I am relatively new to Germany and moving to Aachen now to start my bachelors degree with a friend.
As Aachen is a student city it took me a while to find accommodation especially as I don’t work and it’s hard to seem trusted with basically “I swear my parents who live outside Europe will finance my rent” but I finally stumbled across a place with an agency that seems pretty professional and trustworthy (Hausverwaltung Dr Sauren).
Everything was going great and I went for a Besichtigung and the apartment seemed perfectly fine until they sent me the contract. After reading it and doing due diligence, the contract favors the landlord a lot, but only on small details that aren’t a huge problem, however there was one thing.
In the contract it states that I waive my right for “ordentlichen Kündigung” for the first 24 months and if I want to leave earlier I have to pay half the rent for the remaining period of the contract.
Now I am planning on staying for longer than 24 months obviously but still I would like the freedom to leave in case I need to switch universities or I fail and have to leave, who knows the possibilities are endless. I tried to negotiate it but they seem very stubborn on having that clause. I will attach images of our conversation below.
Extra info: the apartment hasn’t been rented since March of this year which makes me skeptical but I assume it’s cos it’s 3 bedrooms and quite expensive so students don’t really want it, but I have friends and we want to move in together and don’t mind the price. Also when I viewed it the agent was really professional and the apartment seemed perfectly fine.
Am I being scammed and there are hidden defects maybe or is that a normal thing I should expect? If so, is there a clause I can add that states that if there is an issue with the house that isn’t easily fixable we can leave without paying the rest of the contract?
by Maronator
4 comments
It is common for a landlord to put clauses like this into the contract. When I began my studies, I had to stay in my flat for at least 24 months as well. Taking it down to 12 months is – in my eyes – extremely generous from the landlord. I would believe most landlords would have just told you to go away. Renting a flat out is work (because you need to chose the tenant etc), so landlords are commonly interested in clauses like the one in your contract. I would say 18 months is absolutely common, 24 months may be on the higher side.
I would not ecpect hidden defects just because of this clause. It is really common.
I would strongly recommend taking the contract and being very nice while taking it, because there is a high risk you won’t get anything better.
Yeah, that’s quite common nowadays. You actually got lucky there I think, a lot of landlords would just send you away instead of negotiations.
Yes, it is common and usually you can get out of the contract if you find a new tenant when you want to move out. Which will be absolutely no problem.
If you remotely like the apartment and it’s not a stupidly high price don’t hesitate and take it with those 12 months, that’s really generous of this landlord.
Who is gonna move out within a year anyway.
Yes, this is pretty normal and legal unfortunately.