover report and house rules
Tenant account: rent due, payments received, open items, reminders
Rent deposit: account evidence, balance including interest, transfer or reassignment
Service charge statements of recent years and current advance payments
Rent increases with justification, rent index reference and deadlines
Ongoing defects, contractor orders and warranties
Keys and key receipts
Correspondence with the tenant over recent years
Final account: rent collected, expenses, payment of the balance to you
The deposit matters most. It must be held separately from the manager’s assets (§ 551(3) BGB). Towards the tenant, you as landlord are liable for repaying it — even if the manager lost it.
The rent increase history is often overlooked. Without it, neither you nor your new manager knows when the next increase is permitted and which cap applies. See our articles on the Nuremberg rent index and the rent cap and capping limit.
How it works in practice
Beforehand
Choose the new manager
Review the offer and contract, agree a cut-off date, ideally a month end.
Notice
Terminate the old contract
In writing, with proof of receipt. At the same time, demand the handover of records on the cut-off date and revoke any powers of attorney.
Two weeks before
Inform the tenant
A letter from you as landlord: new contact, new bank details from which month, emergency contact.
Cut-off date
Handover
Records, deposit and keys go to the new manager; the old one presents the final account.
Afterwards
Settle the statement
Who prepares the service charge statement for the current year? Simplest is the new manager, using the old manager’s data.
Changing mid-way through the billing year is the most common stumbling block. The deadline for the tenant’s Nebenkostenabrechnung keeps running, whoever is managing at the time. So clarify when you give notice who prepares the current statement and who supplies the receipts for the period so far.
Informing your tenant
You remain the landlord, not the manager. The information to the tenant should therefore come from you, in writing and with a clear effective date. As long as the tenant does not know of the change, they may keep paying to the place they were told. Without clear information, you get double payment routes, reminders sent to the wrong party and, in the worst case, lost rent.
Also tell the tenant whom to contact about damage. Water damage in handover week is not a theoretical risk; what to do then is in water damage in a condo.
How to recognise a good successor
Ask about the same points as with a WEG manager: availability, date for the service charge statement, access to the tenant account, approach to rent increases. The question list in comparing property management offers largely carries over. How letting works in the region is shown, by way of example, in our article on letting a condo in Erlangen.
Ravenica takes over unit and rental management at the end of a month and handles the handover with your previous manager. Our services are on the unit management and rental management pages; request an offer via our contact form.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a WEG resolution to change my unit manager?
No. Unit management (Sondereigentumsverwaltung) is a contract between you and the manager about your flat. The owners’ association is not a party to it. You terminate it yourself, under the terms of your contract.
What notice period applies if the contract says nothing?
Then § 621 BGB applies. If the fee is calculated monthly, notice can be given by the 15th of a month to the end of that month. For good cause, termination without notice is possible at any time (§ 626 BGB).
Is a five-year contract term valid?
Towards consumers, in standard terms, usually not. For contracts for regular services, an initial term of at most two years is permitted; since March 2022, the contract may then only extend indefinitely and must be terminable with at most one month’s notice (§ 309 no. 9 BGB). Someone letting their own flat usually acts as a consumer.
What happens to the rent deposit?
The deposit must be held separately from the manager’s own assets (§ 551(3) BGB). On a change, the deposit account is transferred to the new manager, or the balance plus interest is moved to a new deposit account. Ask for proof of the balance.
Do I need to inform my tenant about the change?
Yes, in writing and from you as the landlord: new contact, new bank details, effective date. As long as the tenant knows nothing of the change, they may keep paying to the account previously given. Clear information avoids double payment routes and lost rent.
About the author
Julius Launhardt
Founder, owner & managing director of Ravenica · Dipl.-Ing. (TUM)
Graduate engineer (Dipl.-Ing.) and M.Sc. in Management from the Technical University of Munich, IHK-certified property manager, TÜV-certified sustainability manager and long-standing member of the volunteer fire brigade. As founder and managing director of Ravenica in Nuremberg, he is responsible for day-to-day business, processes and long-term strategy. Knows building services, refurbishments, energy and inheritance cases first-hand, and owns several properties himself.
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