In short: a lease amendment is a written change to selected terms of an existing agreement — everything else stays as it was. It's most often used to change the rent, extend the term, or add a tenant. With an occasional lease, extending the term by amendment has an extra consequence: it usually requires a new notarial declaration and a new tax-office filing.
What an amendment is and when to use one instead of a new agreement
An amendment changes only the terms it specifically addresses — everything it doesn't touch stays in force unchanged. It's the simplest route when both parties want to continue the same tenancy with one or a few modifications, instead of signing an entirely new document from scratch.
Common reasons to amend a lease
- changing the rent — e.g. rent indexation by the GUS index,
- extending the term of the agreement,
- changing the number of tenants — adding or removing a person,
- changing the parties' details or the bank account for transfers,
- changing how utilities are billed,
- changing the deposit amount or its return terms.
What an amendment can't change — when you need a new agreement
An amendment isn't suited to replacing a party entirely — if a completely new tenant is moving in instead of the current one, that's a new agreement, not an amendment to the old one. The same applies to changing the subject of the lease (a different property). With an occasional lease, the rule is even stricter: signing with a new tenant always requires a new agreement together with a full new set of declarations, never an amendment to the agreement with the previous tenant.
The form of an amendment — the same as the agreement itself
Under Article 77 of the Civil Code, changing an agreement requires keeping the same form the law or the parties required for concluding it. If an occasional lease must be in writing to be valid, an amendment to it must be in writing too — a verbal agreement to change something isn't enough and won't hold up in a dispute.
Amending an occasional lease to extend it — what to watch for
This is the detail most often missed. If an amendment extends the term of an occasional lease beyond the originally agreed period, it also changes the period for which the tenant submitted to enforcement in the notarial deed. The existing declaration may no longer cover the new, extended term. In practice, for a longer extension it's safer to draw up a new notarial declaration matching the new term, and to report the extension to the tax office within 14 days, just like the original agreement. Read more about what happens to the notarial declaration when the agreement changes in our article on terminating an occasional lease.
Ready lease amendment template
Amendment No. [number] to the lease agreement dated [date of the original agreement]
concluded on [date] in [city] between:
[landlord's full name / company name], hereinafter the Landlord,
and
[tenant's full name], hereinafter the Tenant.§1
The parties agree to amend [§ ... of the agreement dated ...] so that, from [date], it reads as follows: [new wording of the provision].§2
All other terms of the lease agreement dated [date] remain unchanged.[Landlord's signature] [Tenant's signature]
This is a helper template — for changes involving the deposit, the number of tenants, or extending an occasional lease, adapt the wording of § 1 to the specific change, and consult a lawyer if in doubt.
Frequently asked questions
Does an amendment have to be signed by all tenants?
Yes — if several tenants signed the original agreement, all of them should sign the amendment too; otherwise the change doesn't bind the tenant who didn't sign it.
Can an amendment lower the deposit?
Formally yes, but the Tenant Protection Act caps the maximum deposit at twelve times the monthly rent — the change must stay within that limit.
Do I need to report an amendment to the tax office?
It depends on the content. An amendment that only changes the rent doesn't require a separate filing for the purposes of occasional-lease status, but an amendment extending the term of an occasional lease is treated similarly to a new agreement — it's worth reporting within 14 days, just like the original one.
Amendments stored together with the agreement
In SmartRentier, every amendment goes into the same document archive as the original agreement, tied to a specific property and tenant, with version history — you can see at a glance what changed and when, without digging through your inbox. You can also generate the residential lease template that amendments most often get attached to, right in the Documents module.
Registration is free — the Kawalerka plan is free forever, no card required. Create an account and keep your agreements and amendments in one place →
This article is for information only and does not constitute legal advice. For individual cases, consult a lawyer.