Who must an eviction claim be directed against?

For a successful enforcement of the eviction claim, the question of which persons the eviction action must be directed against is very important.

Even if an enforceable eviction order has been issued, the former tenant often does not vacate the apartment voluntarily. In this case, the landlord is entitled to enforce his claim and he can instruct the responsible bailiff to remove the debtor from possession of the apartment.

For the bailiff, however, the “debtor” is usually (only) the person / s who have been or are sentenced to evacuation, ie the person / s named in the eviction order as the “defendant” is or are.

1. Third

Attention: According to the case law of the Federal Court of Justice, the bailiff is not allowed to evacuate persons who (also) are in possession of the apartment and are not named in the judgment.

If, for example, the tenant’s girlfriend moves into the apartment with the tenant after the start of the contract, she must also be sued for eviction. Because if she is not listed as a defendant in the judgment and is found in the apartment when the eviction is carried out, the bailiff may not take her out of the apartment and must cancel the entire eviction. Then judicial steps against the girlfriend of the tenant have to be initiated again.

2.Tenant

The tenant is liable for the evacuation and surrender of the apartment regardless of his or her ownership status. Even if one of several tenants moves out of the apartment before the end of the tenancy, he is jointly and severally liable for the return of the rented property in addition to the tenant remaining in the apartment.

Depending on how the situation is concretely in your case, the eviction action may also have to be directed against a tenant who no longer lives in the apartment.

An eviction action against all persons listed in the rental agreement, even after a tenant has moved out, is particularly advisable in the case of on / off relationships on the tenant’s side. Because if the quarreling tenant couple is in a reconciliation phase when the eviction is carried out and is therefore in the apartment together, the eviction must – see above – be terminated if a tenant is not listed as a defendant in the eviction order. In this case, too, legal steps would have to be initiated again for a successful eviction.

That is why great care is already taken in the designation in eviction proceedings
commanded by the defendant!