The former tenant requests confirmation of a rent payment already made. As an attachment they send a text which at the same time declares that all claims arising from the tenancy relationship have been settled. You want to confirm receipt of payment, but you still have an outstanding accounting question. The difference lies in the content of the declaration and should be clarified before signing.
Read the requested statement carefully
A confirmation can only relate to the receipt of a specific payment. However, it can also include an allocation to a month, the balancing of an account or a comprehensive settlement of all claims. These statements answer different questions. Therefore read the entire submitted declaration including small additions.
§ 368 BGB obliges the creditor, upon receipt of the performance, to give a written acknowledgement of receipt on request. If there is a legal interest in another form, that can be requested. [QUITTUNG] This specific receipt question is not equated here with a general judgement about every requested certificate of freedom from rent arrears.
Trace the actual receipt
First check the voucher: amount, date of receipt, paying person and identifiable purpose. In the case of a cash payment it must be clear who actually received the money. For a bank transfer, booking and purpose of payment should be kept. An announced payment is not yet a confirmed receipt.
Our editorial recommendation is a clean separation in the preparation: what was received? To which claim is it legally allocated? Which further item remains open regardless of that? The first answer can be fixed while the second is still being examined. In this case the confirmation should not obscure that boundary.
Do not turn a receipt into an unchecked comprehensive declaration
If the submitted text also addresses other claims, have its scope legally assessed if necessary. A claim that is actually outstanding is not thereby settled simply because a new letting office requires a certain form name. Conversely, a dispute about an additional item is no reason to deny the actual receipt of a documented payment.
This article does not contain a ready-made form text. It recommends matching the concretely required and provable statement with the statutory acknowledgement of receipt. Whether an additional voluntary declaration makes sense and is legally appropriate depends on its wording and the overall circumstances.
Hypothetical case: rent paid, service charge question open
Deniz finds the proven receipt of a month’s payment. In the document sent he is additionally supposed to declare that no claims exist from previous accounting years. However, a still unresolved enquiry is precisely ongoing about that.
He processes the request for a receipt on the basis of the payment voucher and submits the further-reaching statement separately for review. The tenant receives clear feedback about which receipt can be confirmed and which additional declaration is not yet based on a clarified position. The open question is not casually decided in a general sentence.
Leave a record that can be read later
Keep the actually issued version with the payment voucher. In the case of a correction the original and the new declaration remain recognisable. A telephone explanation should not remain alongside a contradictory signed version.
Your result is an accurate confirmation understood in its scope. It helps to prove a performance without dragging an unchecked further legal question into the same sentence. In cases of disputed allocation or a demanded comprehensive discharge, appropriate legal advice is the next factual step.