Assistance with rental and real estate agent disputes

Questioner

Subject: broker threatens not to refund (part of) deposit Dears, In mid-July we terminated the lease of our home in time, effective September 1st. We received confirmation of this from our real estate agent. This would come back to us with a date for an inspection and handover of keys. Before the inspection took place, the realtor barely responded to our questions about how the house should be delivered. He only stated that the house had to be completely vacated because he was going to renovate it. This is what we do. We remove the floor and dismantle the items installed by the previous owners. Because the real estate agent does not mention the attic in his email, we decide to deliver it as we found it at the time. On August 30, the broker emails that the inspection will take place on August 31. He offers no other option. Otherwise, he will do the inspection himself. We then make time to attend the inspection. Then, during the inspection, he finds 2 defects/imperfections. In the meantime, we have a disagreement with the broker about the liability for the defects and how they can be remedied. The realtor tells us that we have not removed the carpeting and cupboards from the attic/storage room that the previous owners had installed. He says that he is going to outsource this and will send us the bill. The real estate agent also noticed holes in the kitchen tiles. The previous tenant had made these when installing a kitchen counter. These holes were already there. We informed the real estate agent of this and asked him to prove that we had caused them. However, no inventory was made when the house was accepted. The broker does not respond to our request and does not demonstrate that we caused this defect. He also does not offer us a reasonable opportunity to vacate the attic. For example, he first offers to vacate the attic within 4 working days during office hours. Then he proposes that we have 14 days to do this if we still pay him 2 weeks rent. This seems completely unreasonable to us. Then the agent also collected the rent for the month of September. We strongly suspect that he is doing this to harass and pressure us. We keep emailing back and forth with the realtor but he does not respond to our request to prove that we caused the damage. And he makes increasingly unreasonable proposals (such as that we have to pay 2 weeks extra rent to clean the attic). Can the real estate agent send us the bill for damage that we did not cause and that he did not prove? And can he charge costs for not clearing the attic (2 empty cupboards and carpeting)? And is it normal that he informs us 1 day in advance about the time of the inspection (so the time is not in consultation but forced on us)? Is it reasonable that he offers us to vacate the house within 4 working days and only during office hours? And is he allowed to charge us money to clear an attic? In our opinion, this is not allowed what the broker does. And what can we do with the fact that he just writes off the rent for the month of September? Thanks in advance for your help!

Lawyer

After the inspection, you must be given the opportunity to repair any defects. This must be done within a reasonable period and there are no costs involved. Collecting a month's rent is also not permitted, because the agreement has been terminated. In addition, making agreements falls under reasonableness and fairness (regulatory law) and as you indicate this is not the case. Since the new tenancy law of August 2003, a recording schedule for new tenancy agreements is no longer so important for the tenant. Until then, the burden of proof for defects lay with the tenant. The tenant was liable for all defects. Unless they were defects that were mentioned on the recording schedule at the start of the agreement (and normal wear and tear were not included). In the new tenancy law, the burden of proof is reversed. If the tenant terminates the lease, the landlord must demonstrate that any defects were not there at the start of the contract. This only applies to contracts concluded after August 2003. For older contracts, the old rule still applies, and the burden of proof still lies with the tenant. If you would like further information, please feel free to contact me.

Lawyer

If no statement has been drawn up before the start of the rental period, the rented object is expected to have been delivered in the same condition unless the landlord proves otherwise. You must have the wrongly paid rent reversed via your bank by refusing the direct debit. You are entitled to your deposit back, namely the full amount.