We’re in the middle of a very tricky situation with our lease takeover.
To summarise, we proposed a solvent applicant, willing to take over the lease next month. The landlord informed them the rent would increase more than 10% immediately upon takeover so they withdrew. We were not aware of this.
The landlord is claiming to us the applicant withdrew because they found somewhere else & also asked the applicant not to disclose the rent increase conversation to us. Luckily, the applicant wrote to us to tell us & warned us our landlord seemed very shady.
The landlord now won’t release us from the lease even though he added a seperate advertisement of the flat at a higher rental price to homegate etc. He keeps telling us to send through applications at the lower rent we pay.
We’ve involved our legal insurance and will also have our first call with Asloca legal next week. The landlord is now aware we have legal protection & has not sent us any further aggressive emails since then.
We don’t plan to pay rent after this month, the time at which the applicant would have taken over. However our solicitor did tell us the landlord may put our name on a national debt registrar as he disagrees that we have fulfilled our obligations regarding lease takeover. I read somewhere that we could instead pay the rental money into an escrow account, same as where the deposit is. Has anyone been in this situation and knows if this could prevent the landlord from putting our names on the debt registrar?
We know it will have to go through conciliation and will be waiting for him to trigger this next month.
Would appreciate any tips / advice from this community! Is there anything else we should be doing to protect ourselves here?
We’ve also became aware that he’s never given us an allocation of charges during the course of our tenancy. We pay 300 pm and notice in his new advertisement this is reduced. We plan to bring this up in the conciliation also - am I correct in saying this should have been something provided annually?
From what i read back in a days, landlord is not obliged to accept any solvent applicants you propose as well as it is his business how much he wants to charge for a new tenant (within laws etc about usual rental increase), so i would definitely do not advise to stop paying rent, it will get ugly more than necessary. Just look for a tenant with a new price and conditions that landlord put on homegate and that’s it. It is also not unusual when apartment is again on market, than nebenkosten on purpose decrease or increase (either to make it look as not expensive apartment or in contrary to account for much larger costs for heating etc, depends on landlord). In your agreement should be some kind of notice or not? just never ending agreement unless you find a new tenant? (in my contract there is 3 month notice…)
Thank you, so Asloca and our solicitor have said validated that we are indeed “off the hook” for the tenancy if the landlord wishes to increase the rent for the replacement tenant, which he wants to do. I believe its in line with Article 264 of the Swiss Code of Obligations. We are not concerned about that part as we followed the steps very carefully.
It’s just at a point now where he obviously hasn’t released us officially so we think we will pay rent into the escrow account to prevent a debt registration while it’s escalated to the conciliation board.
Contact the Schlichtungsbehörde of your municipality, they’re officially tasked experts and will advise for free (unless they say differently). That includes the correct usage of escrow, if applicable; not paying rent properly is pretty much the only and simultaneously gravest sin a renter can commit.
They’re the first step anyway on the legal path (whether you or your landlord choses to take that route), and being first is usually better. Also, contacting them will help avoid missing deadlines, if any, and adds time for you to react and do stuffs. Don’t worry, they’re friendly and helpful.
If you haven’t already, get in writing from the prospective tenant that they were willing to sign on, but cancelled once the LL told them the rent would increase.
Did you give notice of your termination of the lease agreement? The notice period is usually 3 months.
I am not sure you can do anything more than that. Give notice in due time and then you don’t have to find a tenant.
If that’s the case this is very uncommon in my experience.
It was an early termination of the lease, we are moving out before the end of our lease term. We gave the notice by registered letter, then sent through the solvent applicant to takeover. Essentially we followed this process - Mieterinnen- & Mieterverband - Nachmieterschaft & Ausserterminlicher Auszug
the landlord accepted the notice of our early termination but wanted to change the lease terms for the replacement - by increasing the rent.
The subsequent tenant must be solvent , reasonable and willing to take over the rental agreement under the same conditions. A person is considered solvent if they are able to pay the rent in full and on time. If you cannot provide proof of wages, you can only show with a confirmation from the social authorities that payment of the rent is guaranteed. It is also common for landlords to request an extract from the debt collection register from the new tenants to check their solvency. The landlord may not impose any different or higher requirements on the reasonableness of the replacement tenant than for the tenant who is moving out. The landlord may only refuse to accept a new tenant if it is unreasonable for important reasons.
Request confirmation from the landlord
After about 10 days, request written confirmation from the landlord that you have been released from the contract. If the landlord does not respond to this, you should quickly seek advice from the landlord. If you cannot find a new tenant or if this is rightly rejected, you will be liable for the rent until the next regular termination date. If the landlord refuses to accept a new tenant, it is best to ask them to provide written reasons.
Obtain written confirmation from the rejected new tenants that they are willing or would have been willing to take over the vacant apartment on the agreed date and to rent it under the same conditions as stated in the rental agreement.
Since the LL tried to increase rent (and also sneakily tried to hide this) you should no longer be liable for continued rent from the day the nachmieter would have taken over. The LL actions may constitute some kind of fraud.
I would raise that point with the lawyers or police - in case the LL puts you on the debt register, that might be useful leverage.
In your position, I wouldn’t pay anything to him or into escow. I’d state the facts to the landlord and ask him to send confirmation of release. If he doesn’t play ball, I’d consider calling him and tell him that if he tries to make you pay you will contact the police to confirm whether a criminal action against him can be filed for trying to defraud you and that you have a signed statement from the nachmieter confirming his attempts (but seek legal advice before doing this!).
Thank you so much, yes this particular page on the website the past few weeks has reassured us so much, as it’s exactly what’s happened. We also have it in writing from the applicant that the landlord insisted we not be told about the proposed rent increase. Luckily, the applicant made it very explicit in writing they withdrew because of this rent increase. The landlord just made up the whole thing of them finding another place to us directly. Thank you so much for your advice regarding the next steps here, particularly regarding what to do re the rent payments and the fraudulent behaviour - I will discuss this with Asloca / our legal counsel on the next call.
Shady LL appears to advertise his property with the increased rent now…Perhaps he’ll even claim that OP didn’t find a suitable replacement. I am really curious how this story will end.
Exactly, it looks like he wanted to raise rents, but not release OP from the contract.
@BorderCollieobsessed: I’d make sure your contents and liability insurances are all in order as the LL seems like the kind of person who might try to pin additional costs and damages on you.
Yes we’ve made sure to set the deductible at the lowest, we can already tell he’s going to come for us in any way he can and I wouldn’t doubt he’ll try to renovate the entire property on our insurance. We’ve asked this week if a rep from Asloca can come to the check out with us even though the LL likely won’t be present, as he’s not agreeing to release us. We’ll take plenty of pictures and videos of the place before leaving and posting the keys to him.
It’s one where getting a cleaning company with guarantee where they are present at the handover will also help - they will also help push back on unreasonable cleaning demands.
I can recommend: http://cleaninghelp.ch/ - not cheap, but the lady is a cleaning maniac and I’ve used her several times.
Will update the eventual outcome here - hopefully it can help others in the future who might find themselves in this situation. As Phil_MCR mentioned, it’s clear he wanted to keep us paying at lower rent until the point a replacement would be willing to pay the higher rent he’s proposing.
Sure landlord can choose whoever they want as tenant BUT if they decline a solvable tenant willing to take the flat under the same confitions that you propose, then you are off the hook.
Landlord can double the rent and do whatever they want, including having the flat free for 3 months as no one is willing to take the flat at the new price, but it’s not on the tenant to sponsor such things