Terminating rental agreement
How do I terminate a rental apartment lease? How long is the notice period? Ending a lease agreement can feel complicated, but our electronic lease termination form walks you through it. Here you’ll find everything you need to know about how to terminate a lease — even in special cases.
You can terminate your lease agreement electronically using online banking codes. In addition to online banking credentials, you’ll need a valid email address and mobile phone number.
If there are two or more signatories, please start the process one by one: After the first resident has signed the termination, the second one gets an email with instructions and can sign the termination after that.
We recommend the electronic signing since it is more reliable and arrives us more promptly.
If you cannot provide these, please use the printable lease termination notice. You can mail the notice to SATO or bring it directly to one of our offices.
Confirming the termination
Once we have received your apartment lease termination notice, we will send you a written confirmation by email (or by post if you don't have an email address). We will also send you moving-out instructions. We usually conduct a move-out inspection in your home within five business days after confirming the termination of your lease. If you do not receive our written confirmation within three business days, please contact our Customer Service.
If you are terminating the lease online, please make sure you finish the process and get a confirmation of sending the termination.
Important to know
- Please note that the apartment lease termination notice must always be signed either with your online banking codes or with a traditional signature on paper. You cannot terminate your lease via email or by phone. We urge you to use either the electronic termination notice or the printable paper version so that the termination notice is legitimate.
- We accept hand written lease termination notices, too. Open the form on your computer, and write down all the info you would write on the form, to a blank paper with care and clarity. After you've signed the notice, take a photo of it and email it to irtisanominen@sato.fi.
- Please note that terminating the ending lease agreement is your responsibility even when moving from one SATOhome to another.
Frequently asked about lease termination
The period of notice of rental homes is one full calendar month. This means the period of notice is calculated from the last day of the calendar month during which your termination notice was received by SATO. For example, if a notice of termination is submitted to SATO on 20 June, the liability to pay rent ends on 31 July, and the moving day is either that same day or the next business day, depending on the terms of your specific lease.
It is important to make sure we have received your lease termination at latest the last day of the month if you wish to move out at the end of the following month. If the last day is a holiday and you prefer to submit a paper notice to terminate your lease agreement, it is your responsibility to deliver the lease termination notice on the business day before the last day.
Do check your current lease agreement for the terms and conditions of termination because the terms and conditions of agreements such as fixed-term ones vary depending on the agreement.
If your lease agreement is signed by two persons, both of you must sign the termination notice. The electrical notice guides you through the signature process, but if you are submitting the termination on paper, you need to be rigorous: Even if only you are moving, every tenants' signature must be included with the information weather they are moving or staying.
Sorry to hear you need to terminate your lease even before you've moved in the apartment.
The normal terms regarding lease termination notice apply in your case, too, so you have a one full calendar month period of termination. We will try to find a new resident to move in, and if we succeed, you will not have to pay the termination period rent of the time included in the lease agreement of the new resident (for example if your lease would have started on the 1st, and their lease begins on the 15th, you need to pay for the 14 days between). Unfortunately we cannot promise you we'll find a new resident, so please be prepared to pay the termination period rent.
The electric lease termination notice does not work for situations like yours. Instead, please fill in a printable notice (below), or in the time of corona pandemic, replicate it on to a blank paper. For more info on that, scroll to the beginning of this page.
When filling out the lease termination notice you can choose to share your phone number with the possible new residents so that they can call you to set up a short meeting to see the apartment. If you wish to not to share your phone number, SATO will show the apartment to the possible new residents with the master key. You will be notified about the showing times in advance but unfortunately there is a possibility the times are unfavorable to you.
When your termination notice arrives to SATO, we begin to look for a new resident for it. Unfortunately this means that in most cases cancelling your lease termination notice is not possible as we may already have offered the apartment to a new customer.
The moving-out notification informs the maintenance company about your moving-out day. When we receive your lease termination notice, we will automatically sen a moving-out notification to the maintenance company - one less worry for you during the move.
Remember that the moving-out notification does not replace the statutory notification of move, which you have to take care of separately. The moving-out notification is also not the same thing as the lease termination notice, which you must submit to SATO.
Please accept our condolences during this time of loss. We have gathered below instructions regarding the lease agreement. Please don't hesitate to contact us in a manner suited for you, if you have any additional questions.
Who is responsible for the lease agreement?
When our resident who has signed the rental lease agreement dies, the agreement is not automatically terminated. Instead it tranfers as is, to the estate. The estate is responsible for fullfilling the terms of the lease agreement, including paying the rent.
Can I continue living in my home?
If the spouse, child, or other relative has been living in the apartment with the now deceased resident, they have a right to take on the lease agreement, even though they had not signed it before. To do this, you have to let us know about the change in writing no later than three months from the passing. Once the written declaration is received in SATO, the responsibilities of the lease agreement transfer to you. It is good to take note, that SATO has a right to oppose the change in lease agreement, although this is very very rare.
If the deceased lived alone in the apartment, the next of kin has no legal rights to move into the apartment.
How do I terminate the lease agreement?
The lease agreement is valid until the estate terminates it. The estate has a responsibility to evince each and every member of it, and get an official mandate from them to terminate the lease. The lease agreement can also be annulled, if the terms of annulment are fulfilled.
You can print out the lease termination notice below. The general terms of the termination can be found in the beginning of this page.
When you move out and have taken a good care of your home, we will return your deposit to you as long as you remember to give us your bank account number when filling in the lease termination notice.