What is a rent debtor: Everything you need to know about rent debts
More and more people in Germany are overindebted. Debts themselves are not necessarily a threat to your livelihood, but if they are rental debts, you may lose your home and become homeless. As a tenant it is also very difficult today to enter into a new tenancy. For this reason, rental debts must be avoided at all costs. If you have rental debts, act quickly, because waiting would only worsen your situation.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
You didn’t pay the rent? The period from which you are deemed to be the debtor:
With the entry into force of the tenancy law reform of 1.9.2001, the rent must be paid in advance by the third working day of a month. If you do not meet this deadline, you are already considered to be the tenant debtor according to the statutory definition. However, the advance payment must be recorded in writing in a rental agreement on the third working day. Even if you only pay part of the rent on the monthly due date, you are still in debt to your landlord.
What costs are included in the rent?
It is by no means sufficient if you only pay the cold rent stated in the rental agreement, because the rent includes the advance payments for operating costs as well as waste disposal and water supply. You must also pay the advance payment for the heating costs or an agreed flat rate with your monthly rent. If you do not pay the rent in full, you are also legally considered to be the debtor.
Can the landlord give notice to a tenant without notice?
If you are only in default with one month’s rent, you are not yet threatened with termination without notice. Nevertheless, your landlord can give you notice of termination if you are more than one month in arrears with more than one month’s rent. In this case, your landlord must comply with the statutory period of notice, which is is usually three months. Worth knowing: Even if you constantly transfer your rent unpunctually, your tenancy can be terminated. However, your landlord only has the right to do this if he has sent you a written warning beforehand.
If you are two months in arrears, it can become critical for you
If you are in arrears with two monthly rents as a rent debtor, your landlord can give you notice of termination without notice. Termination without notice is also possible if you pay the rent incompletely and are more than one full month’s rent in arrears on two consecutive payment dates. You should always bear in mind that personal reasons for late payment, such as sudden unemployment, etc., cannot make the termination ineffective. Only in exceptional cases, for example if you were unconscious in hospital and therefore could not pay your rent, do courts lose out.
This is how you should react as a tenant debtor:
Do not wait until it is too late, but contact your landlord directly as soon as you realise that you will not be able to pay the rent or will not be able to pay it in full. Many landlords let you talk to them and grant you a payment extension or even an installment payment. If you have become a rent debtor due to personal strokes of fate, such as unemployment, the local social welfare office may be able to help you and take over your rent debts.
This allows you to reverse a dismissal:
If you as the tenant debtor pay your debts within a two-month period after you have been served with the action for eviction, the termination becomes ineffective. However, you can only exercise this right every two years. Have you already received a notice of termination as a tenant debtor during the last two years and subsequently paid the rent? the termination remains in effect.