Published by Seminar on the rental cover on February 17.02.2020, XNUMX
Part 1 - Direct Debits
Part 2 - “Accepting” rent payments
Part 3 - Everything not so hot because it's unconstitutional anyway?
Part 4 - Is only the landlord or the administrator liable?
Part 5 - Conclusion of new leases
Part 6 - Obligation to notify of key date rent immediately after entry into force without a period
Part 7 - Obligation to provide information about the circumstances of the calculation immediately after entry into force without a period
Part 8 - General information and submission obligation to the authorities immediately after entry into force without a period
Part 9 - Obligation to provide information about the circumstances of the calculation within 2 months of the entry into force
Part 10 - Notification of modernization prior to entry into force within 3 months after entry into force
Part 11 - What Happens After the Law Expires?
Part 12 - Rents cut in 9 months
Part 13 - What is a "Request" with fines?
General clause on the obligation to cooperate with the authorities
Section 2 (3) sentence 3 MietWoG (here Page 12) obliges landlords and the persons acting for them to provide the competent authority with the information and documents required to comply with the provisions of this Act upon request. As an exception, the same obligation also applies to tenants.
The regulation applies immediately upon entry into force.
competent authority
Depending on the task for which the information is required under this law, the responsible body within the meaning of the regulation can be either the responsible district office, the senate administration responsible for housing or the IBB. The regulation does not merely formulate procedural obligations to cooperate. It includes an independent authorization to intervene. Information and documents can also be requested regardless of ongoing official procedures, for example within the framework of random checks or on the basis of indications of violations of this law.
norm addressee
Information and documents can be requested not only from landlords and tenants, but also from the people acting for them. The latter means, for example, property managers or other agents. According to the law (here Page 22), the competent authority may also obtain information or documents from other people. These could be sub-tenants, roommates, caretakers, craftsmen, tax consultants, lawyers, brokers, supervisors, insolvency administrators, forced administrators, executors, legal representatives of owners or tenants or neighbors. The regulation is not aimed at authorities (such as the tax office), but data exchange is regulated in the same paragraph in sentence 1.
occasion of independence
The request for the necessary documents and information is at the discretion of the responsible body, according to the law. Discretion may not be exercised incorrectly, but it can only be checked by the court to a limited extent. It should be sufficient if a competent authority thinks that it wants to check something and that this is necessary to comply with or enforce the MietWoG.
fine reinforcement
According to § 11 Paragraph 1 No. 1 MietWoG, anyone who does not, incorrectly or not completely fulfills his duty to cooperate in accordance with § 2 Paragraph 3 Clause 3 acts improperly. The information must therefore be provided completely and true, and documents must be submitted in full.
So if a district employee meets you on the doorstep and asks if, since when and for what amount an apartment in the house has been rented to whom, both the non-response and the incorrect or incomplete answer are subject to a fine. The amount is at the discretion of the district and extends up to the aforementioned 500.000 euros.
Content of the duty to provide information
Here all the criteria specified by law are taken into account for the calculation of the rent amount, i.e. first of all on the applicability of the law according to § 1, the key date, new or re-letting rent according to § 3 and all criteria according to §§ 6 and 7 MietWoG.
"Information" means that you, as the landlord or administrator, cannot simply send documents, but that you have to answer questions, that is, evaluate the documents on request so that the information requested by the authority is provided.
"To comply with the provisions of this law" it may also be necessary to know the lessee's contractual partner. If it is a company, the agency may want to know who the company belongs to, ie who is the beneficial owner and who represents it. If there is a holding structure or if foreign companies are involved, information may be provided. also information about the property chain and the natural person (s) at the end of it. Ultimately, the agency has discretion as to whether it needs this information in order to enforce the law effectively. There will probably be some procedural disputes here.
Submission of documents
That can be very small. If, for example, the question arises whether the living space was ready for occupancy before or after January 01.01.2014, XNUMX, this can either be a certificate from the building authority or a correspondence between the site manager, owner, project developer and lawyer at the time, which shows that when the apartment was thought to be ready by whom.
The same applies to the assessment of whether there is “modern equipment” within the meaning of Section 6 (3) of the Rent Act. Photos can be requested here, construction documents including invoices or receipts, correspondence.
The authorities can check the key date rent by submitting bank statements and contracts.
The ownership and power of attorney structure of owner companies can follow from register documents, company contracts or representation documents. It is unclear whether a translation of foreign documents can be requested; mglw. it is at the discretion of the competent authority.
So that the rental cover is good for something:
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