Writing a defect notice (Mängelanzeige): template, required details and deadlines
Defect notice to your landlord: every detail § 536c BGB requires, a complete template to copy, deadlines and how to serve it properly.
7 min read4 questions answered
Rent Reduction Guides
From the first defect notice (Mängelanzeige) to reclaiming overpaid rent: these guides explain step by step, and without jargon, how to enforce your rights as a tenant under German rental law.
This text was machine-translated. Only the German version is legally binding. To the German original
All guide articles
Calculating a rent reduction: formula, examples and the basis of calculation
Calculating a rent reduction: why the gross warm rent (Bruttowarmmiete) is the basis, how the formula works and what applies with several defects. With worked examples.
6 min read4 questions answered
Paying rent under protest: the safe route to a rent reduction
Why you should pay under protest (unter Vorbehalt) when there are defects, how to word the reservation and how to reclaim rent you overpaid.
5 min read4 questions answered
Retroactive rent reduction: when you can get money back
Reducing retroactively works in four cases only. Which ones, which limitation periods apply and how to proceed when reclaiming.
5 min read4 questions answered
When a rent reduction is excluded: 7 grounds
Not every defect entitles you to reduce: seven grounds of exclusion, from knowing at signing through minor defects to energy-efficiency modernisation.
6 min read4 questions answered
The 10 most common mistakes in reducing rent
From an inflated rate to missing documentation: ten mistakes that regularly cost tenants their claim, and how to avoid them.
6 min read4 questions answered
Serving a defect notice: email, letter or registered post?
How to serve a defect notice so you can prove it: why delivery decides the reduction, what email, Einwurf-Einschreiben and a messenger are worth, and which route holds up in court.
6 min read6 questions answered
The landlord is not responding to the defect notice: what you can do now
The deadline has passed and nothing is happening? What tenants can do when the landlord ignores the notice: reduction, withholding, self-remedy and court action.
8 min read6 questions answered
Create a defect notice in 3 minutes
Check your claim, calculate the reduction rate and receive a finished letter with everything § 536c BGB requires. Free and without registration.
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