Munich Local Court, 30.06.2015, Ref.: 411 C 26176/14
Due to the activities of so-called rental nomads, more and more landlords are checking their rental applicants before concluding a rental agreement in order to protect themselves against breaches of contract by the subsequent contractual partner, in particular against rent defaults.
This is seen as a legitimate interest of the landlord. In such a self-disclosure, the tenant must at least answer the permissible questions truthfully, otherwise the tenancy agreement may be contested or cancelled.
Inadmissible questions include, for example, questions about religious affiliation, desire to have children or nationality. Permissible questions include questions about profession and income.
In the Munich Local Court case discussed here, the court had to decide on the validity of a termination in the context of an eviction action, which was based, among other things, on the fact that the tenant had lied about his creditworthiness in his self-disclosure.
Facts
In May 2013, a married couple with two children, aged 13 and 16, rented a detached house in Grünwald near Munich. The monthly rent was 3,730 euros. The 50-year-old tenant stated in his self-declaration that he earned an annual income of more than 120,000 euros as a self-employed person. His wife, who is three years younger, earned more than 22,000 euros a year as an employee.
False statements and payment arrears
The tenant also stated that no payment proceedings, foreclosures or proceedings to issue an affidavit had been pending against the couple in the five years prior to the submission of the self-disclosure. Subsequently, however, there were considerable payment arrears. The tenants only paid in response to reminders from the landlords and were constantly falling into arrears. When the rents for January and February 2014 were not transferred, the landlords threatened to terminate the tenancy without notice.
Termination without notice and credit report
Despite the threat, the tenants continued to pay late and not in full. When they fell into arrears with their rent payments in September and October 2014, the landlords terminated the tenancy without notice on 23 October 2014. Due to the payment arrears, the landlords obtained a credit report and learnt that there had been unsatisfied enforcement proceedings against the tenant since 1994 and that he had made an affidavit in October 2012.
Judgment of the District Court of Munich
The landlords based the termination without notice on the allegation that the tenant had deliberately provided false information in the self-disclosure in order to obtain the tenancy agreement. This false information led to a breakdown in the relationship of trust, making it unreasonable for the landlords to continue the tenancy. The Munich Local Court followed the landlords' arguments and upheld the eviction action. It found that the tenant's incorrect information in the self-disclosure had led to an irreparable breakdown of the tenancy.