Termination without notice and rent reduction
April 23, 2013 | 50,00 EUR | answered by Bernhard Müller
I terminated a tenant without notice due to constant late rent payments, preceded by 2 warnings. The termination was issued by the property management company, which was authorized by me. Now the tenant has informed me through his attorney that the termination is not accepted due to formal errors (failure to mention the landlord's name, as well as the absence of the authorization). The tenant has since paid the outstanding rents from yesterday. Can I terminate him again? The termination was sent to him on 5.4. and today I received the attorney's letter. He has also been reducing rent since December. The deficiencies he noted were promptly commissioned for rectification (already in Sept 12), but he has only allowed the craftsmen into the apartment once in Dec 12, has been reducing rent since Dec, and all attempts to schedule appointments with him have been ignored. Is a rent reduction permissible in this case?
Dear questioner,
since the rent has now been paid, a termination due to late rent payments is currently not possible. You will have to wait until he is in arrears with the rent payments again. Then a power of attorney in original should be attached to the termination, or you can terminate yourself without involving the property management. In the termination, not only the landlord should be named, but also when each rent was paid and when you warned the tenant. The delivery should then be either by registered mail with acknowledgment of receipt or by placing it in the tenant's mailbox in the presence of 2 or 3 witnesses, so that you can prove the receipt.
The tenant does not have a right to reduction, as he refuses or hinders the repairs. (cf. Palandt Rz. 37 to § 536 BGB, LG Berlin NZM 99,1137) You would have to prove this circumstance, so keep an exact record of when appointments were offered to him in the presence of witnesses, when he was unsuccessfully asked to make appointment proposals himself, when and how these requests were communicated to him.
If he is in arrears with 2 months' rent due to the unjustified reduction, you can also use this as a reason for immediate termination. Additionally, you should terminate in due time in the termination letter as a precaution, so that the termination does not become void by paying the rent later.
However, you should only terminate due to the delay of 2 months' rent caused by unjustified rent reduction if you are absolutely sure that you can prove that the tenant deliberately prevented the elimination of defects.
I hope my answer was helpful to you.
Best regards,
Bernhard Müller Attorney at Law
