In the event of rent arrears, you usually have to deal with collection agencies. You are requested to pay, otherwise legal proceedings will follow. Or you've already been subpoenaed. As a rule, the judge will dissolve a lease and grant eviction of the leased property if you owe more than two months' rent. However, there may be circumstances that do not justify dissolution of the lease and eviction of the leased property. See also the judgment of Rb. The Hague September 1, 2021, ECLI:N:LBDHA:2021:10298.

Rent pleasure and reign

The aforementioned case has an administrator as the tenant and a housing corporation as the landlord. The administrator is regarded as a tenant, because the management of the enjoyment of the rent belongs to him in accordance with Article 1:438 of the Dutch Civil Code. The writ of summons is therefore addressed to the administrator (as formal party to the proceedings), who represents the person under guardianship in law according to Article 1:441 paragraph 1 of the Dutch Civil Code. See also HR 7 March 2014, ECLI:NL:HR:2014:525.

The under-administrator first received social assistance benefits, which were later temporarily suspended. This could lead to a rent arrears of more than eight months. At that time, the administrator would not have made sufficient efforts to restore the social assistance benefit. According to the sub-administrator, the administrator has therefore failed to provide for a good administrator, as a result of which the sub-administrator has held the administrator liable. Although a successful statement of liability could have ensured that the rent arrears could be made up, the judge ignored this dispute. After all, the landlord is not a party in this matter.

Payment arrangement

Because the rent arrears of more than eight months are not disputed, this claim is awarded including statutory interest. In principle, this rent arrears would justify the dissolution of the lease and eviction of the leased property. However, the judge ruled otherwise, because the payment problems arose due to a temporary interruption of the social assistance benefit. The current rent was therefore paid on time again, so that the rent arrears could not increase further. A realistic payment arrangement was then offered. The lessor refused to accept that payment arrangement alone, while it would not be likely that the lessor would receive a better payment arrangement if its claim were allowed. Thus, granting the claim for dissolution and eviction was not in the interests of both the tenant and the landlord.