"A Vilnius couple shared a story that has received a
lot of attention on Tuesday, the highlight of which is an insolvent tenant who
is not paying the owners for either rent or utility bills. Lawyers also
provided their assessment of this situation, and they advise to conclude lease
agreements that are as detailed as possible and not to resort to arbitrariness.
Gedas from Vilnius described his unpleasant experience
renting an apartment on his Facebook account on Tuesday. He hoped that the
story would teach others to choose their tenants more carefully, and the
resident who hijacked their apartment would make the right decisions.
He indicated that last fall he rented an apartment belonging
to himself and his wife in Vilnius, on Rinktinės Street.
“Since then, we have not received
rent payments, the tenant avoids communicating and moving out. We have gone to
court, but the case is still in court, and we cannot arbitrarily move out. This
is how we sit with the tenant, who refuses to move out,” Gedas explained in the
post.
“Hijacked” the apartment
He added that turning off the electricity or changing the
locks is prohibited by law, and a rather long court process awaits.
“We pay for the loan, utility bills and have no income. So
before renting out your house, carefully choose your tenants, because you will
be “giving away” free accommodation,” he warned.
Among other things, Gedas shared with “Delfi” a message he
received from another woman, to whom the same resident had rented the
apartment. The tenant owed her 2,500 euros.
Gedas' wife Justina told Delfi that after signing the
contract in November, the tenant paid a deposit and paid one month's rent in
advance. She moved into the apartment with her child.
"After signing the contract, she paid the deposit, and
she also said that she needed to move in very quickly. She paid the deposit in
installments, I suspect she didn't necessarily pay it herself, in such small
pieces. She also paid the rent in advance, but I had a suspicion that
everything might not be fine here. Another person transferred another 160 euros
for her in December, and that's when the payments ended," Justina told
Delfi, adding that the tenant also does not cover utility bills.
She did not disclose the amount the insolvent tenant owed
the owners, but indicated that it was a "considerable amount" because
the apartment is located on Rinktinės Street in the capital, closer to the
central part, and besides, it is not a small apartment.
“This is a higher than average price in Vilnius,” she said.
According to Justina, communicating with the defaulting
resident was difficult. Although she initially promised to pay for her
obligations immediately, the tenant later stopped answering the phone, perhaps
blocking her number.
“She called me only yesterday, we talked for a long time,
she said that after the post was made public, she received personal attention,
and strangers also called her. I asked if anything was written incorrectly, she
replied that everything was correct. I can apologize, but there is nothing more
I can do,” the interviewee indicated.
“Delfi” tried to contact the aforementioned tenant of the
apartment, but all her social media profiles have been frozen.
It is not possible to disconnect electricity from tenants or
evict them without a court decision
“Delfi” asked lawyers how homeowners should behave in such
situations and what their rights are.
Loreta Selilione, a lawyer working in
the field of real estate law, told Delfi that the Civil Code stipulates that if
the tenant fails to fulfill their obligations, the landlord may terminate the
lease agreement for residential premises only when the tenant fails to pay the
rent or utility bills for more than 3 months.
“It also stipulates that the lease
agreement may be terminated and tenants evicted from the premises only by court
order. This means that the landlord, regardless of what is provided for in the
lease agreement itself, does not have the right to terminate the lease
agreement for residential premises unilaterally. And if they do terminate, the
landlord will still have to go to court for the eviction,” L. Selilione
commented to Delfi.
She indicated that such cases occur in her practice, but
more often it happens that tenants partially fulfill their obligations, thus
complicating the landlord’s rights to terminate the lease agreement.
Eviction without a court decision may be recognized as
arbitrariness and punished administratively, the lawyer said. The tenant could
also demand compensation for the damage suffered.
And lawyer Karolis Rugys noted that such relations are
regulated by both the law and the contract concluded by the parties, which
acquires the force of law.
“You need to look at what is provided
for in it, but if there is a fundamental violation, and non-payment of the fee
can be treated as a fundamental violation, you need to give a reasonable term
to correct the violations: warn, inform, report. And if the obligations are not
fulfilled, the contract can be terminated, and after termination of the
contract, you can ask to move out. If they do not move out, then go to court,”
K. Rugys described the course of action.
The tenant should be informed only in
writing, because this will make it easier to provide evidence to the court in
the event of a dispute.
“E-mail, text messages, and
registered mail are all suitable. The
contract should specify where you will send notifications and how. The notice
can also be delivered through a bailiff, and if the tenant refuses to accept
it, it is considered non-cooperation,” the lawyer explained.
The tenant can be ordered to pay both
unpaid taxes and court costs and late payment interest, said K. Rugys.
The interviewee noticed that in defending their rights,
owners resort to desperate methods, for example, disconnecting electricity and
water to tenants, and taking other actions, but this should not be done.
“You need to defend your rights in legal ways. It is
annoying, unpleasant, you feel cheated, you have expenses, but there is a legal
order. There is a threat that you may be held legally liable for
self-government, another thing is that you can cause damage. For example, if
you disconnect the electricity, you will damage the appliances, the tenant can
apply for compensation for damage.
After all, it happens that people take things, move them
out, but if something goes missing or breaks, the owner will be blamed. The
tenant also has the right to apply to the court and request the application of
interim measures of protection, i.e. while the dispute is ongoing, to oblige to
ensure the supply of electricity, gas, etc. Therefore, it is not recommended to
do such things,” the expert advised.
He agreed that in the case where minor children live in the
apartment, the court primarily takes into account their interests, because they
cannot be left without a place to live.
“The court primarily takes into account the interests of the
children, but it is not the case that having children you can expect that it
will be enough to pay for one month, and later you will live as long as you
want, without paying for anything. If this were the case, most people would use
and abuse it,” said K. Rugys.
If an oral agreement is concluded
between the tenant and the owner, all the previously listed conditions are
valid, but it may be more difficult to provide evidence, the lawyer noted.
“It would be more complicated to prove what the terms of the
lease were, what they agreed on, how much they will pay, how long they will
live, what is a fundamental violation, how long they have to fix it. Without a
written contract, the landlord makes it more difficult to defend themselves in
the future. But the absence of a contract does not mean that everything is
over, they have settled in, they will live and they will not be evicted,” he
noted.
However, he especially recommended signing a contract.
“It should provide for various possible cases – from
non-payment to eviction, transfer of belongings and the like. Sanctions must be
reasonable, extremely large fines can be provided for, but the court can reduce
them if the tenant requests it. Example: you agree that if you do not pay for
one day, you will immediately terminate the contract, evict them and also ask
them to pay 10 thousand euros. Such conditions may be declared invalid,” said
K. Rugys.
He advises asking for evidence that the tenant is really
working
How to protect yourself from such situations?
Real estate broker Jovita
Aleksejūnienė advised checking the creditworthiness of the prospective tenant,
if they say they are employed, to ask to see a certificate from work that they
are really employed.
“Ask for recommendations from former
landlords. A larger deposit is also a protection against such situations if
they start not paying. Penalties for delays should be included in the
contracts; once, 5 euros per day of delay had to be included in the contract.
I tell everyone and I will tell them: if a tenant starts to
be late and this happens repeatedly, think carefully about whether it would be
worth looking for another tenant. Most Lithuanians are afraid to say it, it is
inconvenient for them, but in the end, the landlord remains the wronged one,”
she said.
J. Aleksejūnienė said that she is currently involved in a
similar situation, when a tenant is being evicted through the courts.
"I am involved in this process from the beginning to
the end, so I will be able to comment on how we did. The situation is
grandiose, not only the court, children's rights, but also neighbors, utility
providers are involved," said the broker.
And L. Selilione also recommended not
setting long lease terms, as well as requiring a larger deposit and carrying
out constant control over the tenant's obligations."
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