Consequences of accepting a subtenant as the main tenant?

Questioner

We rented our house on the basis of the Vacancy Act via a rental company. They rented the house to a lady, who rented the house for her son. So the son lived in the house from the beginning. The Vacancy Act permit expired in November 2018, but the rental company failed to terminate the rental contract in time. At the beginning of 2019, we told the rental company that we wanted the house back for our own use. Instead of terminating the rental contract, they started a procedure to evict the man because he did not pay the rent regularly and had made a mess of the house and garden. The mother died suddenly last year and the son started a procedure to be accepted as the main tenant. The man has almost 7,000 euros in rent arrears and we have wanted the house back for our own use for 5 years. According to the lawyer of the rental company, the man does not have to pay the rent arrears if he is not the main tenant.

Lawyer

According to Dutch law, a subtenant has the right to file a request to become the main tenant himself. However, this is not a guarantee and the landlord has the right to ask the court for a ruling. If the court agrees to the subtenant's request, there are generally legal consequences for both parties. In your specific case it can be problematic because the subtenant has debts. Monsters as main tenant can make him responsible for this debt. However, with a debt of almost €7000,- it is understandable that you want to avoid this. As a landlord, you have the right to terminate the lease on the grounds of non-performance (in this case, not paying rent) and on the grounds that your property is not being properly maintained. However, this can be legally complex, depends on the specific details of the lease, and can take some time. It seems from the information available that it would be wise to engage a lawyer. It may be useful to consider initiating legal proceedings to terminate the lease for some of the reasons you have stated such as non-payment and failure to maintain your property properly. It also seems that it may be useful for you to seek legal assistance regarding the role and responsibility of the letting company in this situation. ---------------- Stichting Rechtswinkel.nl is a national organization with students and volunteers. The above advice is based on limited information and may be incomplete or even incorrect for your situation. Always consult a lawyer or attorney for your further steps. Read disclaimer: https://rechtswinkel.nl/disclaimer I would like to invite you to rate the above answer so that we can learn from your response.

Questioner

Thank you very much for your answer. A lawsuit has been going on for 5 years. I understand that there was another roll hearing on January 10 and another one is scheduled for next month. The lawyer of the rental company never told the judge during this period that we need the house for our own use. When I asked why not, he reacted very irritated and said that everything has a procedure and that he cannot submit everything (non-payment, non-performance, own use) to the judge at the same time. What is this procedure and what exactly does it entail?