Two Months Behind on Rent: Why Paying It Off Doesn't Always Save Your Lease

The Official Rule

Falling behind on rent doesn’t need to build up for months before it becomes a genuine risk to your lease. Under Section 543 Abs. 2 Nr. 3 BGB, a landlord gets the right to an immediate, no-warning termination once you’re behind on two consecutive due dates for a non-insignificant share of the rent, a shortfall of more than one full month’s rent always counts as non-insignificant, or once your arrears across more than two due dates add up to two months’ rent. Unlike most other grounds for a fristlose Kündigung, payment arrears don’t require a prior formal warning (Abmahnung) before the termination can be issued.

German law does build in a genuine second chance, called Schonfristzahlung, under Section 569 Abs. 3 Nr. 2 BGB. If you pay off the entire outstanding amount, or a public authority like a Jobcenter or Sozialamt formally commits to cover it, within two months of being served with the actual eviction lawsuit (Räumungsklage), the extraordinary termination becomes ineffective. That two-month window is worth reading carefully: it starts running from the lawsuit being served on you, which comes after the landlord has already gone to court, not from the original termination letter itself.

The part that surprises the most tenants is what this cure doesn’t reach. Landlords very commonly send two terminations at once for the same arrears: an extraordinary one under Section 543, and an ordinary one (ordentliche Kündigung) under Section 573 BGB, a combination widely known as Doppelkündigung. The Bundesgerichtshof has repeatedly ruled, most recently in a July 2025 decision, case VIII ZR 287/23, that Schonfristzahlung heals only the extraordinary termination. The ordinary termination, which runs on its own notice period, typically three months, keeps standing even after arrears are paid in full within the grace period. Some Berlin regional courts have openly disagreed with the BGH and applied the cure to both terminations, a dispute that’s still active in the courts, but the BGH’s position is what applies nationally right now, so counting on the Berlin exception is a real risk.

What Real People Say

Tenancy law guides that track how these cases actually play out describe a consistent pattern: families dealing with a sudden income gap, a delayed Elterngeld payment, a job loss, or a stretch of Kinderkrankengeld running out, often focus entirely on the extraordinary termination because it’s the one that sounds most urgent, and only realize the ordinary termination exists as a separate, surviving problem once a lawyer or a Mieterverein actually reads through the full letter. The practical advice that keeps showing up is to read a termination letter for exactly what it invokes: if it cites both Section 543 and Section 573, or the German shorthand terms for both an außerordentliche and a vorsorgliche ordentliche Kündigung, paying off the arrears alone won’t be the end of the matter, and getting the ordinary termination itself reviewed or challenged is a separate task.

The other consistent thread is how much the two-year rule catches people off guard the second time. Families who’ve successfully used a Schonfristzahlung once, often with real relief, don’t always realize the same safety net won’t reappear if a second bout of arrears happens within two years, which is exactly why reaching out early, whether to a landlord directly, a Sozialbürgerhaus debt counselor, or a Jobcenter, matters even more on a repeat occasion.

Step by Step

1. If a payment problem starts building, contact your landlord before two full due dates pass, since a payment plan agreed early can prevent the arrears from ever reaching the threshold that allows a no-warning termination.
2. If a termination letter arrives, read it carefully for whether it cites both an extraordinary and an ordinary termination, since a Doppelkündigung requires two separate responses, not one.
3. If a Räumungsklage is actually filed and served, note the exact service date, since that’s what starts your two-month Schonfristzahlung window, not the earlier termination letter.
4. Pay the full outstanding arrears within that two-month window, or get a Jobcenter or Sozialamt to formally commit to covering it, if you want to stop the extraordinary termination from taking effect.
5. Separately address any ordinary termination in the same letter, since paying off the arrears does not cancel it, this may require negotiating directly with the landlord or getting legal advice on whether the ordinary termination itself was validly issued.
6. If this is a second episode of arrears within two years, don’t assume Schonfristzahlung is available again, and reach out to a Sozialbürgerhaus debt counselor or a Mieterverein as early as possible instead.

Compliance Note

This page explains the general framework around fristlose Kündigung for rent arrears and Schonfristzahlung under German federal law, current as of mid-2026. It is not legal advice, and how these rules apply to your specific lease, arrears amount, and termination letter depends on your individual documents and timeline. Confirm your situation with a Mieterverein, a Sozialbürgerhaus debt counselor, or a tenancy lawyer before assuming a particular termination is valid, invalid, or curable.