fredadi

Did you write him a formal letter citing BGB 548? Do you have a template that I can use? Because mine is so stubburn as you can see in this forum thread.

Yes it's almost 3000€ which he's holding back.

Well I guess I have to go with a lawyer. Does anyone know of a good tenancy lawyer in Frankfrut area who's not a rip off? I have found this one https://strba.de/en/practices/tenancy-law/

Thank you Shenandoah for your reply. You are saying that even when I left the apartment in November 2020 the costs may still not be available to him by now? I mean isn't the year 2020 long gone? After all 10 months have passed now.

 - No, I do not have a lawyers insurance ("Rechtsschutz")   So basically it will be wise to hire a lawyer and not proceed with the "Mahnbescheid" myself (since I have already paid 60€ and now have to pay 279€). Right?

So I send him the "Mahnbescheid" 2 weeks ago (paid ~60€ for it) to which I got the reply that he objected ("Widerspruch") to the entire claim without any reason provided. Now the letter from "Amtgericht" says if I want to proceed with conflict resolution and bring my landlord to court I need to pay an additional fee of 279€. Does it make send to pay this additional fee? Or it's better to go to a lawyer maybe?

I didn't ask him explictly for that at the start of my contract. So I am not sure where the Kation money is at the moment. Does this give him any benefit over my claim of return?

The claim expire after 6 months even if is listed in the "Übergabeprotokoll"? If I go against him via a lawyer can my landord use this as an argument?

A little background: So I left this apartment in November 2020 and upon last inception ("Übergabeprotokoll") among other small things there were water stains on kitchen ceiling which my landlord said is not a problem since it's most likely caused by the apartment above.   A screenshot of a part of "Übergabeprotokoll" can be viewed below or here: https://ibb.co/wNQfH5f     A month later upon my inquiry for "Kaution" money he said that he's been waiting on some authority regarding the kitchen ceiling issue and as soon he gets an answer from them he'll let me know. Months after months passed and he slowly stopped replying to my email and/or phone calls and when called from a new number would say the same thing that there's no answer from the authorities yet so I have to wait.   After a discussion with "Wohnungsamt" I wrote him a formal letter with a date to pay back or face legal charges he replied this:   "bezugnehmend auf Ihr Schreiben vom 03.08.2021 möchte ich Ihnen mitteilen, dass ich weiterhin auf Rückmeldung zur Regulierung des Schadens an der Decke der Küche warte. Alternativ kann eine Abrechnung davor erfolgen, wenn Sie die Kosten des Neuanstrichs vorbehaltlich einer Regulierung durch die WEG übernehmen. Wenn dies Ihr Wunsch ist, kümmere ich mich gerne um eine entsprechende Beauftragung. Mit freundlichen Grüßen"   My questions are:  - I am unsure on what he's actually trying to say here in this email reply?  - What is the right course of action for me here?   Some addition info:  - No, I do not have a lawyers insurance ("Rechtsschutz")  - No, I haven't got any "Endabrechnung" yet, only the "Übergabeprotokoll"  - No, I am not a member of any Tenants' association ("Mieterverein")  - I know that my landlord is supposed to put the "Kaution" money in a separate account and also pay me the interest on top of it  - Yes, I have already asked my landlord to pay me at least some part of the "Kaution" money, which he refused     Any help would be highly appreciated. Thank you.