Give notice on your flat: when are you free?
If you give notice today: on which date does the lease end, by when must the notice reach the landlord, and by when do you have to send it? Free, no account, everything calculated in your browser.
The rule
For flats the notice period is at least 3 months, to a termination date set by local custom (Art. 266c CO).
The notice must reach the landlord no later than the last day before the notice period starts; sending it is not enough. For a lease ending on 31 March, that means by 31 December.
The lease comes first: longer periods and other dates written in it apply (Art. 266a para. 1 CO). Local termination dates only apply if the lease says nothing else.
Calculate your date
Everything is calculated in your browser. Ubivo receives none of your details and stores nothing.
Only needed if your lease refers to local termination dates or says nothing about them.
If the lease says nothing, the statutory period of 3 months applies (Art. 266c CO).
Choose what your lease says about termination dates. Your date will then appear here.
Template for the notice letter
Fill in the fields, copy the text into your own document or print it directly. You have to sign it by hand.
The template is created only in your browser. Names and addresses are not sent to Ubivo and not stored.
As soon as a date appears above, you can prepare the letter here.
When has the landlord received the notice?
- Receipt counts, not the postmark: the notice is received as soon as it reaches the landlord’s sphere of control, for example the letterbox or their hands.
- Registered and not collected: according to the Federal Supreme Court, the notice is received as soon as the landlord can collect it at the post office according to the collection slip, usually the day after the delivery attempt. The 7-day collection period does not count. The calculator still assumes the last day of the collection period so that the date is safe in any case. References: BGE 137 III 208 c. 3.1.2, BGE 140 III 244 c. 5.1, BGE 143 III 15 c. 4.1.
- Weekends and public holidays: if the last day before the notice period falls on a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday, it does not move to the next working day (Art. 78 CO does not apply). According to an older Federal Supreme Court ruling and part of legal doctrine, the notice must then arrive on the last working day before. The calculator works that way.
- A-Post: you must be able to prove receipt and its date; the postmark is not enough. Registered mail or hand delivery is safer.
- Hand delivery: the notice is received on the day you hand it over. Have the landlord or the management confirm receipt on a copy with date and signature.
What else applies
- In writing and signed: the notice needs a handwritten signature (Art. 266l CO). If several people are named on the lease, all of them sign. Notice without the required form is void (Art. 266o CO).
- Family home: if you are married or in a registered partnership, giving notice on the shared home requires the express consent of your spouse or partner (Art. 266m CO), even if that person is not named on the lease.
- Moving out early: if you cannot or do not want to give notice to a termination date, you are released from the lease if you propose an acceptable, solvent person willing to take it over on the same terms (Art. 264 CO). This is an option, not a right to a particular date: in a dispute, the conciliation authority decides whether the proposal is acceptable.
- Late does not mean void: if the notice arrives too late, it applies to the next possible termination date (Art. 266a para. 2 CO).
Not legal advice. The calculator follows the law and the sources cited; what counts is your lease and, in a dispute, the conciliation authority. If in doubt, ask the conciliation authority for tenancy matters or the tenants’ association. Conciliation procedure (FOH, in German)
Local termination dates: where they are documented
A local termination date appears here only if an authority or a court has published it. Where that is missing or municipalities differ, it says «not documented»: then what counts is your lease or the information from the conciliation authority.
| Canton | Local termination dates | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Aargau | not documented: check your lease or ask the conciliation authority | – |
| Appenzell Ausserrhoden | the end of every month except December | Kanton Appenzell Ausserrhoden, Schlichtungsstelle für Miete und nichtlandwirtschaftliche Pachtretrieved on 31 October 2026 |
| Appenzell Innerrhoden | not documented: check your lease or ask the conciliation authority | – |
| Basel-Landschaft | not documented: check your lease or ask the conciliation authority | – |
| Basel-Stadt | the end of every month except December | Kanton Basel-Stadt, Gesetz betreffend die Einführung des ZGB (SG 211.100), § 214 Abs. 1retrieved on 31 October 2026 |
| Bern | not documented: check your lease or ask the conciliation authority | – |
| Fribourg | not documented: check your lease or ask the conciliation authority | – |
| Geneva | not documented: check your lease or ask the conciliation authority | – |
| Glarus | not documented: check your lease or ask the conciliation authority | – |
| Graubünden | not documented: check your lease or ask the conciliation authority | – |
| Jura | Delémont district: the end of every month Franches-Montagnes and Porrentruy districts: not documented: check your lease or ask the conciliation authority Moutier: not documented: check your lease or ask the conciliation authority | Parlement jurassien, Journal des débats N° 12 (Ministerin des Innern, Sitzung vom 3.9.2025, S. 760 f.)retrieved on 31 October 2026 |
| Lucerne | not documented: check your lease or ask the conciliation authority | – |
| Neuchâtel | not documented: check your lease or ask the conciliation authority | – |
| Nidwalden | not documented: check your lease or ask the conciliation authority | – |
| Obwalden | end of March, end of June and end of September | Kanton Obwalden, Schlichtungsbehörde (Amt für Justiz)retrieved on 31 October 2026 |
| Schaffhausen | not documented: check your lease or ask the conciliation authority | – |
| Schwyz | not documented: check your lease or ask the conciliation authority | – |
| Solothurn | not documented: check your lease or ask the conciliation authority | – |
| St. Gallen | not documented: check your lease or ask the conciliation authority | – |
| Thurgau | not documented: check your lease or ask the conciliation authority | – |
| Ticino | not documented: check your lease or ask the conciliation authority | – |
| Uri | not documented: check your lease or ask the conciliation authority | – |
| Valais | not documented: check your lease or ask the conciliation authority | – |
| Vaud | end of March, end of June and end of September | Canton de Vaudretrieved on 31 October 2026 |
| Zug | end of March, end of June and end of September | Kanton Zug, Schlichtungsbehörde Miet- und Pachtrechtretrieved on 31 October 2026 |
| Zurich | not documented: check your lease or ask the conciliation authority | – |
Frequently asked questions
Does the postmark count?
No. The notice must have reached the landlord by the last day before the notice period starts. Sending it on that day is too late.
What if the last day is a Sunday?
The day does not move to Monday. According to case law and part of legal doctrine, the notice must then arrive on the last working day before. Plan for the Friday.
What happens if I give notice too late?
The notice is not void; it applies to the next possible termination date (Art. 266a para. 2 CO). You pay the rent until then, unless you find a replacement tenant under Art. 264 CO.
Does my spouse have to sign too?
For a family home, yes: the notice requires the express consent of your spouse or registered partner, even if they are not named on the lease (Art. 266m CO). The simplest way is for them to sign the letter too.
Can I give notice by e-mail?
No, an ordinary e-mail is not enough. Notice on a flat must be in writing with a handwritten signature (Art. 266l CO).
A new address in mind? The free Ubivo report shows taxes, health insurance and commutes for any Swiss address. Where living is affordable from your workplace is shown by the commute radius.
Method and sources
- Notice period: counted backwards from the termination date, from month end to month end (Art. 77 para. 1 no. 3 CO by analogy). The last day of receipt is the day before the period starts. We do not calculate with a period shorter than the statutory one.
- Receipt, calculated cautiously: A-Post on the working day after posting plus one day in reserve; registered mail with a delivery attempt on the next working day and the full 7-day collection period; hand delivery on the same day. Posting on a weekend or public holiday counts from the next working day.
- Working days: Monday to Friday, excluding New Year’s Day, 2 January, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Ascension Day, Whit Monday, 1 August, Christmas Day and St Stephen’s Day. Not all of them are holidays in every canton; the calculator does not know other cantonal holidays.
- Local termination dates only from official sources (canton, conciliation authority, court, parliament), with retrieval date. We do not use information from associations or property portals.
- Not covered: furnished rooms, holiday flats, business premises and fixed-term leases, extraordinary termination, notice by the landlord, and the fallback date under Art. 266c CO where there is no local custom (end of a three-month period from the start of the lease).
Legal basis: Art. 264 CO, Art. 266a CO, Art. 266c CO, Art. 266l CO, Art. 266m CO, Art. 266o CO, Art. 77 CO, Art. 78 CO
Notice fact sheet (Swiss tenants’ association, in German)Bohnet, Les délais en droit du bail (2024, in French)Collection slip (Swiss Post, in German)