Usufruct Expiration and Registration Requirements

Following the sale of two properties, a three-year, gratuitous usufruct (Wohnrecht) was established for the seller on an apartment, which was registered in the land register. Upon the expiration of this three-year term, the buyer sought the occupant's eviction, which was granted by the lower court and upheld on appeal, as the court reasoned that a usufruct established by contract requires public certification and registration to be valid, and a time-limited usufruct ceases upon the expiry of the term, rendering its continued validity based on an interpretation of related contracts legally impossible once it has extinguished and been deleted from the land register pursuant to the relevant civil code articles.