Ending a lease in Croatia: notice periods and steps

First: is your lease fixed-term or open-ended?

The rules depend on whether your lease has an end date (fixed-term, na određeno vrijeme) or not (open-ended, na neodređeno). Check what it says about notice and leaving early: what the Act doesn't regulate is up to the parties (Art. 3), and where it's silent, the Obligations Act's general rules apply (Art. 551).

The basics of a lease are in our lease contract checklist, and your rights while it runs in tenant rights.

zakon.hr still prints chapter XIII (Arts. 30–49), on protected tenantsProtected tenant (zaštićeni najmoprimac)simplifiedA tenant who lives in a flat on the basis of a former tenancy right and paid a protected rent. For private flats a transitional protected lease has applied since 1 January 2025.Source: Zakon o načinu izvršenja presuda ESLJP u skupini predmeta Statileo (NN 36/2024), čl. 4., 17., 18. i 20., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary with former tenancy rights. The act implementing the Statileo judgments (NN 36/2024, Art. 58) repealed it from 1 January 2025, and it never governed ordinary market leases. Those fall under Arts. 1–29, which that act didn't change.

Fixed-term leases: the end date, renewal and leaving early

A fixed-term lease renews for the same period unless one side says in writing, at least 30 days before the end, that it won't renew (Art. 25(1); Obligations Act, Art. 575). If the landlord offers new terms for a renewal and you don't accept them within 15 days of receiving the offer, you're taken to decline (Art. 25(2)–(3)). How a renewal is agreed and what goes into an annex is in our guide to renewing a lease.

Tenants have no general right to leave early. The Obligations Act allows it when the landlord doesn't fix a defect within the reasonable time you set (Art. 559) and when, through no fault of yours, the flat can't be used or its use is much reduced for a long time, and it isn't put right within a reasonable time (Art. 555). If the flat is a danger to health, you can leave without notice, even if you knew when you signed (Art. 576(4)–(5)).

Otherwise, as we read the law, you need a clause in the lease or a written termination agreement (sporazumni raskid) you both sign. What a landlord can claim if you just leave depends on the lease and the facts, so we name no amounts.

How to give notice, step by step

You end an open-ended lease at least three months before the day you move out (Art. 23). The Housing Lease Act sets no form, but the Obligations Act requires notice on a lease of real estate to be in writing (Art. 576(3)).

1. 1Check the lease type, the end date and any notice clause.
2. 2Work out the date: three months before you move out or, on a fixed-term lease, 30 days before it ends. Send the notice early enough to arrive in time.
3. 3Write a short letter with both names, the flat's address, the lease date, that you're ending or not renewing it, your move-out date, the date and your signature.
4. 4Hand it over and have the landlord sign your copy, or send it by registered post, as the Act requires for a landlord's notice (Art. 22(1)). Keep the copy and the post office receipt.
5. 5When you move out, sign a record of the flat's condition with meter readings, and ask for your deposit back.

When a landlord can give you notice

Under the Act a landlord can give notice only on statutory grounds. The grounds are in Arts. 19–21, and a fixed-term lease they can simply not renew (Art. 25).

• Use against the Act or the lease, such as unpaid rent or costs, sublettingSubletting (podnajam)simplifiedWhen the tenant lets the flat, or part of it, to someone else. They need the landlord's consent; subletting without it is a ground for notice.Source: Zakon o najmu stanova (NN 91/96 … 105/20), čl. 19. i 28., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary without permission or disturbing other residents (Art. 19). The landlord must first warn you in writing and give you 30 days to put it right, unless you've breached the lease or the Act more than twice. As we read it, this covers fixed-term leases too.
• Damage to the building's shared parts you don't repair within 30 days, or alterations without written consent. The landlord can then rescind the lease, in writing with reasons, giving you at least 15 days to leave (Art. 20).
• The landlord, their descendants, parents or dependants moving in: open-ended leases only, and only if the landlord secures you another suitable flat on an open-ended lease (Art. 21).

The notice is written and reasoned, handed over against your signature or sent by registered post. It gives you three months, or six for a move-in, from the first day of the month after you receive it. If you refuse it, the period runs from the day it was posted (Art. 22).

Eviction goes through the courts

If a tenant doesn't move out after notice, the landlord can sue for evictionMoving out and eviction (iseljenje)simplifiedThe tenant leaving the flat at the end of a lease. If they don't leave, the landlord can sue, and a court officer carries out the eviction, never the landlord.Source: Ovršni zakon (NN 112/12 … 06/24), čl. 255.–258., checked 24 Oct 2026More in the glossary, and the case is urgent (Art. 22). Lease disputes go to the municipal court (Civil Procedure Act, Art. 34), in Zagreb the Općinski građanski sud u Zagrebu (for Novi Zagreb and Brezovica the Općinski sud u Novom Zagrebu, for Sesvete the Općinski sud u Sesvetama). The judgment sets a time to leave, usually 15 days (Art. 328), and a court enforcement officer carries out a forced eviction, at the earliest eight days after the enforcement orderEnforcement (ovrha)simplifiedCourt proceedings that force an obligation to be met, such as paying a debt or moving out. They rest on an enforcement title or, for money claims, an authentic document.Source: Ovršni zakon (NN 112/12 … 06/24), čl. 13., 23., 31. i 255., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary is served (Enforcement Act, Art. 256). The winter ban on evictions no longer applies: the Constitutional Court struck it down (U-I-331/2021, NN 6/24). If a notary solemnisedSolemnisation (solemnizacija)simplifiedA notary confirms a contract: checks it, explains the consequences and gives it the force of a notarial deed. With an enforcement clause it becomes an enforcement title.Source: Zakon o javnom bilježništvu (NN 78/93 … 57/22), čl. 54. i 59., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary the lease with the tenant's consent to direct enforcement, the landlord can apply for enforcement without suing. Where moving out depends on notice, the landlord must first prove the notice periodNotice to end a lease (otkaz ugovora o najmu)simplifiedA statement by which landlord or tenant ends a lease. A tenant gives at least three months' notice on an open-ended lease; a landlord may only give notice on legal grounds.Source: Zakon o najmu stanova (NN 91/96 … 105/20), čl. 19.–25., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary has run, with a public document or a document bearing the landlord's certified signatureSignature certification (ovjera potpisa)simplifiedA notary confirms that the signature on a document is yours but doesn't check its content. The fee is €6 per signature, before VAT and the state fee.Source: Zakon o javnom bilježništvu (NN 78/93 … 57/22), čl. 77., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary or, if that isn't possible, a final judgment, unless the lease says otherwise (Notaries Act, Arts. 54 and 59).

A tenant is in possession of the flat and can seek urgent court protection against anyone who disturbs or takes that possession on their own authority, within 30 days of learning of the act and who did it and no later than a year after it (Ownership and Other Real Rights Act, Arts. 10, 21 and 22). As we read it, changing the locks or removing a tenant's belongings without a court decision is self-help the law doesn't allow a landlord.

When the flat is sold or someone dies

If the flat is sold after it was handed over to you, the buyer takes over the lease and can't ask for the flat back before a fixed term or the notice periodNotice to end a lease (otkaz ugovora o najmu)simplifiedA statement by which landlord or tenant ends a lease. A tenant gives at least three months' notice on an open-ended lease; a landlord may only give notice on legal grounds.Source: Zakon o najmu stanova (NN 91/96 … 105/20), čl. 19.–25., checked 19 Oct 2026More in the glossary ends (Obligations Act, Art. 570). When the landlord changes this way, you may also give notice, keeping to the statutory periods (Art. 573).

If the landlord dies, their heir takes over. If the tenant dies or moves out, the spouse takes over, or failing that a child, stepchild or adopted child named in the lease, as they agree among themselves. The landlord must be told of the change within 30 days (Housing Lease Act, Art. 24).

What the law doesn't say

Here the answer depends on the lease, the facts and court practice we don't summarise:

• Leaving a fixed-term lease early, and what the landlord can claim if you do.
• Renting without a written lease. The law requires one (Housing Lease Act, Art. 4; Obligations Act, Art. 552), and without it both sides are exposed, so get free legal advice.
• Whether the Obligations Act's rules on ending a lease without notice, for example after two consecutive unpaid rents (Arts. 562 and 564), apply to flats.
• Whether cutting off electricity or water counts as disturbing possession.

The draft new Housing Lease Act would change the rules: among other things, tenants could end any lease, fixed-term included, without reasons on 60 days' notice unless agreed otherwise. Public consultation closed on 2 September 2026, and as of October 2026 the law hasn't been passed (our guide to the draft).

Free legal help in Zagreb

• City of Zagreb, Sektor za besplatnu pravnu pomoć (free legal aid section), Zapoljska 1; 01 6100-300; Monday, Wednesday and Friday 8:30–15:30, Tuesday and Thursday 8:30–18:00. Advice is free if, among other conditions, you can't handle the matter alone and paying would endanger your upkeep. The section also decides on a state-paid lawyer, subject to a means test and only in the types of case the Act lists, otherwise by exception (Free Legal Aid Act, Arts. 9, 10, 13 and 14).
• Pravna klinika, the legal clinic of the Zagreb Faculty of Law, Palmotićeva 30; klinika@pravo.hr or the form at klinika.pravo.hr. Supervised students give free general legal information and advice, but don't represent clients in court.

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