What to do if the tenant simply stops paying?

We also rent out an apartment. The most important thing when renting out only a few properties is the question of whether you can live with a few months of rent loss and ongoing additional costs. If your financing is so tight that you absolutely need the rental income, then don’t do it.

We are currently still dealing with a dispute with a former tenant who fortunately terminated voluntarily. She was a character who repeatedly emphasized how clean she was and how well maintained the apartment was. At the key/apartment handover, she was quite surprised that we couldn’t handle it down in the courtyard but had to go into the apartment. There: a bedroom door broken out of its frame, strike plate plastered over with gypsum. Apartment door forcibly broken open, door leaf bent and frame splintered ("I only opened it once with a credit card"...), windows and a glass door section bitten by the dog. Two huge scratches in the parquet flooring, which had been newly installed before her move-in, and she also smeared gypsum between the parquet and the baseboards. Wooden windowsills in the gallery had water damage. One roller shutter slat had been drilled through three times. A marble windowsill covered with a greasy substance that left stains that couldn’t be cleaned off. Windows and doors decorated with Tesa tape residue. The walls were covered with paint flakes. When sanding, more than 8 thick layers of paint were revealed – plus painted-over posters glued directly onto the walls. The radiators were clogged inside with a thick layer of nicotine, grease, and dust. In addition, mold in the shower. In total, we had 3 months of lost rent because we renovated everything ourselves as far as possible – and now the lady seriously wants her full security deposit back.

But in the end, we are very relieved that she left on her own. She has now fully paid the rent as well as her outstanding additional costs from last year (she never had money, after all...). If she had stopped paying rent someday and it had come to an eviction lawsuit, she probably would have had good chances: hardship case, poor woman, can’t get an apartment, not quite mentally stable, and so on. We probably would have spent more than a year on it and paid court costs in addition to the lost rent. Unfortunately, courts also tend to decide in favor of the tenant too often.

Based on my landlord experience, I say this. Consider your business model. Renting consistently to precarious milieus, with rent paid through social welfare offices, is safe, you can let your property deteriorate, it doesn’t matter there. The disadvantage is, it really does deteriorate. Or rent to quality-conscious tenants. That means older, well-off people who rent because they no longer want or can take care of anything. Secure good rent, but your apartment must then be top-notch. They want you to have renovations done and will pay for them. They want snow removal service and front yard maintenance, but pay for that as well. They want quiet neighbors, no mix with children please. Everything in between is risky. Students, constant turnover. Young couples, financially weak, cheeky, destroy everything and are always innocent. Foreigners, overcrowd the apartment, cook all the time, mold etc. Karsten

If we are already polishing stereotypes, then with the elderly please remember the renovation including knocking out the screed when they die in the apartment and lie there for a few days! Experienced even in a multi-family house in a northern German big city. If it stinks so much in the stairwell that someone feels compelled to report it, the affected apartment has already become uninhabitable. With the elderly, there is also the risk of running into troublemakers.

Dying, he's right about that, there's always something. Troublemakers, that too. Look into their eyes when they have such furrowed brows and deep-set gaze, hands off. If they can smile and their body language is lively, good. Take them as tenants.

If they can smile and have lively body language, good. Take them as tenants.

But those are also traits of con artists -> scammers ;)

It has to somehow seem genuine. Hard to explain. We've always been lucky with our tenants. Always older people, no defaults, one was a bit like an actor, but we could get him under control. I always arranged annual meetings with my tenants, where we met at their place by appointment, and then they could say what was wrong with the apartment, we discussed solutions, and I inspected the property at the same time. Karsten