Reader question: What significance does it have for my remaining rent if the landlord has already handed the flat over to someone else?
You have already moved out of your German rental flat, but your contract still runs for some time. Now you learn that the letting side is said to have already handed the flat over to someone else. The remaining rent claim must be examined more closely. Your own earlier departure and an actual handover to another person are different circumstances.
Keeping the original payment end open
§537 Absatz 1 BGB makes clear at the outset: a reason for prevention attributable to you does not by itself release you from the rent. A private earlier move therefore does not automatically extinguish the contractual payment. The provision also names the crediting of saved expenditures and certain benefits from alternative use. [BGB537]
Gather the contract, the termination or any rescission agreement and the handover documentation. What is confirmed as the contract end? Which payments are still demanded for which periods? A verbally mentioned possible new move-in is not written into the documents as an already agreed earlier end.
Clarify the actual use process
Paragraph 2 concerns a concrete constellation: as long as the landlord is unable to grant you the use by reason of a handover of use (Gebrauchsüberlassung) to a third party, you are not obliged to pay the rent. [BGB537]
Decisive therefore is more than a new advertisement or a viewing appointment. What handover has actually taken place and from when? Was the flat merely opened for an appointment or is it already available to another person for their own use? The article does not decide unusual partial handovers and arrangements in a blanket way.
Use permissible available information
Please request clarification of the known contradictory data in a factual manner. An announced new tenancy, a confirmed handover or a received written notification can assist the review. Do not obtain private information by entering or observing another person’s living space without authorisation.
Phrase the question as concretely as possible: the further rent claim concerns a specific period; at the same time you have a specific piece of information about the alternative handover. Ask for a comprehensible chronological allocation and keep the reply with the case file. A suspicion of double income is not yet conclusive proof.
A fictitious difference between planning and handover
A former occupant first sees an advertisement stating immediate availability. That alone does not answer whether someone has actually moved in. Later he receives a notification about a concretely already commenced use. He presents both pieces of information separately and does not demand a recalculation from the mere advertisement date.
This creates a clear sequence for advice: previous contract end, own return, alleged new use and ongoing claim. The temporal overlap is visible without the occupant declaring the contract terminated on the basis of an advertising text alone.
Demand a substantiated calculation
If a further payment is demanded, the professional review must consider the concrete handover and the applicable crediting. an already agreed earlier contract end would be a different possible basis and will continue to be considered on the basis of its own documents.
The guide is not an invitation to an unexamined complete stop of payment. Its result is a temporally and factually substantiated dealing with the remaining claim. In case of dispute you should have it clarified in good time which amount is really owed in consideration of §537 and how a payment already made would be treated.