{"id":3184,"date":"2012-12-07T01:41:23","date_gmt":"2012-12-07T00:41:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redept.nl\/en\/huurrecht-en-achterstallig-onderhoud\/"},"modified":"2016-11-23T13:05:55","modified_gmt":"2016-11-23T12:05:55","slug":"huurrecht-en-achterstallig-onderhoud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redept.nl\/en\/huurrecht-en-achterstallig-onderhoud\/","title":{"rendered":"Rental law offers insufficient support to tenants with maintenance backlog"},"content":{"rendered":"

Who hasn\u2019t had to deal with it?\u00a0 Your employees complain constantly about the climate within their office. \u00a0It is too cold or too warm or too humid or too dry.\u00a0 Sick leave increases and you even have to send employees home because it is no longer bearable.\u00a0 The solution? \u00a0Call your landlord immediately.\u00a0 They send a man, he twists a few knobs and gives you the blame for your ignorant employees that have played around with the system. \u00a0He leaves as soon has you have signed his docket and a couple of hundred euros will be added to your service charge reconciliation.\u00a0 And the complaint remains unsolved.<\/p>\n

Default notice<\/h2>\n

In such situations is the service of a notice of default (ingebrekestelling<\/em>) the remedy that suffering tenants choose. \u00a0Trust in their fellow humans remains unusually high and despite everything you still want to retain a good relationship with the landlord. \u00a0However a number of landlords is no longer able to comply with their obligations and must grasp everything at their disposal not to have to eat into their maintenance reserves with major capital expenditure. \u00a0From our own practical experience we have seen situations where the (technical) manager doesn\u2019t even visit a property, let alone that he\/she has a practical knowledge of what goes on within the walls of their ownership. \u00a0The tenant\u2019s patience can in practice turn out to work distinctly against their own interests \u2013 of which more later.<\/p>\n

Once informal attempts have not delivered a solution the law provides the possibility of serving a default notice on the failing landlord. \u00a0This means that the landlord will receive a formal communication that he is in default (gebrek<\/em>) and must remedy the default within a \u201creasonable\u201d period of time. \u00a0The tenant may also suspend payment of rent whilst it waits for the solution.<\/p>\n

Hopefully this suspension of the rent will spur the landlord into action. \u00a0If that doesn\u2019t work, what are the next steps that are available for the tenant? \u00a0The law prescribes that the tenant may remedy the default itself (once the aforementioned reasonable time period has elapsed) and subsequently deduct the costs involved from the rent. In theory the ideal solution but in practice not always desirable. \u00a0For instance, you rent space in a building with an ancient climate installation that is well beyond its best before date.\u00a0 As tenant you don\u2019t want to get involved in a project of tens of thousands of euros that is comparable with peeling an onion; as soon as the boilers are replaced, it turns out that there is asbestos in the seals.\u00a0 As soon as that is removed it turns out that the control technique is also obsolete. \u00a0And so on. \u00a0As well as the technical know-how that is required, you also have to spend management time on the issue.\u00a0 In effect you have to pre-finance the costs and you run the risk that you cause damage to the property that has nothing to do with the original problem. \u00a0If it also involves a multi-tenant building, life doesn\u2019t get any easier.<\/p>\n

What you really want is that the landlord gets his house in order.\u00a0 If he doesn\u2019t do that, what then?\u00a0 The reminders for the suspended rent are piling up, the landlord threatens you with the bailiffs (with all the associated costs) and your employees\u2019 productivity is rapidly declining. \u00a0Maybe even the credibility of the management team will be brought into question by your own employees because the situation is still not solved.<\/p>\n

See you in court?<\/h2>\n

In principle, the next step is the step into court.\u00a0 The law gives the possibility to structurally reduce the rent by order of a judge. As tenant this doesn\u2019t help much; you are paying less but your (lack of) enjoyment of the premises still unchanged. \u00a0Dissolution? \u00a0In serious cases you can also request it.\u00a0 However \u2013 and this is where your patience comes back to you like a boomerang \u2013 the chance that a judge will order dissolution is very slim. Certainly if the tenant has been able to continue its activities in the premises for some months despite the problem.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t that serious after all then?<\/p>\n

In practice the route to the courtroom is seldom followed.\u00a0 Certainly not by small and medium sized enterprises for which the legal costs are unmanageable, at least not in combination with the uncertainty that a legal procedure brings.<\/p>\n

So, the risks of self-help are too large, just like the costs and risks of the legal route. \u00a0And then? \u00a0In practice it turns out that suspending the rent is the most effective means of encouraging the landlord to take action.\u00a0 In general landlords also do not want to end up in court. \u00a0Letting the landlord feel the pain in his wallet can be extremely effective. \u00a0Note well, you should always set aside the funds.\u00a0 It is always a suspension, not the disappearance of the obligation to pay!<\/p>\n

Prevention better than cure<\/h2>\n

Preferably as tenant you want to ensure that you don\u2019t get into this sort of situations.\u00a0 It is in any case clear that rental law offers insufficient support to tenants if a landlord turns out to be in default with respect to his maintenance obligation. \u00a0But what can a tenant do to ensure that it doesn\u2019t get into such a difficult position?<\/p>\n

At Redept we see that tenants often neglect to carry out any form of technical inspections prior to entering into a rental agreement. Pennywise pound foolish<\/em> because a few hundred euro spent at this stage pays itself back time and time again. We advise our clients to carry out a building inspection before reaching agreement on the rental terms. \u00a0Not only does this guard against entering into a long term commitment whereby the building turns out to be a headache.\u00a0 It also gives Redept essential information that we can bring into the rental negotiations. \u00a0Additionally by fixing the performance specifications in the rental agreement we can to some extent limit the chance of a default occuring at a later date.<\/p>\n

Also in this context the existing ROZ model rental agreement deserves some attention. \u00a0Since the introduction of the new rental law in 2003 \u2013 where the definition of default was tightened up to the advantage of the tenant \u2013 this agreement contains wording that completely negates the intention of the lawmaker. \u00a0Redept negotiates as standard various deviations from the standard ROZ rental agreement in order to improve the position of the tenant.<\/p>\n

Thankfully it is no more the case in today\u2019s market that landlords can say: \u201ctake it or leave it\u201d. \u00a0One of the side-effects of the existing malaise is that well advised tenants can win a great deal in rental negotiations. \u00a0They can force a much more reasonable position in relation to the landlord that was the case in times of scarcity. \u00a0However, we still see that tenants \u2013 and advisors \u2013 pay a great deal of attention to the financial aspects of a transaction and that the future enjoyment of the property receives insufficient attention.\u00a0 Redept calls for a more holistic approach to rental negotiations in which not only the rent and the incentives are the subjects of discussion, but also the physical and functional suitability of the premises in order that the tenant is assured of \u2018quiet enjoyment\u2019 for the long term.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Who hasn\u2019t had to deal with it?\u00a0 Your employees complain constantly about the climate within\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-publications"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nRental law offers insufficient support to tenants with maintenance backlog - Redept<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/redept.nl\/en\/huurrecht-en-achterstallig-onderhoud\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rental law offers insufficient support to tenants with maintenance backlog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Who hasn\u2019t had to deal with it?\u00a0 Your employees complain constantly about the climate within\u2026\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/redept.nl\/en\/huurrecht-en-achterstallig-onderhoud\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Redept\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-12-07T00:41:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-11-23T12:05:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/redept.nl\/app\/uploads\/2016\/09\/achterstalligonderhoud.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"393\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Leon van Leersum\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Leon van Leersum\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/redept.nl\\\/en\\\/huurrecht-en-achterstallig-onderhoud\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/redept.nl\\\/en\\\/huurrecht-en-achterstallig-onderhoud\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Leon van Leersum\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/redept.nl\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ca18cb16aee0dfdb781e116b7f2c47ba\"},\"headline\":\"Rental law offers insufficient support to tenants with maintenance backlog\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-12-07T00:41:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-11-23T12:05:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/redept.nl\\\/en\\\/huurrecht-en-achterstallig-onderhoud\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1235,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/redept.nl\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Publications\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/redept.nl\\\/en\\\/huurrecht-en-achterstallig-onderhoud\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/redept.nl\\\/en\\\/huurrecht-en-achterstallig-onderhoud\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/redept.nl\\\/en\\\/huurrecht-en-achterstallig-onderhoud\\\/\",\"name\":\"Rental law offers insufficient support to tenants with maintenance backlog - Redept\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/redept.nl\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-12-07T00:41:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-11-23T12:05:55+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/redept.nl\\\/en\\\/huurrecht-en-achterstallig-onderhoud\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/redept.nl\\\/en\\\/huurrecht-en-achterstallig-onderhoud\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/redept.nl\\\/en\\\/huurrecht-en-achterstallig-onderhoud\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/redept.nl\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Rental law offers insufficient support to tenants with maintenance backlog\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/redept.nl\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/redept.nl\\\/\",\"name\":\"Redept\",\"description\":\"Your Real Estate Department\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/redept.nl\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/redept.nl\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/redept.nl\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Redept\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/redept.nl\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/redept.nl\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"\",\"contentUrl\":\"\",\"caption\":\"Redept\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/redept.nl\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/redept.nl\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ca18cb16aee0dfdb781e116b7f2c47ba\",\"name\":\"Leon van Leersum\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/5539cd3b1990055db2e98cbc1275a98d157d57432074223e7bb1d1fc5a1ea0d4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/5539cd3b1990055db2e98cbc1275a98d157d57432074223e7bb1d1fc5a1ea0d4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/5539cd3b1990055db2e98cbc1275a98d157d57432074223e7bb1d1fc5a1ea0d4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Leon van Leersum\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/redept.nl\\\/en\\\/author\\\/leon\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Rental law offers insufficient support to tenants with maintenance backlog - Redept","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/redept.nl\/en\/huurrecht-en-achterstallig-onderhoud\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Rental law offers insufficient support to tenants with maintenance backlog","og_description":"Who hasn\u2019t had to deal with it?\u00a0 Your employees complain constantly about the climate within\u2026","og_url":"https:\/\/redept.nl\/en\/huurrecht-en-achterstallig-onderhoud\/","og_site_name":"Redept","article_published_time":"2012-12-07T00:41:23+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-11-23T12:05:55+00:00","og_image":[{"width":500,"height":393,"url":"https:\/\/redept.nl\/app\/uploads\/2016\/09\/achterstalligonderhoud.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Leon van Leersum","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Leon van Leersum","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/redept.nl\/en\/huurrecht-en-achterstallig-onderhoud\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/redept.nl\/en\/huurrecht-en-achterstallig-onderhoud\/"},"author":{"name":"Leon van Leersum","@id":"https:\/\/redept.nl\/#\/schema\/person\/ca18cb16aee0dfdb781e116b7f2c47ba"},"headline":"Rental law offers insufficient support to tenants with maintenance backlog","datePublished":"2012-12-07T00:41:23+00:00","dateModified":"2016-11-23T12:05:55+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/redept.nl\/en\/huurrecht-en-achterstallig-onderhoud\/"},"wordCount":1235,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/redept.nl\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Publications"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/redept.nl\/en\/huurrecht-en-achterstallig-onderhoud\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/redept.nl\/en\/huurrecht-en-achterstallig-onderhoud\/","url":"https:\/\/redept.nl\/en\/huurrecht-en-achterstallig-onderhoud\/","name":"Rental law offers insufficient support to tenants with maintenance backlog - Redept","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/redept.nl\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-12-07T00:41:23+00:00","dateModified":"2016-11-23T12:05:55+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/redept.nl\/en\/huurrecht-en-achterstallig-onderhoud\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/redept.nl\/en\/huurrecht-en-achterstallig-onderhoud\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/redept.nl\/en\/huurrecht-en-achterstallig-onderhoud\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/redept.nl\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Rental law offers insufficient support to tenants with maintenance backlog"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/redept.nl\/#website","url":"https:\/\/redept.nl\/","name":"Redept","description":"Your Real Estate Department","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/redept.nl\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/redept.nl\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/redept.nl\/#organization","name":"Redept","url":"https:\/\/redept.nl\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/redept.nl\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"","contentUrl":"","caption":"Redept"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/redept.nl\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/redept.nl\/#\/schema\/person\/ca18cb16aee0dfdb781e116b7f2c47ba","name":"Leon van Leersum","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5539cd3b1990055db2e98cbc1275a98d157d57432074223e7bb1d1fc5a1ea0d4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5539cd3b1990055db2e98cbc1275a98d157d57432074223e7bb1d1fc5a1ea0d4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5539cd3b1990055db2e98cbc1275a98d157d57432074223e7bb1d1fc5a1ea0d4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Leon van Leersum"},"url":"https:\/\/redept.nl\/en\/author\/leon\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/redept.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/redept.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/redept.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redept.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redept.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3184"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/redept.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3184\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3188,"href":"https:\/\/redept.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3184\/revisions\/3188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/redept.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redept.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redept.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}