The co-tenant may not demand payment for the abandonment of his rental rights

According to the Tenancy Law, it is considered as an inadmissible one-off payment if the new tenant has to render a service to the previous tenant or the landlord without equivalent consideration. The purpose of this provision is to prevent the tenant from trading the apartment as an asset, as there is no objective equivalent exchange of services. The same applies to the relationship of several (co-) tenants. If two (co-)tenants agree on a payment for the case of moving out of or not moving into an apartment and leaving the (sole) rental rights to the other tenant, this is considered as a prohibited one-off payment. The contract is therefore void. [OGH 29.05.2018, 4 Ob 79/18y]