Hi everyone, I have received a letter today from who I assume is the owner of the property I live in. I’ve always corresponded with a managing agent and have never had contact with this person before. The letter is addressed to me, and it seems they’ve gotten a list of names from the city of Düsseldorf as they’ve attached it as an Annex to the back of the letter – I assume this letter has went to everyone in the apartment complex.
German isn’t my native language and I’m struggling to decipher the handwriting – could anyone help me out with what it is saying please?
by Tough_Gain_5555
8 comments
If you have legal insurance I’d hand it to them, if there’s more that received it first talk to other tenants.
If this doesn’t work there should be Mieterschutzbund office near you that can usually help.
Now I’m not a lawyer but there’s a few things that seem fishy to me (the data opened to him by the city without your explicit permission if true, the “Hausverbot” etc), but not fishy enough aka there’s a lot of: “yeah this could be true” moments in it.
So it might make sense to get a more professional assessment,maybe someone else in here can provide that.
In a nutshell he is a partial owner of the Building and wants to sell his share. However, he does not have any kind of access to documents (which is very sus) and asks you to send him your contract, as well as utilities bills etc.. so they can assess the value of the object properly.
He also says that in case of non compliance, they will have to hire an independent agent who will assess the value of the home, and they will bill you for it. Personally I’m pretty sure this is not legal.
In General it seems like there is some internal problems between the owners of the building, but due to the handwriting I’m not able to understand it exactly.
All in all it seems kinda desperate, but not ill-intended.
The complex seems to belong to several owners, who, maybe as part of an inheritance argument, will now auction off the complex and split the money. This does not affect your rental contract. There is an independent expert (probably nominated by the court?) who will valuate the property, and they need documents.
The owner is asking you to provide your rental contract, and all correspondence from the last 3 years (Nebenkostenabrechnungen etc.) to their lawyer in Hamburg. They are apologizing because the former administrator cannot take care of it due to illness, and the liquidators did not provide them with all information, but also mentioning that if you fail to provide the documents, you will be billed extra.
I’m not sure why they think you are the right person to contact you to give them documentation. Perhaps there was a fallout with the current administrator and the owners, as they mention that the current administrator was threatening them.
I don’t think the part with billing you extra for not providing them their contracts is reasonable. It’s their problem how they manage their contracts and if they can’t get the administrator who they pay to give them the documents they need, that’s even more of their problem and you have nothing to do with it. They could have ASKED KINDLY, which they kind of do, but threatening that you’ll be billed extra if you refuse : no, I don’t think so.
And I don’t think that you would have to do anything anyways, like, none of this is your problem whatsoever. However, you might want to get some legal advice on this topic, and you should respond in any case and either send them what they want, or tell them that it is none of your problem.
Now, that’s a complicated case in some way 🙂 maybe also something for r/LegaladviceGerman I’ll try to explain: Your apartment (complex) is owned by multiple persons (or companies, doesn’t matter). Now one of them wants to get rid of his part of the apartment complex, I guess there a dispute between some owners (but just guessing here). They can do this by a so-called “Teilungsversteigerung”: This is an auction where only the part of that one person is auctioned, the other owners don’t have to agree for the auction to happen. If it’s a big complex there are probably many owners. They usually each own one or multiple apartments and they all share part of the common property (e.g. the staircase, elevator, ways around the house, etc. etc.).
Now an authorized expert needs to find out what’s the value of the property and for that he/she needs some documents (rental contract, Nebenkostenabrechnung of last three years). The managing agent seems to have health problems according to the letter and cannot provide the documents. Another person (“Herr [blackened]”) is not allowed anymore to enter the property, not sure what is his role there. Also two other persons (liquidators) did not provide the required documents.
Maybe also consult with your local Mieterverein for assistence with this letter. In general it looks like legit, but not sure if you are really obliged to provide all this information.
Thanks you everyone for the quick summary. I’ll contact the local Mieterverein and failing that will pass to my insurance.
Tldr the text says one of the co owners wants to apparently sell his part so the house is now getting liquidated. Now the appraiser requires the Mietverträge (rental agreements) and necessary agreements concerning the object (property)
Now he specifies that for the process he urges to send your Mietvertrag, Nebenkostenabrechenungen of the last 3 years and all of the correspondence (concerning the house) of the last 3 years to his lawyer until the 10th this month. (is the second censored part)
He apologizes the person tasked previously was not able to take care of it (requesting this) due to health problems.
Unimportant he emphasizes that on of the renters has a legal ban for entering the house due to violence against him [him as in the guy who the letter] (he doesn’t however specify wich house like the property where you’re living or Somewhere else)
He emphasises that 2 persons (I dont know what liqudanten means could be the gläubiger or the persons to be liquidated) specifically haven’t send it yet.
He threatens of the letter is not answered and additional costs are incurred becuase the letter is not answered he’ll demand payments from the respective persons for that
the end is just a standart yours sincerely with his name.
Apart from what others have said, I would say that if I were in your place, this letter would not really be a cause for concern for me, but stuff that begins like this will sometimes develop into other legal disputes. E.g. if the house is sold to somebody else, they may want to kick tenants out or raise rent or such. I think apart from everything else, now would be a good time to check if you have sound legal insurance which would cover any rental disputes in the future. I would not rely on the Mieterverein if push comes to shove, but would want an independant “Fachanwalt für Mietrecht” on my side if things become serious in the future, e.g. the property is sold and the new owners try to evict you to use the building themsselves or sth like that.
Landlord wants you to bring up a copy of the rental agreement, billings of incidentals of the past three years and any correspondence between you and the (former) landlord and/or the management. You are requested to send all of this to their lawyer in Hamburg by March 10, 2024 latest.
They apologize for the inconvenience, as the former manager is not able to do that himself because of illness. Another Mr. received order to stay away from the house, because he threatened the landlord with physical violence.
If you do not comply to this, you will be charged with any expense that arises after the landlord requests someone else to get these documents.
My two cents on this: I heavily doubt this would be legal! The landlord may ask you to help in this situation, yes. But I do not think they are not allowed to charge you for anything here. If the former manager is too ill to do his job, then he has to have someone in place and do the job instead.