Assistance with disputes between tenants and landlords

Questioner

Hello, please share your opinion, The situation: the tenant of a residential property has terminated the lease agreement, and I, as landlord, have accepted this (reported this to the tenant in writing and by email). In the past, the tenant complained about a leak, but despite my many requests for an inspection, he only let me in after many months. With great difficulty I was finally able to make an appointment via the tenant's family to come in and repair the loose sewer AND water connection. I also had the soaking wet floor removed and replaced, for the time being at my expense. The kitchen also has water damage to the floor connection and kitchen cabinet bottom. Tenant has not yet been held liable because I wanted to resolve the necessary causal and optically visible damage through agreements with the family in order to make it look rentable during future viewings. In the last 3 months, the tenant is obliged to cooperate with viewing appointments according to the general terms and conditions. I have been announcing these in good time for quite some time, but she refuses because I do not want to provide a landlord's statement stating that payment has been made on time, there are no payment arrears, and that there has been no court ruling in the past 2 years in connection with nuisance and there are currently no legal proceedings pending against the applicant for nuisance Any comments I could also add. That would all be correct at this point, but it feels so contradictory: she did not let me in for a long time, which caused damage, now accuses me through a lawyer of poor landlordship, while there may have been a hidden defect, but she never put me in default with an end date by which I should have repaired it, she let me in, caused damage, does not allow viewings, does not allow the remaining repair appointments, thereby blocks me from getting the house in order and sabotages my rental possibilities because potential tenants that I have screened cannot view it... my belongings have also not been handled with care and therefore there is poor tenantship. But that is not in the standard landlord's declaration. In my opinion, the tenant's lawyer is now blackmailing me by threatening that if I, as a landlord, sign a good landlord's declaration without any negative comments, I will be allowed to view the property and that the tenant will cooperate with the pre-inspection, final inspection and delivery. according to the lawyer it would be a matter of give and take...... But it is the most normal thing in the world that the tenant cooperates. Does the tenant 'deserve' a good landlord's statement according to you or what should I do best... What should I do with that blackmail if I feel that way? Please share your vision Thank you very much in advance

Questioner

And one more additional question: The tenant's lawyer has asked me as landlord to conduct further correspondence with him. Is it therefore / in addition prohibited for me as a landlord to personally approach the tenant in a proper and correct manner, by telephone or by ringing the doorbell (of course without entering the property without their permission) to inform him of a request for a viewing, or am I then committing a criminal offence or where is the line? I would like to hear your opinion about it, thanks for that

Lawyer

To start with the latter, you can simply continue to correspond with the tenant. You are not liable to prosecution and are not acting unlawfully. As for the landlord's declaration, you are in no way obliged to sign it. There is no obligation that prescribes this. The tenant is contractually obliged to cooperate with viewings. By not doing so, the tenant is behaving as a bad tenant. On that basis, you can demand immediate eviction from the rented property from the court, but whether that makes sense also depends on the period that remains until the tenant leaves. The question is of course whether the tenant will leave (on time) if he does not receive a landlord's declaration, because that may be a requirement of the subsequent landlord. You can keep in mind that if the tenant does not cooperate with viewings now, you are entitled to compensation for damages after the tenant's departure if it takes months afterwards before you have a new tenant; you can then claim the amount of three months' rent as compensation because instead of having three months to find a new tenant during his rental period, he now has three months after the departure of those tenants. I would inform the tenant of this consequence. If you wish, I can of course assist you in this. I am a lawyer specializing in real estate law.