How to deal with deferred maintenance in a rental property

Questioner

We have a rental property that the landlord doesn't maintain properly. We've repeatedly indicated that certain things need maintenance (some of which date back three years!). We now know that minor maintenance can be deducted from the rent, but we have a large balcony on the third floor at the back. The railing is wooden and completely rotten. We've repeatedly pointed out that this creates a very dangerous situation. Imagine what would happen if one of your guests accidentally leaned against the railing. We once requested a quote from a company that could replace this and sent it to our landlord. He thought it was too expensive and promised to come up with a solution himself. That was nine months ago, and we've given up hope. Despite his acknowledgement - he had seen the situation with his own eyes and agreed with us - and several subsequent emails, no action was taken. We want to be able to use our balcony again. What can we do? Can we "force" a repair and spread it over six months' rent, or something similar? I would like to hear from you

Questioner

Below you will find general information about various options. In your case, I think (after the letter of defects) suspending part of the rent (e.g., 30%) would be a good way to exert pressure. If you encounter maintenance issues, you should first contact the landlord, preferably by registered mail with a notice of defects, demanding that the defect be remedied within 14 days and stating what measures you will take. If that doesn't work, you can still get the landlord to take action in several ways. - Carry out maintenance or repairs yourself - Postpone rent payment - File a complaint with the municipality - Initiate proceedings with the court - To the rent assessment committee You can obtain court authorization to carry out maintenance at the landlord's expense. You can also carry out maintenance or repairs yourself at the landlord's expense without court authorization. In that case, you can reclaim the costs incurred from your landlord or offset them against the rent. The costs must be reasonable. However, you run the risk of being held liable by the landlord for breach of contract. You can defer rent payment until the landlord has fulfilled their obligations. You can do this without the intervention of a judge, lawyer, Rent Assessment Committee, or municipality. To do so, you send the landlord a letter invoking Article 6:52 or 6:262 (authority of investigation) of the Dutch Civil Code. If the landlord has carried out the maintenance work or repairs, you must pay the deferred rent retroactively. If you are considering this step, it is best to seek legal advice beforehand. You can file a complaint with your municipality about deferred maintenance. Under the Housing Act, the Mayor and Aldermen can then send the landlord a letter (the municipal notice) requesting them to repair the property. If the landlord fails to do so, the municipality can have the work carried out. The landlord will then be responsible for the costs. For more information about this approach, please contact the Building and Housing Supervision Department (or Building and Housing Department) of your municipality. You can initiate legal proceedings to compel the landlord to repair your property. If the landlord fails to do so, the court will impose a penalty. You can also request the court to partially terminate the lease within six months of sending the notice of defects to the landlord. In that case, you will pay less or no rent until the repairs are completed. You can request a rent reduction from the Rent Assessment Committee due to defects (not retroactively) until they are resolved. You can also file a complaint with the municipality if there are health or safety concerns (e.g., mold). You may also be entitled to a rent reduction/compensation (retroactively). This is stipulated by law in Articles 7:207 and 7:208 of the Dutch Civil Code: 7:207 Section 1. In the event of a reduction in enjoyment of the leasehold property due to a defect, the tenant may demand 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 action, 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 obligated to compensate for damage caused by a defect if the defect arose after the agreement was concluded and is attributable to the lessor, as well as if the defect was present at the time the agreement was concluded 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.

Questioner

Dear questioner, I advise you to send the landlord a registered letter of default, effective retroactively. In this letter, you should outline the main complaints that the landlord should have resolved within a reasonable timeframe. This constitutes a notice of default; after that, from a certain date onward, the landlord is deemed to be in default. You now state that you are forced to have the balcony replaced at the landlord's expense, and these costs will be directly recovered. Please allow a short response time of a few days. If you wish, I can help you write this letter, or have a letter you wrote yourself reviewed.