Solving rental problems: legal advice

Questioner

Dear Sirs, My apologies for writing in English, I hope this will not be a problem. I have signed a 2 year rental contract with a private owner on 2 August 2013. The landlord promised me (and even the previous tenant who rented the flat for 10 years) to put double glazing throughout and to finish up the kitchen walls. After nearly a year, nothing has happened. He finally told me that he didn't have the money to put the double glazing. On top of that, the boiler is inefficient. I have serious concerns about it because it goes with a bang every time it starts off and it doesn't work properly: we are out of warm water every other day and need to reset it all over again. I want out of this apartment, I am fed up of paying 1200 euros for this. Please help? Thank you!

Lawyer

In English: You can contact me directly for information. In case you read Dutch I will also answer in Dutch.

Lawyer

In the event of such defects, you must first contact the landlord - not the estate agent, unless he is formally the manager - by means of a so-called defect letter (by registered post) with a formal notice to remedy the defect within 14/30 days (depending on the type of defect and the to remedy the emergency). If that doesn't work, you can still get the landlord to take action in various ways, depending on your situation, including suspending (part of) the rent (but only after written notice, so include this in the letter of defects): - Carry out maintenance or repairs yourself - Postpone payment (of part) of the rent - File a complaint with the municipality - to the rent assessment committee (only in the case of non-liberalized rent) - Initiate proceedings with the court You can carry out the maintenance or repairs yourself (or have them carried out) at the expense of the landlord without judicial authorisation. You then claim the costs incurred back from your landlord or - if he does not pay - you offset them with the rent. The costs must be reasonable. In doing so, you do run the risk that the landlord will hold you liable for breach of contract. You can postpone the payment of rent until the landlord has fulfilled his obligations. You can do this without the intervention of a judge, lawyer, Rent Assessment Committee or municipality. In this case, you send the landlord a letter in which you invoke article 6:52 or 6:262 (power of suspension) of the Civil Code. If the landlord has carried out the maintenance work or repairs, you must pay the suspended rent retroactively. In some cases, you can file a complaint with your municipality about overdue maintenance/insufficient fire safety. Based on the Housing Act, the Mayor and Aldermen can then send the landlord a letter (the municipal notice) in which they call on him to repair the home. If the landlord does not do so, the municipality can have the work carried out. The costs are then for the landlord. For more information about this approach, you can contact the Building and Housing Supervision (or Building and Living) department of your municipality. You can (only in the case of non-liberalised rent) request the Rent Assessment Committee to reduce the rent due to these defects (not retroactively) until they have been remedied. You can start legal proceedings to force the landlord to repair your home. If the landlord fails to do so, the court will impose a penalty on the landlord. You can also ask the court to partially terminate the lease within 6 months of sending the letter of defects to the landlord. You will then pay less or no rent until the maintenance has been carried out. You may also be entitled to a rent reduction/compensation (retroactively). The law stipulates this in articles 7:207 and 7:208 BW: 7:207 paragraph 1. In the event of a reduction in the enjoyment of the property due to a defect, the tenant may claim a proportionate reduction in the rent from the day on which he properly notified the landlord of the defect or on which the defect was already sufficiently known to take measures, until the day on which the defect was remedied. 7:208. Without prejudice to the consequences of failure to comply with the obligation under Article 206, the lessor is obliged to compensate for damage caused by a defect if the defect arose after the lease agreement was entered into and can be attributed to him, and if the defect was present when the lease agreement was entered into and the lessor knew or should have known of it at the time, or informed the lessee at the time that the property did not have the defect. If you can't figure it out, you can hire a lawyer. Rental law is my specialization and I'm happy to help you with this. Feel free to contact me without obligation.