Lease between 3 people for Rental Contract but Landlord wants to empty the flat so 2 of them left the Flat

[Ammad Ahmed 1]

Hello Everyone,

 

So, my story is that I rented a flat in WG, in which lease was signed by 3 people and we three are the main tenant in this flat.

In August, one of my flatmates was leaving the flat, so he found 1 other person to take over the lease with two of the remaining flat member.

However, my landlady found some problem in the flat and then she wrote an email and said that the lease is cancelled. The email is mentioned below:
 

leider haben wir schlechte Nachrichten. Aufgrund des Wasserschadens vor kurzem haben wir festgestellt, dass die Wohnung in einem sehr schlechten Zustand ist. Auch der Handwerker der Trocknungsfirma bestätigte uns, dass die Wohnung nicht gut gepflegt ist.

 

Aus diesem Grund haben wir uns entschieden, dass wir kurzfristig die Wohnung renovieren müssen. Dementsprechend konnten wir bereits einer Weitervermietung nicht zustimmen. Wir werden voraussichtlich kurzfristig mit der Renovierung des nun frei werdenden Raumes beginnen. 

 

Wir bitten Sie, zeitnah einen Umzug anzustreben, damit die Wohnung in den nächsten Monaten komplett frei wird. 

 

Bitte stellen Sie sicher, dass wir in die Wohnung in der Zwischenzeit kommen, um auch bezüglich der Gemeinschaftsräume, -flächen (Küche, Bäder, Terrasse) einen Überblick zu bekommen. 

 

After 2 weeks, when we ask for time for discussion she replies again with this email:

 

vielen Dank für Ihre Nachrichten zum geplanten / erfolgten Auszug.

 

Bitte berücksichtigen Sie Folgendes:
 

Die Räume müssen besensauber und leer übergeben werden. In der Küche bitten wir, die Schränke und Schubladen ebenfalls leer zu räumen und auszuwaschen.

 

Hinsichtlich der Kaution: Wir werden diese ausbezahlen, sobald wir uns ein Bild vom Zustand der gesamten Wohnung machen konnten. Erst dann wissen wir, ob etwaige Schäden vorhanden sind. Ebenfalls bitten wir zu berücksichtigen, dass der erforderliche Rückschnitt im Garten nicht erfolgt ist.

 

Das Mietverhältnis endet, sobald die Wohnung in ihrer Gesamtheit übergeben ist.

 

Now, after this, the two of my flatmate leave the flat in the same month, but I have been living in this flat ever since. Its been 4 months I am living here and I will be leaving this flat by the end of December.

Now, for the past 4 months, I have been paying 1/3 of the rent for this flat. Recently I got an email from my landlady that the lease is still valid and you have to pay the remaining of 2/3 of the flat rent of the past 4 months.

 

Can you suggest me what are the rulings in this regards.

 

Thank you very much for your any help in advance.

[LeonG 13,474]

First join the mieterverein.  It doesn't cost much and they will help you with the situation.

 

Second, according to https://www.ra-doerfer.de/aktuelles/mehrere-mieter-im-mietvertrag/  you are all equally responsible for the rent as long as you are all on the rental agreement.  The landlady can go after one or all of you for the rent owed.  If she goes after you, you can go after the other two.

 

What the other two should have done when they moved was to request to be taken off the contract.  According to the link above, the landlady can not do that without your agreement, otherwise you would be the only one left on the contract and have to pay the full rent yourself.  In that case, two things could happen where one is that you agree to live in the apartment alone and pay alone and the other would be that you end the lease at the same time as your roomies.  Since neither happened, your roomies must still be on the contract and hence are still responsible to you to pay their portion of the rent which of course isn't fair to them since they are no longer living there.  If she already started to renovate, you could refuse based on that you have not had the use of the empty rooms in the apartment since they are being renovated.  Definitely talk to the mieterverein. 

[Ammad Ahmed 1]

Thank you Salzgitter for your reply.

 

I will join tenant association as I also think it will good in the long run.

 

Secondly, the tenancy for terminated via email by the landlady and she asked to move us all out in the next few month's. Furthermore, she said explicitly in 1 of the email that she will start renovating the empty room and common spaces so that room was never used by anyone and I only used my side of the room.

 

Now, after 4 months she is asking me to pay all 4 months amount, the remaining 2/3 which doesn't make any sense.

 

She is very bad in communicating and replying, as after almost 3.5 months when I have been paying her rent, suddenly she asks about to pay the remaining rent.

[kato 3,545]

20 hours ago, Ammad Ahmed said:

Secondly, the tenancy for terminated via email by the landlady and she asked to move us all out in the next few month's.

 

The wording of the email does not constitute a cancellation. Doing so by email would not be legal anyway. The wording is a request that one can choose to ignore.

 

Considering you say you're moving out end of December, i hope you cancelled the lease or it ends regularly on that date. Because from those two emails she knows exactly what she's entitled to legally and how to communicate it such that it's also valid.

 

On a side note the conditions she's stating especially for handing back the Kaution (and the way she's stating it) are extremely favourable to you.

 

[lunaCH 968]

On 14/12/2020, 19:50:08, kato said:

i hope you cancelled the lease

Don't all 3 tenants have to cancel in this case?  

[Ammad Ahmed 1]

On 14/12/2020, 19:50:08, kato said:

 

The wording of the email does not constitute a cancellation. Doing so by email would not be legal anyway. The wording is a request that one can choose to ignore.

 

Considering you say you're moving out end of December, i hope you cancelled the lease or it ends regularly on that date. Because from those two emails she knows exactly what she's entitled to legally and how to communicate it such that it's also valid.

 

On a side note the conditions she's stating especially for handing back the Kaution (and the way she's stating it) are extremely favourable to you.

 

Well, if one wants to ignore they can even ignore written request especially in Corona times where they have valid reason's to simply ignore, or they can even say we didnt get a letter.
My landlady had ignored my written request in the past, so that why i am saying this.
Anyway, I have meeting with legal advisor for tenant association, i will discuss this all things with him.

For the case of email, she has not ignored it or neither she denied the email cancellation, she is also communicating via email and this gives us sufficient proof for our case.

 

My flatmate is simply refusing to send her written letter and said that I have give her notice via email and she has already acknowledge this. Let see what happens, i will get to know more about in next few days.

 

Will let you guys know abou the situation for my case.