Are you at risk of losing your home?

If you don’t pay the rent, or act in breach of a clause in the rental contract, your landlord can apply to have you evicted from your flat.

What will the landlord do?

The first step is for the landlord to apply to have his/her claim established. We call this an application for a payment injunction and ordinary enforcement assistance. The second step is for the landlord to request that we carry out the eviction.

What can I do?

When the landlord applies to have their claim established, you will receive a letter from us with information about the claim – a payment injunction. The letter also contains an acknowledgement of service that you have to sign and return to us. Doing that does not mean that you agree with claim, it is simply proof that you have received it.

If you have any questions you can contact us or your landlord. If you need advice you can also turn to the budget and debt adviser in your municipality.

How long do I have to act?

The letter will specify how much time you have. It is important that you read the letter carefully, so that you don’t send your objections when it is too late.

What can I do if the claim is incorrect?

You can object to it, which is known as contesting it. You do so by writing a letter in which you state

• what is incorrect about the claim
• your name
• your personal identity number
• the case number, which is specified in the letter you received.

Then you have to send the letter to us before the payment deadline for the claim. The payment deadline is also specified in the letter.

What do I have to do if the claim is correct?

If the claim is correct you have to do what the injunction says. But you can also contact your landlord to see if you can come to a different agreement – perhaps you can agree on an instalment plan.

We are not authorised to mediate any agreements, instead you have to discuss the matter directly with your landlord.

Can I stay on?

If the reason for the landlord’s application is unpaid rent, you have the chance of staying on if you pay your debt within three weeks. This is known as recovering your tenancy right. The three weeks are counted from the day on which you received information about what to do in order to recover your tenancy right. Sometimes you may have received that information before the landlord’s claim was established.

If the expulsion concerns use of premises, e g a parking space or a storage space, you have two weeks in which to pay your debt.

What happens if I can’t come to an agreement with the landlord?

If you and the landlord are unable to come to an agreement, the landlord can request that we evict you and empty the flat.

In that case you will receive a letter headed Notification of Eviction. The letter will say on what date and time the eviction will take place. The same information will be sent to the landlord and the social service administration.

The best thing is if you move out yourself before the eviction date and return the keys to the landlord.

If you don’t move out voluntarily, we will come to your flat with the landlord on the eviction date. A moving company will put your belongings in storage for a maximum of three months. Waste and anything that can’t be kept in storage will be thrown away immediately. We will also change the lock on the flat or storage space.

You will have to pay the costs of the move, and you may also have to pay for cleaning the flat and for storage. Note that if you are evicted you may get a record of non-payment.