Law on shared housing costs from the Hausmeister

Hi,

I was hoping someone knew the answer to this question to avoid me going to a lawyer.

Last year I bought an apartment last year in a shared building and the hausmeister has just given me a bill for the shared housing costs of all of 2007 even though we only bought it in October 2007. He says that we now have to pay it even though the previous owner was billed for it but didnt pay. He said we must chase up the previous owner to get the money off him.

Is this right, I have never paid anyone elses bill before, I dont know if he is trying it on. He said that if we dont pay he will have to get a lawyer.

Thanks for your help

Can you name the company?

sounds like horsecrap to me, why the hell should it be your job to find the previous tenant. The Hausverwaltung has to do it, which I assume you should know.

Do NOT pay for anything other than the months you were in the flat.

also, tell him to try with a lawyer, I highly doubt you ever signed anything that states you have to take care of what happened before you moved in.

Actually its not.If you buy a place over here and there is x amount of debt on it you are laible.That is why if you have used a makler then get in touch with them they ars supposed to check up on szuff like that and then they are liable

You are liable for all costs incurred from the day you took posession of your flat, not before. There will be a clause in your kaufvertrag to that effect. If the previous owner has already been billed for it, then the hausmeister will have their contact details and as he has instigated the invoice process, it is he that should continue it as you are not a debt collection agency.

I am no lawyer, so dont take my word as 100% correct, just telling you based on our buying a house where the previous owners had debts. Your first point of contact is the company that the hausmeister works for, then a lawyer if that doesnt work.

That is the limit to my knowledge on the subject.

it will say in the sales contract whether you bought the place unencumbered by debt. If so, the bills pre-October are not your problem.

I doubt that very much, and if it's the case it must be specified down to the cent how much debt he may be liable for, this is germany after all

I really dont know the answer to the OPs question, but I dont think it is as clear a case as everyone else here seems to say. The Hausmeister could actually be right.

- you are not really dealing with the "Hausmeister"; it´s the "Eigentümergemeinschaft" (owners' association ?) who wants the money
- whatever has been written in a contract between you and the seller, doesnt affect your legal relationship with the owners´ association at all
- when you bought the appartement, you also bought the corresponding share of the owners´ association; it might be that you therefor bought all the connected outstanding liabilities

Taking this to court might not only be very expensive, it will also piss off your new neighbours/ co owners.
I´d say: consult a lawyer or at least ask your "Makler".

I've stayed out of this thread up till now, although I was Verwalter of 48 flats from 1994 - 98, precisely because it is too complicated, however, this is not quite true.

If the flat is "belastet" with debt and these debts were not explixitly excluded in the sales contract then you may well be liable for them. As D. Beggs says, there is normally a clause in the contract that excludes such debts, but if this clause is missing, things could get complicated.

The simple answer is there's no way around getting a lawyer involved here.

Well we agree on the the advice to get professional help.

Could be my post was to unclear or handicapped by translation, but I would still claim that this is a general legal principle:
A private contract between two people cant relieve a third party that isnt directly involved (like the owners´ association) of it´s rights. But I still wouldnt know if the association actually has a right (to claim money from the buyer). If so, the buyer would have to pay and then demand compensation from the seller.

In other words: if there is a clause in the contract (between buyer and seller) that says that the buyer doesnt have to pay the outstanding "Hausgeld" for the time before he bought the appartement and if there is a law that says otherwise, then law trumps contract and the buyer looses.

Standard answer to all legal questions concerning housing: contact your local Mieterverein. That's precisely what they are there for.

They only answer questions relating to tenant and landlord issues, not house owner stuff.

Oh yeah, sorry, missed the word "bought".

Thanks for all your help, looks like a bit of a minefield, I will get in touch with the merkler and ask what he thinks then it may be he lawyer. I will keep you all informed what happens.