For those with limited German, the above clauses all refer to different German Civil Code rental law provisions and state that deviating arrangements are invalid (unwirksam)! Please bear in mind that this invalidity does not apply to any private contract in which the tenant and landlord, being on equal footing, negotiated and consented to a set of specific provisions. Of course, such a negotiation is unlikely when an expatriate without German knowledge is involved.

Many rental contracts are published by landlord and tenant associations, or pre-written and intended for multiple use (i.e. for multiple tenants). Thus there is, outside of individually negotiated agreements, little freedom of contract. It would be a blessing to the legal community, and to landlords and tenants, if the government published a standardized rental contract form for residential units which larger-scale landlords (my suggestion would be that this apply to any landlord with more than 6 units) are obligated to use - much like the rescission right for online sales has an official template. The situation right now is one characterized by arbitrary lower court decisions which opportunistically declare specific standard clauses invalid, with case law varying from one county to the next.

In some dense cities, like Hamburg, Munich or Berlin, there is a real power disparity between the landlord and the tenant, so that the tenant requires extra protection. But most cases I have seen wherein the landlord gets what he wants from the tenant involve the landlord shocking and aweing the tenant, who has not yet been informed about his rights. The immigrant tenant, lacking German and legal knowledge, is likely to capitulate instead of resisting.

Much more effective than any legal right to terminate is the overall vulnerability of the tenant in his own home. The landlord is frequently spatially separated from the tenant, but the tenant is exposed at all hours to the landlord's machinations. This has less to do with law and more to do with psychology; I have seen tenants with an unterminated right to live in their apartments simply pack up and leave due to unwillingness to deal with situational stress. That is entirely understandable and also shows why lawyers can only do so much in rental law.

I typically try to settle any rental law case I am presented with because the legal dispute surrounding one's own home is one of the most exhausting imaginable for the client. A settlement is often helped along by obeying the evidence suggestions I described above. A quick resolution where everybody is mildly irritated is a lot better than a long legal dispute where the tenant ultimately ends up frustrated, angry and betrayed by the system. My motto is "tolerate and liquidate", i.e. leave your apartment and, if you still feel like it, sue for damages. Being enmeshed in a court battle over the place where you currently live is not fun.

Luckily, organizations exist that offer legal counsel and representation at low rates, e.g. the Mieterbund (www.mieterbund.de), which charges a tiny annual fee (typically € 36,00) and provides basic protection. They offer German-language resources in plain language. Further, there are many exceptions to the coverage offered by legal insurance (Rechtsversicherung), but for renters it can pay for itself because, in general, rental disputes are covered. For more information on my thoughts regarding legal insurance, feel free to email me at erik (at) kravets.de.

To be clear, tenants can be vexatious as well. "Rental nomads" who move in, never pay and devastate the apartment are, sadly, not as uncommon as one might imagine. And tenants who unreasonably pepper their landlords with demands and cut their rent do their part to undermine the trust the system needs to survive, as well. In a utopian world, we would all treat each other fairly and decently and lawyers would only be needed to structure transactions. But until that day, landlord/tenant disputes will no doubt remain a part of my legal practice.