I am looking for some outside perspective how can I protect my Kaution/deposit on an apartment I will be moving out of shortly.
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I will summarize the situation shortly:
We moved into our first partially-furnished apartment last summer on a short-term contract (owner wishes to move in). It was shown by the sibling of the owner, and we got along well.
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Fast forward 6 months later and there was an incident during my first meeting with the owner where they became quite upset when they noticed I put their carpet in the cellar. The highlight of the incident was asking me to sign a hand-written contract saying I was responsible for any bug damage caused by the carpet. Needless to say, I lost all trust in the landlord. I was able to settle the situation with the landlord by paying half of the rug cleaning costs.
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Afterwards, upon a colleague’s advice, I joined a Mietschutzverein: [https://www.mieterschutzbund.de/](https://www.mieterschutzbund.de/).
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The apartment was by not in tip-top shape when we moved in. For instance, there were existing scratches in the parquet floor and some wallpaper rips. I have a bad feeling that the owner is going to try and blame me for the damage.
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Unfortunately, I took very few photos. I pointed out some of the damage that I noticed during our initial walk through, but I do not remember if this was noted on any official form. I certainly have no record of it.
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Questions
* How can I best prepare for the situation? If they insist I pay for damage I did not cause, should I just let the Mietschutzverein handle it? Go a step further with a lawyer?
* Is it better to join a local Mietschutzverein? Would there be any advantages besides the local office? I was in such a state of mind at the time to talk to someone that I joined the one my colleague recommended, but they have no offices anywhere near my area (I’m in SW BW). They did take quite some time (\~1month) to answer my e-mailed question (my written German is decent, my spoken not so much).
I appreciate any and all perspectives. Thank you.
1 comment
On their website, they offer to schedule a consulting via phone. I recommend to do this ASAP, as they need a few days, and also send them all related documentation about your current problem, if you haven’t done so.
Prepare your questions. If you think your German is not good enough for that call, maybe your colleague can help? Or any other German native or German-speaking friend?
I think it’s very helpful that you are asking this now, so you can plan accordingly and be ahead of whatever trouble the landlord may cause you.