The first rent has been received, the agreed cash deposit is missing. A private landlady considers in the fictional case the entire security amount immediately due and wishes to terminate straight away. Before making this decision she needs a different calculation: which partial amounts are already due, what has been paid and is there actually default with regard to the relevant amount?
First bring together the agreement and the right to instalments
Section 551 BGB limits the security in principle to three months’ rent excluding the stated operating costs. For a sum of money there is a right to three equal monthly instalments. The first falls due at the start of the tenancy, the others with the immediately following rent payments. [B551]
In the purely arithmetical example the monthly rent excluding operating costs taken as the basis is 800 euros and the validly agreed cash deposit is assumed to be 2.400 euros. Three equal instalments thus amount to 800 euros each. Before the second and third instalments fall due the entire amount is therefore not simply an already due arrear. The example does not confirm either a concrete agreement or a particular start of default.
The landlady creates a line for each instalment showing due date and payment. The rent account remains visible alongside. A punctual rent payment cannot be made to disappear because in the internal overview all incoming payments are assigned to the deposit without checking. She forwards unclear payment purposes for verification.
Understand the statutory threshold amount correctly
Section 569 paragraph 2a describes as an important reason default with a security under Section 551 in the amount of two months’ rent; operating costs are disregarded in this calculation. This provision does not require a rectification period or warning under Section 543 paragraph 3 sentence 1. [B569]
In the example two of the assumed monthly rents correspond to 1.600 euros. This calculated value alone does not yet answer whether the requirements for termination are met. The appropriate due claims and their legal classification are needed. A bank statement with the balance 1.600 euros can support this matter, but cannot replace it.
Record objections and further payments until the decision
Default is a point for separate examination. Section 286 paragraph 4 excludes it as long as the performance fails due to a circumstance for which the debtor is not responsible. [B286] Therefore record any declaration actually communicated by the tenant and hand it over in full. A mere supposition about their willingness to pay is not an equivalent factual circumstance.
Payments before and after a possible declaration also belong in the chronology. Section 569 paragraph 2a accordingly refers to rules on satisfaction before termination and to later ineffectiveness through payment. [B569, B543] No blanket promise of cure is derived from this here. The concrete timing and the exact statutory cross-reference must be examined in the case.
A reviewable decision instead of an automatic letter
The landlady provides the contract, instalment calculation, receipts and correspondence with the current status for legal review. Under Section 569 paragraph 4 the important reason must be stated in the termination letter. [B569] The content and form of the specific declaration therefore remain part of the commission.
Your outcome may also be that no tenable basis for termination exists yet or that a different step should be examined. She does not prepare a letter solely from a total shortfall. The careful calculation precisely helps to deal with an actually missing security without prematurely treating future instalments or unresolved objections as completed legal matters.