Contract renewl

[logic]

Hi

A friend posted a question for over at yahoo answers and someone from this site pointed it out, thanks who ever you are,

My questions is about contract renewal, i rented a flat for over 5 years, always paid the agency on time

Long story short, July 1st is the new 5 year stage, and the agency sent another email now saying if i want to renew the contract the plants have to go.



Any advise appreciated

[Mekon]

There are very strict rules in place which dictate ( at least when a property is rented on a legal contract ) when and by how much a landlord can increase the rent he charges on a property. When a 5 year contract expires, this is the ieal opportunity for a landlord to remove his tenant and start again with a new contract for a new tenant on a new rental fee (obviously much higher). It looks very much like he is grasping at straws for reasons to 'persuade' you to leave of your own choice.

[logic]

I wonder what the best route is, the rent is like 800 atm, they want to raise it to 850, they have 6 months deposit, we cant find another place, im on paro with 3 infants and an agency telling me they decided to dispute about plants not the owner who is notoriously racists towards tenants who all happen to be from south america or even spanish while she is Italian and was married to a Catalan guy.

As for the piso, the piso is very very old, the electrical lines look like telephone wires, i had to spend 400 euros on a electrician to install a safer electrical line to the kitchen, it had no kitchen where i had to buy a frigo, oven and cooking table (inverter) and washer, no hot running water in kitchen and plumbers who looked at it say its gonna cost a fortune, the bathroom had no mirror or toilet, i installed a new toilet, the floor was even worse, i installed wooden floors from ikea that are removable, i also gave them 6 months deposit and they left tons of old furniture i had to pay removers to take away, i have photos of all this from he original advert and the day we moved in officially., not that im looking for a argument with them over plants which are a laughing matter to other tenants who pay as little as 300 euros a month and have bigger problems just keeping up with the rent while telling me over and over its even funnier how racists the owner behaves while im the only none latino in all 3 buildings., tenants suggested not to pay rent but we prefer to stay on the record clean while they also advise not to because the owner makes more from claiming tax loses on these buildings.

Now i am outside of BCN trying to get work at some company, the kids are outside of BCN atm while in school, i cant even show up today to sign a new contract and they tell me no one else can go get it, does this sound normal, i made photocopy of my ID with a note saying i gave permission to a girlfriend to go in my behalf, and pick up the contract while leaving all the money, this way i can send the signed one back by mail or in person but they refused this too, where is this all going im asking myself.

what would you do in this situation?

[MrGrumpy]

You need to do 2 things :

1) Compile as much information as you can : Receipts for rental payments you have made ; Copy of the rental contract ; E mails sent and received ; letters to and from the Agent and Landlord ; Even make notes (inc times and dates) of specific conversations that you have had - with who and when.

2) When you have done this get in touch with your closest OMIC office (which you can find by going to http://www.omic.bcn.es ) and ask them for advise. Omic ( Oficina Municipal de Información del Consumidor ) are an independant consumer affairs agency who will advise you as to whether you have a case or not. If they believe that you have, they will tell you what your rights are and how to proceed.

[MickeyB]

I'm assuming that you have a fully legal 'Contract Vivienda', with all the terms and conditions of your tenancy listed ?

[logic]

I'm assuming that you have a fully legal 'Contract Vivienda', with all the terms and conditions of your tenancy listed ?

Sure i do, i found out very interesting things the other day when i went t get a new padron paper

They know the owner and agency, the girl told me they where literally just there last week over several violations and complaints, she said the problem is the owner is greedy, they gave her money for the facade and she did nothing to renovate it, the building still has problems with plumbing aside the electricity which was just fixed by one guy who took a month in the hallway to get the job done for 1000 euros with the help of some illegal Romanian kid.

the office verified my contract as good but said that if they themselves did not know this crazy woman no one actually can see tell me if the contract is official, turns out people make fake contracts because the office can not see the new owner, only the original deed, like on electric bills, so some con artists or agency can indeed offer a fake contract to conceal taxes., but she said if mine was such a contract the owner is liable.

I forgot to mention that at the padron office the woman told me not to bother going to OMIC becuase they send people to them, but that does not make sense i thought since they also normally can not see the current owner of the property to tell whether or not a contract is officially real.

[MickeyB]

Based on what you have said I think you are in a very strong position. If I were you I would not speak with your landlord at all and insist that all communication had to be in writing. It sounds very much like the landlord wants to remove you so they can maybe sell the property, and attract a better price for it being vacant as opposed to with a tenant in it.

[logic]

Based on what you have said I think you are in a very strong position. If I were you I would not speak with your landlord at all and insist that all communication had to be in writing. It sounds very much like the landlord wants to remove you so they can maybe sell the property, and attract a better price for it being vacant as opposed to with a tenant in it.

well its interesting, OMIC says that for the last few years they dont handle piso complaints, its directed towards the babitage place, then to top this whole fiasco off they say its legal that a agency tells you this junk, whats not legal is evicting you over it, thats determined in court, if they dare to take it that far, also they own a building not a piso and the office where i got my padron say the owner cant sell just one piso cuase she owns the whole building, its a huge corner of a street, 3 buildings actually, very big old building, large 6 room pisos, they said also they cant seal the piso off to evict anyone since its also the building, but all this did not sound right to a lawyer i know from the UK, he says it sounds like they bable in Spain and no one knows until things get to court, he spoke to a lawyer girlfriend in the past while visiting Barcelona last year and said landlords like mine are sneaky, they know laws very well and try to play their cards, for example everyone in Spain is confused about what subletting a piso as to renting a room to someone is, most owners would love everyone to believe that renting a room out is subletting the property with out the owners permission but there are details, depending on the contract and owners yet almost everyone claims its all illegal, even when owners agree to it, because they want tenants to think this before going all the way to court to find out the judge will decide to let it go just this once and ask the tenant to get permission the next time, or even get to court and the tenant already remove the subtenant so the case is dismissed., just an example, we dont have rooms to let with 3 kids, but things like this are vague from what everyone tells me.

And you guys are seriously correct to ask about real contract, many do buy some at a tabac and the padron office registers it

[Gulliver]

Spain’s current Law of Urban Lettings (Ley de Arrendamientos Urbanos) states that a "Vivienda " contract is renewable for UP TO 5 years and is seen as a “residence” contract. Rent can be increased every year but ONLY by the amount of inflation. After the 5 years is up the rental price can be changed, but ONLY if both parties agree. If the landlord DOES NOT wish to renew after 5 years then the tenant must be officially notified well before the contract ends otherwise the contract is regarded as renewed for a further 2 years.

If your contract IS "Vivienda" you should ask the Landlord or Rentral Agency if the contract is registered with the Ministry of Housing. If it is, then you will have a stronger legal position. If it is NOT, then why not ? - It suggests that they may not be declaring the income and may not wish to attract too much attention to themselves.

[logic]

Spain’s current Law of Urban Lettings (Ley de Arrendamientos Urbanos) states that a "Vivienda " contract is renewable for UP TO 5 years and is seen as a “residence” contract. Rent can be increased every year but ONLY by the amount of inflation. After the 5 years is up the rental price can be changed, but ONLY if both parties agree. If the landlord DOES NOT wish to renew after 5 years then the tenant must be officially notified well before the contract ends otherwise the contract is regarded as renewed for a further 2 years.

If your contract IS "Vivienda" you should ask the Landlord or Rentral Agency if the contract is registered with the Ministry of Housing. If it is, then you will have a stronger legal position. If it is NOT, then why not ? - It suggests that they may not be declaring the income and may not wish to attract too much attention to themselves.

Cheers! i have a few landlord tenant lawyer mates i went to school with, we where all hoping someone would be as honest as you and come forward with a fact, ill check into this, cheers