I am moving out from my current apartment to a new one. According to the rental contrat I should give notice 3 months in advance or find a new tenant on my own.
So I did that. I sent a registered letter to the agency asking to terminate my rental contract (and I kept the receipt with me). I see that it was delivered. I also organized viewings and found tenants who applied.
The only problem is the agency denies receiving my letter and claim that they can't rent the apartment to the new tenant. After several emails where I shared the receipt that I got from the post, I am getting annoyed and I feel that the agency is acting dishonestly.
What can I do? Is it fine to stop paying the rent for the next months? Should I consult a lawyer?
Unfortunately, I am not member of mieterverband association.
1. Check with the post that your letter indeed was delivered.
2. You need to find 3 'good' candidates that are willing to take your flat. The agency can then decide which one to take or reject them altogether but then you're off the hook. Sometimes there are legal reasons why candidates get rejected e.g. not enough income etc. or sometimes candidates change their mind on theif own
3. I would not recommend to stop paying as the agency will raise a Betreibung and you will be forced to pay anyway.
I believe at this stage you don't have much choice but to keep applying pressure on the agency. Send emailx daily, call them daily. If they have a public office give them a visit. Send repeated signed letter plus a scanned copy to their email.
1- The letter tracking in the post website indicates that my letter was delivered. But I can go physically to the post and check.
2- I have more than 3 applicants willing to take the flat. In fact, they keep contacting me because they are frustrated with the agency claiming they cannot move in.
Agreed - just take the letter to their office, get them to sign the letter to show they received it, and bring along the names/details of three suitable tenants. Make it clear that you know this allows you to end the lease, and that they must begin the process of allowing you to move out.
Also, is your lease really 'three months at any time' or 'three months before x date?'. The official moving date for Zurich was 30th September and there are lots of people moving right now.... so the agency is probably also very busy.... and yes, they could be delaying, or genuinely they did not get your letter.... and without the letter it's not clear what you actually want to do...
Join the mieterverband anyway. You can also ask to use their services on an hourly rate, even if you're not a member, it's just going to cost you money.... but probably very much worth it if it saves you even just one month's rent.
Thanks everyone for the suggestions! I went to the agency with a new letter so that we can sign it together. At that point, they showed me the previous letter and told me they actually received!
The only problem now is that only 2 applicants applied. This is unexpected because at least 4 persons told me they applied. I will need to figure this out.
That doesn't matter, you legally only need one acceptable (no debt, income not too low, etc) person that is willing to sign the lease. People usually try to present a few more prospective tenants because it increases your chances one will be deemed acceptable and then also sign the lease and not back out beforehand.