Defending one's rights in court as a tenant/landlord in matters involving rental agreements

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Summary:

Landlords and tenants both have rights when it comes to rental agreements. As a last resort, they can take legal action to enforce compliance.

If you are a landlord, tenant or co-tenant and wish to raise objections regarding the existence or performance of a rental agreement, you can refer the matter to the justice of the peace.

If the dispute concerns the amount of rent and/or rental charges, you must first contact the Rent Committee in your commune.

Who is concerned

Parties involved

Any landlord or tenant of a residential property, including in the case of joint tenancy.

Dwellings excluded

The following cases do not fall under the above-mentioned rental agreements:

  • premises:
    • for commercial use;
    • for administrative use;
    • for industrial use;
    • for craft use; or
    • used for liberal profession purposes;
  • secondary residences;
  • premises that are separate from a main dwelling (such as a garage not attached to a house);
  • hotel rooms;
  • shelters for temporary accommodation of applicants for international protection, refugees, etc.;
  • furnished or unfurnished dwellings in special accommodation facilities (old people's homes, integrated centres for the elderly, etc.);
  • furnished or unfurnished dwellings made available to natural persons as part of a social assistance programme implemented by a commune, an association of communes, etc.

Costs

A lawyer is not required for matters relating to rental agreements. This means that the cost of the procedure is very limited.

The costs mainly include:

  • travel to and from hearings;
  • the cost of copies of documents;
  • the costs of sending documents to the other party by registered post.

How to proceed

Submission of the application before the court

Reasons for legal action

There are many grounds for legal action, but some are particularly common.

For tenants, this often includes:

  • the return of their deposit upon termination of the rental agreement;
  • disputes over the amount of rental charges;
  • a request for a grace period following the termination of a rental agreement by the landlord;
  • permission to carry out urgent work at the landlord's expense.

For landlords, this primarily includes:

  • the tenant being ordered to pay rent arrears; 
  • the request to terminate the lease in order to obtain a judgment ordering the tenant to vacate the premises.

The judgment allows the landlord to:

  • recover, in the event of non-payment, the sums due in respect of rent arrears, and to take further legal action in order to:
    • validate an attachment of earnings on the tenant's salary;
    • seize the tenant's property. This involves seizing the tenant's movable property so that, once the seizure has been validated, it can be sold;
  • proceed with the forced eviction of the tenant if they refuse to leave the premises voluntarily.

Identifying the competent Magistrate's Court

Firstly, you must identify which Magistrate's Court (Luxembourg, Esch-sur-Alzette or Diekirch) is competent to deal with your request, depending on the location of the rented accommodation.

Submitting the request

Then, you submit your request (in person or by post) to the competent magistrate's court, ensuring that it includes the following information:

  • on plain paper:
  • the surname, first name, occupation and address of each party;
  • specify the grounds on which your request is based and its purpose;
  • deposit/send it to the clerk of the Magistrates' Court in as many copies as there are parties involved.

Summoning of the parties

You will receive a summons to a hearing by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt.

On the date specified in the summons, you must appear at the court hearing in person or represented by a proxy (someone who has power of attorney from you or your lawyer).

If no one appears, the judge may dismiss the case after sending a final notice to the parties or their representatives.

Conduct of the hearing

You must communicate all documents to the opposing party, preferably by registered mail with acknowledgement of receipt.

Only documents communicated to the other party in advance and within a reasonable time frame may be taken into consideration by the judge.

Each party presents their claim and evidence.

The judge then sets a date for the judgment to be handed down. This judgment will be notified to you by registered mail with acknowledgement of receipt.

Fast-track procedure

In all urgent cases, the magistrate may, by interim order (a decision taken in urgent cases), take any provisional measures that are not subject to serious dispute, such as:

  • the nomination of an expert;
  • the setting of a provisional rent;
  • the drawing up of an inventory.

They may thus prescribe the necessary protective or remedial measures:

  • to prevent imminent damage; or
  • to stop a clearly unlawful disturbance.

Appeals

The legal remedies against a judgment rendered in a tenancy case are objection or appeal.

Please note that for the appeal to be admissible, the dispute must relate to a value exceeding EUR 1,250.

As with the first instance procedure, the assistance of a lawyer is not mandatory in matters relating to rental agreements.

Decisions rendered in relation to suspension of eviction are not subject to appeal.

Who to contact

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Related procedures and links

Procedures

Links

Further information

Legal references

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