The eviction suit was successful, what now?
A positive verdict in the eviction action is gratifying. However, this does not necessarily mean that the tenant will move out and hand over the apartment to you. In order to gain possession of the apartment, you cannot – despite the judgment – carry out an eviction on your own initiative. An eviction by a bailiff is required. You have to instruct this, in the following we explain the individual steps.
1. Enforceable copy of the judgment
First, you have to wait for the ‘enforceable copy’ of your judgment. The court will only issue an enforceable copy of the judgment upon request. You can make this application – which raeumungsklage24.de usually does – in the application, but it can also be made at any time after the judgment has been announced.
After the judgment has been pronounced, the court first serves both parties certified copies of the judgment; only after the service has been made on the other side does the court serve the enforceable copy of the judgment (if this has been requested). It usually takes about 4-6 weeks after the judgment has been announced until you receive the enforceable copy of the judgment.
2. Commissioning the bailiff
After you have received the enforceable copy of the judgment, you can ask a bailiff to evict it. To do this, send an informal mandate to the distribution point for bailiffs at the local court. You can also hire a specific bailiff directly. You must enclose the original, enforceable copy of the judgment with the letter of assignment.
3. Determination of the type of evacuation
In the mandate letter, you should also specify the type of eviction that you would like to carry out. There are basically two types of eviction, (i) the ‘normal’ eviction and (ii) the Berlin eviction.
- Normal eviction
With this type of evacuation, all of the tenant’s belongings will be removed from the rented apartment and your apartment will be returned empty. To carry out the eviction, the bailiff commissions a forwarding agent who takes the tenant’s belongings and stores them.
Roughly, you have to reckon with costs of EUR 1,000 per room for this type of evacuation. You must first pay the costs of the forwarding agency; if you have the appropriate creditworthiness, you can claim them back from the tenant. However, the costs are often no longer collectible.
- Berlin eviction
When the Berlin evacuation takes place, you will be assigned the ownership of the apartment, i.e. you will be given the keys to the apartment by the bailiff. The tenant’s belongings initially remain in the apartment and you have to remove them yourself. It is your duty to initially keep the tenant’s belongings for a month and to give the tenant the opportunity to pick them up. You can leave the things in the apartment or have them stored, e.g. with a shipping company. After one month, you can dispose of the items that have not been collected.
The costs of the bailiff for an evacuation in Berlin amount to approx. EUR 500. In addition, there are costs for the evacuation of the apartment or the storage of the tenant’s belongings. The advantage of the Berlin evacuation is that it is significantly cheaper than normal evacuation. The disadvantage is that it involves significantly more work because you have to take care of clearing out / clearing out the apartment.
4. The next steps
After an application for eviction has been submitted to the court, the order is assigned to a bailiff. They will contact you and request an advance payment, the amount of which depends on the type of eviction requested. At the same time, the bailiff usually sets an eviction date. Depending on the bailiff’s workload, this is about 4-8 weeks in the future.
You or a representative authorized by you must appear on site on the set eviction date. The bailiff will carry out the evacuation and give you the property of the apartment by handing you the keys.
5. What can go wrong?
Even if you have come this far, and approx. 4-8 months have passed since the complaint was filed, problems can arise in the last step of the eviction. The eviction process by the bailiff is a very formal process. The bailiff does not check the situation, but clears based on the wording of the judgment. It is therefore very important that the apartment to be vacated is precisely identified and that all other tenants / roommates are named in the judgment. If there is any ambiguity