Tenant Screening | Action Against Serial Rent Defaulters

With approximately 1.6 million inhabitants and around 837,000 apartments, landlords in Munich often do not know what kind of tenants they are letting into their properties. Finding the right tenant can often feel like reaching into a lucky dip. To protect you from negative experiences, our commercial investigators in Munich conduct research into the financial background, creditworthiness and reliability of prospective tenants: +49 89 7007 4301.

Deliberate, Planned Refusal to Pay Rent

Landlords always face the risk of a tenant proving unreliable. While the landlord association "Haus & Grund" estimates around 15,000 serial rent defaulters nationwide, the Tenants’ Association estimates approximately 1,000 cases annually. The actual number is likely much higher, as landlords often do not pursue claims for damages after the rent defaulter has disappeared, having no way to address the claim – our Munich detectives assist here with address investigations and debtor tracing. Otherwise, cheated landlords are left bearing the costs of repairing the property and the lost rental income.

With unreliable tenants, a distinction must be made between those who cannot pay due to personal circumstances, such as sudden unemployment, and those who deliberately defraud their landlords – the latter are known as "serial rent defaulters". Private landlords, property companies and real estate agents try to select prospective tenants carefully based on criteria such as reliability and creditworthiness. This usually helps to avoid unpleasant surprises in advance, although such checks are generally rather superficial. Nevertheless, seemingly reliable tenants sometimes behave like vandals of old – often resulting in completely destroyed properties. The investigators at Kurtz Commercial Investigations Munich are happy to assist and research the background of potential tenants for you: kontakt@kurtz-detektei-muenchen.de.

Legal Reform Provides Partial Protection, But Without Access to the Debtor Landlords Are Limited

The rental law reform passed by the German Bundesrat on 1 February 2013 strengthens landlords’ rights against serial rent defaulters. Since the entry into force of the Rental Law Amendment Act (MietRÄndG) on 1 May 2013, landlords have better means of acting against such tenants. Among other provisions, the MietRÄndG includes the so-called "Berlin Eviction": this allows a landlord seeking to evict a property to invoke their landlord’s lien. In practice, this means the landlord can insist that the fleeing tenant’s belongings remain in the property until eviction is completed. Thanks to this amendment, landlords save on storage and transport costs for the defaulter’s furniture. The tenant then has a few weeks to redeem the lien before it is auctioned to satisfy the landlord’s claims. Furthermore, landlords can require any subtenants remaining in the property to leave via an eviction order. Prior to 2013, serial rent defaulters often delayed eviction by using a straw man as a subtenant.

While the legal amendment covers part of the costs, landlords still face financial losses from unpaid rent, court fees, bailiff fees and, ultimately, property renovation costs. The furniture left behind by the tenant rarely covers these expenses – if it is even still usable. Serial rent defaulters tend to leave completely destroyed and dirty furnishings, unsuitable for further use. No landlord needs such experiences, so contact our Munich detectives before signing a rental agreement. We thoroughly check prospective tenants, helping you largely avoid unpleasant surprises.