Latvia: rental market overview

Latvian residential leases run on the Dzīvojamo telpu īres likums (Residential Tenancy Law), adopted in 2021 and in force since 2021-05-01, which replaced the 1993 "Par dzīvojamo telpu īri"; the general lease rules of the Civillikums (Civil Law) fill in anything the housing act does not cover.

The lease must be in writing (7. pants) — a written contract is the sole basis for the tenant's right to use the dwelling (6. pants). Unlike most of Brokik's other markets, Latvia offers no indefinite-term option at all: since the 2021 reform, every residential lease must be fixed-term (9. pants) — the sharpest structural rule among the countries Brokik supports.

• Mandatory contract contents include the rent, the manner and term of payment, and the allocation of utility payments (8. pants).
• When the fixed term ends, the tenancy relationship simply lapses without any notice, unless the parties sign a new contract or a written extension.

The drošības nauda (deposit) is capped at two months' rent: "Izīrētājam ir tiesības prasīt drošības naudu, kas nepārsniedz divu mēnešu īres maksu" (12. pants, part 1). An agreement for a deposit above that cap is void for the excess.

• At the end of the lease, if the tenant owes the landlord any payment arising from the contract, the debt is deducted from the deposit and the landlord promptly notifies the tenant (12. pants, part 2).
• The deposit, or its unused part, is returned no later than the day the dwelling is vacated (12. pants, part 4).
• It covers damage to the dwelling beyond ordinary wear, unmet contractual obligations, or losses identified at handover.

A tenant may withdraw at any time without giving a reason, on at least one month's written notice, for leases up to ten years (20. pants and 27. pants, part 1) — a floor set in the tenant's favour.

A landlord may terminate only on the exhaustive statutory grounds in 22.–26. pants — the contract cannot extend this catalogue. The notice period then depends on the ground and, for one ground, on the lease's own length: at least one month for the 23. pants (unlawful occupation) or 24. pants (arrears) grounds, and for a 25. pants (demolition/reconstruction) termination of a lease of up to one year; at least three months for a 25. pants termination of a lease of one to three years; and immediately, on written notice, for the 26. pants ground (a building-operation ban) (27. pants, parts 3 and 4). The 22. pants ground (damage/misuse) carries no fixed statutory notice period.

• The rent-arrears ground under 24. pants has two separate, alternative tests: an arrears amount exceeding two months' rent, or a utilities-payment delay exceeding two months.
• Rent may be changed during the term only if the contract itself sets out the change principles in advance (10. pants, part 3) — without such a clause, the landlord has no right to raise the rent at all.

The Dzīvojamo telpu īres likums does not impose a discrete statutory duty to draw up a written handover report (nodošanas–pieņemšanas akts) — it is Latvian market practice, not a legal requirement.

It remains the parties' primary evidence of the dwelling's condition, both when settling the drošības nauda deposit (12. pants) and for any damages claim on return under the Civillikums's general rules.

The landlord must hand over the dwelling in a condition that ensures its normal use, and keep it in that condition for the whole lease. The tenant carefully maintains the dwelling and the building parts they use, and covers minor repairs caused by their own improper or negligent use.

• Utility payments (komunālie maksājumi) — cold water, hot water, electricity and heating — sit outside the rent and are allocated by the contract, typically by individual meter (8. pants).
• A landlord must show the tenant a valid energosertifikāts (energy certificate) before signing, as required by 7. pants of the Ēku energoefektivitātes likums.
• Alterations or rebuilding of the dwelling need the landlord's prior written consent.