What is rent collection?
Rent collection is the process of collecting overdue rent from a tenant who fails to pay or pays late. Every month that rent arrears accumulate without action, the total debt increases and the chance of full recovery decreases. Early intervention is crucial.
Rent collection differs from ordinary business collection because, in addition to the rent arrears, additional legal questions are involved: do you wish to continue or terminate the lease agreement? Is eviction applicable? As the landlord, have you reported the rent arrears to the municipality? These questions determine the most sensible approach.
Who is rent collection for?
MKBjuristen handles rent collection for commercial landlords of business premises, office space, and storage space. This includes property managers, investment companies, entrepreneurs who rent out commercial properties, and private investors with commercial real estate.
Different statutory rules apply to residential rent collection — including the Rent Commission and extensive
tenant protection. We assess which tenancy regime applies and what that means for
your approach.
Out-of-court rent collection
The first step is always an out-of-court collection process. On your behalf, we send a legally strong demand letter to the tenant, make telephone contact, and exert pressure to obtain payment without litigation.
In many cases, the tenant pays the arrears after receiving a letter from a specialized
legal firm. If this is not the case, we will discuss the next step.
Judicial rent collection and eviction
If out-of-court collection yields no results, there are two legal routes.
The first route is the payment procedure. We summon the tenant before the sub-district court and claim payment of the full rent arrears, including interest and collection costs. After a successful judgment, we can place an enforcement attachment on the tenant's assets.
The second route is dissolution and eviction. If you wish to terminate the lease agreement due to rent arrears, we will initiate judicial dissolution proceedings before the sub-district court. The judge can dissolve the lease agreement and order the tenant to vacate the rented property.
Both procedures can be combined: payment of rent arrears and dissolution with eviction
in a single procedure.
Municipal reporting obligation regarding residential rent arrears
Do you rent out residential property? If so, as a landlord, you are required to report rent arrears to the municipality
before initiating termination proceedings. If you fail to do so, the court may reject the termination — even
if the rent arrears are objectively justified. We monitor this obligation in your file.
Damage caused by the tenant
In addition to rent arrears, landlords often suffer damage caused by the tenant: damage to the property,
abandoned furniture, or costs for replacing
locks. We also claim these damages in the proceedings
, so that you do not have to bear the costs yourself.
