All relationships in economic turnover, as a rule, are built on a contractual basis. Moreover, the term of the agreement is a prerequisite and must be negotiated by the parties. What to do if you need to terminate the contract ahead of schedule? About how to properly execute such an operation - in the article.
Expiration and termination of contract - different legal categories
It is necessary to distinguish the termination of the agreement from the expiration of its validity:
- The contract shall terminate upon the expiration of the period specified in it. Termination of the contract does not require additional documentation.
- The contract may be terminated ahead of schedule by agreement of the parties or unilaterally on the conditions provided by law. Such actions must be in writing.
Agreement termination by agreement of the parties
Suppose the need for a contract has disappeared, and the parties decided to terminate it. For this, a bilateral supplementary agreement to the main document on the termination of the contract is drawn up.
Such an agreement becomes an integral part of the contract and is drawn up in the same manner as the main document. It is compiled in identical originals by the number of parties to the contract and signed by all parties. From the moment of its signing, the contract is null and void.
When the contract is terminated ahead of schedule
But far from always the parties come to an agreement - more often situations arise when the contract has to be unilaterally broken, without the consent of the counterparty. As a general rule, unilateral termination of the contract is prohibited, except as expressly provided. Terms of early termination can be of two types:
- spelled out in the contract itself;
- enshrined in law.
For example, a service contract may be terminated by the customer if the contractor has not started fulfilling his duties before a certain date, and the contract has lost interest for the customer. The rental agreement may be terminated if the premises have significant deficiencies that were not announced by the owner at the conclusion of the lease.
The legislation establishes early termination of the contract on the basis of a court decision and for other reasons - a lot depends on the nature of the contract itself, on its subject and initial conditions.
Termination notice: sample
If conditions have arisen under which one of the parties wishes to terminate the contract, you must notify the counterparty in writing. The notice of termination of the contract ahead of schedule (its content) largely depends on the type of primary agreement. Below is a template that can be used in various cases, reworked and supplemented for your own needs.
Notice of termination of service contract No. 5 of 05/13/2014
To the Chairman of the Board of Audit JSC
Sharko V.I.
Rex LLC hereby informs that the contract for the provision of services concluded on May 13, 2014 with JSC Audit is terminated by our party unilaterally from July 20, 2014 due to non-compliance with paragraph 3.1 of JSC Audit. agreement on the timing of the first stage of the provision of services.
Due to the delay, the concluded contract has lost interest for the customer, in connection with which we ask you to consider it terminated from 07/20/2014. Final settlements between the parties are carried out in accordance with clause 7.1 of the Agreement, which is an act.
This notice is an integral part of the contract No. 5 of 05/13/2014.
Director of Rex LLC
Alexandrov A.I.
Notification Procedure
The notice is made in accordance with all the rules. business correspondence: drawn up on a form and certified by the signature of the first person - the director or his deputy. You can attach supporting documents to the notification, and in the letter itself make links to regulatory legal acts and clauses of the concluded agreement.
The notice actually terminates the contractual relationship, therefore the fact and the date of its delivery have important legal significance.
Legal advice: send a letter with a list of enclosed and postal notifications - so you will receive proper evidence of the delivery of the notice to the addressee and you can document the date of such delivery. These nuances are especially important, since it is often proposed that the contract be considered terminated from the moment the recipient receives the notification.
Lease termination notice
When renting the property, the parties stipulate in the contract the possibility of early termination of the lease. For example, the landlord can unilaterally suspend the rental of an apartment if he needs housing for his own residence.
The second important point of the lease stipulated directly in the legislation is the lessor’s right to terminate the lease if the tenant has not paid the rent for 2 consecutive months.
The landlord may receive a notice of termination of the contract by the tenant if the housing turned out to be with significant defects, as a result of which the apartment cannot be used for its intended purpose.
Another option, in which the tenant can initiate the termination of the contract, the owner did not provide the agreed property for use, and the term for its transfer has expired.
Early termination of the employment contract
An employment contract is a special type of legal relationship regulated by special legislation. Despite the fact that the employment contract differs from civil law agreements, one of its prerequisites remains the term.
Usually an employment contract is concluded for an indefinite period, that is, the employee is hired from a certain date, but up to what date is not indicated. Thus, the employment relationship lasts until one of the parties declares their termination. In this case, it is difficult to talk about the early termination of the contract, since its term has not been established.
Another option is a fixed-term employment contract or a written contract, the validity of which lasts for a certain time. In this case, the need for early termination of legal relations may arise: the employee may find himself a better job, and the employer is forced, for example, to make room for an employee who has left maternity leave.
In this case, the interested party sends another written notice of termination of the employment contract, which indicates the grounds for termination of the relationship and the termination of the contract.
Term of the notice of termination of the contract
Of course, if a decision has been made to terminate the contract ahead of time, whether it be a business agreement or an employment contract, you need to inform the other party in advance. The legislation does not provide for a common deadline for such a notification, but the contract itself may contain a special condition indicating the period of notification and even liability for delay.
The labor contract, depending on the agreements of the parties, may contain mandatory workouts for the employee, and may include the possibility of termination of the contract at any time by agreement of the parties.
A business agreement is most often considered terminated from the moment of receipt of a written notice by the counterparty, as indicated in the text. Therefore, it is so important to take the advice of a lawyer and correctly send a notification by mail: the right approach will protect the sender's rights from possible disputes in the future.So, in the returned mail notification it will be indicated who and when accepted the letter, and the inventory will unequivocally confirm the contents of the envelope.
A competent approach in contractual relations is the best protection of your own interests!
