Hi ! after moving to a new apartment in Munich, I am unable to get my deposit or kaution (for the wohnung) from my old house-owner. After waiting for 5 months and contacting him and notifying him several times via fax, email etc about reimbursing my deposit, he simply ignored me.
So I have reached a conclusion now that, I would need to follow a legal proceeding against this person. I need your help in this regard and following informations
a) A good and affordable lawyer in Munich - I do not have a lawyer insurance
b) The approximate cost or charges I have to pay to the lawyer
c) How long this process might take ?

One more thing I have a valid contract and cleary states the kaution amount and condition for return. I even have receipt, faxes that I sent him and an email reply from his side.

Before you contact a lawyer, make sure :
- when you left your apartment, it is at the same condition as it was when you moved in (wallpapper, kitchen...)

Hi !
Today my patience almost ran out. This person told me that he will rent deposit by end of March, but that has still not happened (after 6 mths waiting).
He refuses to take my calls saying he is out of office etc .
I have the receipt, contract paper, termintaion paper(ubergabe protocol), copy of fax, emails etc almost everything.
Now I want to send a warning letter from a lawyer. I do not know
how to proceed and how much it might cost.
So plz help me , if anyone has some experience in this regard.

Better try to get one membership at http://www.mieterverein.de/ you can find your area in this site. For each and every letter from your lawer costs 5 €. First time it is free. Yearly it costs about 46 € for this membership. They will help you for all household problems. Even if you want to rent a new apartment and you can contact them, they will come personally and will check your house and will help to cross check your contract(but they will charge about 40 € for coming and checking all), many more facilities are there with this insurance.

VSK

Hallo,

it happens in baden wüttenburg, becasue of "heizung, abwasser" calculations.

if u live in baden-wüttenburg area , u will get u r "Kaution" back by the end of October.

I have this Experience.

enjoy..........

Hi Tuladhar,

I have observed that we Indians (assuming you to be an Indian by your name) mostly try to avoid conflict to the extreme and want to be nice with people whom we know. But not here in Germany. This simply doesnt work. Germans as I observed by nature are very straight forward and do not hesitate to curtly put their point across.

So you should take a cue from this and believe me your nicieties can be mistaken for your helplessness. Threaten him with a lawyer notice. I guess, he(Landlord) should have informed you if something is not OK, when you are leaving the home. So I assume and every one (lawyers) can assume that you left the house intact and you are due for your full amount.

So stop talking to him in a friendly manner. That doesnt mean you start abusing him. But be curt as much as possible and threaten him with a possible lawyer notice. And dont let him know that you dont have a rechtschutzversicherung.

First give him a threat and then visit a lawyer to give him his first notice. Discuss with the lawyer regarding his fees and the possibility of extracting the money from that landlord. Let him know the scenario where in he has to give your money back and also pay your legal fees. When he has to shell out his own money, then he would quickly come to your terms. Best of luck

Cheers,
Cmreddy

Even i too had the same problem, though i didnt have insurance i have contacted lawyer, the fees are resonable(this fees are same in all sates in germany(i guess)) and this fees depends on the amount of the Deposite.
My lawyer sent two warning letters to the landlord and still no resonse from my old landlord. He(landlord) gives a fax to my lawyer and tell that we have given appartment in such a condition that he couldnt rent to others but before leaving appartment he has given a protocol saying that all rooms are ok with a sign on each and told me he will transfer the deposite within one week(as it is warm rent). Tomorrow i will get some feedback from my lawyer about further actions to be taken against him.
Keep you informed

Krishna

Hi All !
Thanks for all your suggestion. I am planning to be a member of mietverein. But they said one has to wait 3 months to use their services which for me is anyway ok , since they said one has to wait over 6 mths to carry out any legal proceedings.
Krishna ! could u also keep me updated about your case !