> Unless he is going to live in the place herself

Can just lie. My last landlord said he was moving back in because of family circumstances. As soon as he kicked me out he renovated it and put it up for sale.

Didn’t get an offer he was happy with and was asking me if I wanted to move back in 12 months later.

Happened to my mom too and a friend of mine.

Tenant said "he moves back, of family"

But that never happened, just rented out to the next person for a higher rent.

"Works just fine" not actually. That's one of the reasons you see a lot of places going into airbnb (where they get paid more).

I'll give you it works better than some other places because the rights are balanced.

But 3 month termination notices are just an anachronism. German "bureaucracy" still think contracts are forever when they're getting shorter with time.

Yes, I'm giving you the 3 months notice when you could terminate the lease, let's say, with 1 month then have a queue of 10 people ready to rent it again (were you not petty)

Most landlords are fine with the tenant leaving early, if he provides a follow-up tenant. OP is really describing a non-issue in a landlords market.

Oh man, don't get me started. The 3 _calendar_ month notice that needs to be sent in writing (or faxed) is so ridiculous and I wonder if it is done to make it more difficult to get out of contracts. In my case, I had no idea that the written notice receive date matters (unlike the US, where you typically use the postmark date), due to mail delay because of a holiday my notice arrived 2 days late and that was enough to make them pay for another month despite there being an incredible amount of demand in Berlin for apartments.

> unlike the US, where you typically use the postmark date)

I'd wager that it's really up to you to familiarize yourself with local laws and customs.