Landlady not fulfilling contract.

Hi

We have the following situation. We have a 1 year lease finishing at the end of march 2010. The landlady has not fixed the issues that where promised (no working oven, no chimney on the gas heater (illegal) and exposed wiring throughout the house). She has a 3 month deposit and is a known offender when it comes to not returning the deposit (she has probably spent it).

I got advice from a friend to send an official letter outlining the problems and lack of action from here side to rectify the issues and to stop payment until the contract is up and we leave the apartment at the end of march.

Furthermore she has not declared the rental income to the Spanish IRS and I'm considering using it against here if she does indeed make further problems. All payments have been bank transfers so there's a clear paper trail in payments.

Am I being to drastic ?

Christian

Hello Christian,

Drastic situation require drastic measures but before I sympathise with you (on the basis of your information) I will outline what my opinion is, as a lawyer and as a lawman:

Lawyer: If you notified the landlady that the repairs and she did not take any action you can go to Court and force her to make these repairs. If you had to pay for them, provided you notified her officially, then the Court will almost certainly make her pay you this amount. All the while you must be up to date with the payments because you are not entitled, under Spanish law, to deduct maintanance expenses from the rental. In addition to this, you will then have to request that she refunds the 3 months deposit once the term of the contract is over. If she refuses, your only option is to go to Court. You need to consider that going to Court will take time and will cost you money.

Layman: Considering she has a history of not returning deposits I would advise her, by official letter, that you will not pay the last 3 months but that you will not claim the deposits back. But careful here, because even if you leave the property in good condition she may break things or even make them disappear and then make you responsible so make sure that when you leave you take a Notary to take some pictures and you make a statement that you have on that day officially returned possesion to the lady. You can also leave the keys at the Notary´s office. It all sounds complicated but when you enter into a tenancy dispute you have to cover every angle!

I find the fact that the Landlady is not paying income tax and wonder if this could be used to improve the tenants position?

If he wanted to report the Landlady, who would he report her to?