Wonderful folks,

I need further help to close on this one. As a syndic, I have given accounting as per act de base and accounting practice done by professional syndics so far.

As a new landlord, there are certain things I do not know how to deal with it.
For instance, my tenant stayed with me for only 10 months in the last financial year.That brings question how to split some common costs.

While signing the Lease Contract  we clarified to tenant how accounting works and he has signed the folloiwng in the contract

[chauffage]
There is no problem with chaffauge as we switched on heating on in November when tenant was already there. We switched of heating system before the teant left.
ISTA was anyway taking Calorimeter readings and it is purely based on consumption. SO, there is no issue splitting the costs here. It is simply based on consumption as detailed by ISTA

[common electricity cost]
(1) If common electricty cost is 120 euro(412/1000 of total cost) for whole financial year ,(say 10 euro per month for their apartment), since the tenant only stayed for 10 months, should I charge 100 euro for 10 months and I bear the 20 euro as landlord?

[water cost]
There is no passage meter, no way to practically find actual consumtion. We have been splitting water cost by quotite part for 30 years now.

This has been clarified to tenant on signing the contract and he has signed that he will pay 412/1000 parts as quote part as contract clause cited above

(2) Since there is no way to identify per apartment water consumption, should I simply charge tenants X amount as per quote part, no matter if they have lived for 10 months and not full year (the apartment was empty , nobody living for remaining two months)?

(3) For the sake o delivery by supplier,  We always buy one palette of water softener tablets, say 40 bags once in two years. ONly half of tablets purchased will be used in a year. How to charge the teant now and how much I need to bear teh cost as landlord?

[miscellaneous cost]
There were miscellaneous costs like maintenance & purchasing plants etc for the common garden. We all cut the fencing ourselves, mow the small lawn ourselves etc and we don't normally bring external gardener. Although not in writing cited above on lease, we have verbally confirmed at the time of siging lease that tenant will pay 412/1000 of such costs for which he agreed to it.

(4) Now, since the tenant only stayed for for 10 months, if garden cost per year for their apartment is 120 euro(412/1000 of total cost), should I only charge 100 euro, cost for 10 months and bear the remaining 20 euro myself, as landlord?

All your answers & time spent much appreciated.

# I will not complicate things

# I will not impose conditions. If they want break-up by email, I will provide one. If they ask for a scanned copy of all bills by email, I will provide one

# I do not think I am obliged to "reply all" to a Brussels lawyer who is in carbon copy, as I don't know him/her and do not a see a reason how they get engaged.(I inly know the other parti is a lawyer as per emailATsygmavocat.be)

# With respect to accounting sent, I did not mean one agrees to pay it. The "girl" accepted the letter. She is the one who is asking for break-up, CCing a lawyer.THis is not the first time she CCed  a lawyer on email for any communication with me. The "boy" didn't accept the copy of the annual accounting yet tilldate, still awaiting pickup in bpost, do not know if one or both changed their address with commune as I still receive letters for them at our place.

# The communication we had so far was:
(1)The "girl" met me in July asking me to unblock rental guarantee. I said  I will do so once accounting is settled. They said rental guarantee has noting to do with common charges and filing "conciliation request" the same day.
(2)I sent accounting mid-augsut
(3) I send a letter today giving them appointment to unblock gaurentee
(4) Would respond to them next week providing copy of bills by emails
(5) !!!I am a dilemma whether to for conciliation or Not!!!

#For the conciliation,  I still hesitate to go in front of the judge for the simple reason that I do not speak any of the official languages. Their attitude changed recently that they want to speak to me in local language only. I do not how can i defend myself. Yes , tehr eis a solution, I need to find a translator. But going for consiliation, is it required now. The reason sought for concilation was :

Here is the letter I *intend to send  today* (end august), both in English and French (Google translate)

Honestly, I the reason they quoted for conciliation is not true. I only said I will sign once we settle the bill. Now that we have finished accounting & I have given them appointment to unblock the rental guarantee, I do not see a reason to jump through hoofs , be present for conciliation, which becomes ground for discussing expenses

So, in a way, the registered letetr I am sending today is the response to their written conciliation request which came from Justice de paix.

I will also respond to to email with break-up and scanned copy of bills.

[color=#0000E0]The last question I would like to get an answer before Justice de paix closes for today is:[/couleur]

[color=#A00000]Given the situation, what is the recommendation from you folks?

-Go for the conciliation and sort it out ( Need to bear consequences at work,
jumping middle of week from that country, associated travel expenses etc)
-Or just send registered letter above, give appointment  for canceling guarentee as cited above and keep responding in each channel, letter to letter, email to email?
[/couleur]

[color=#0000C0]Based on your answer
(a) I will send the letter/inform justice de paix about cancelation of conciliation by today or
(b)  simply don't send above letter and go for conciliation next week
[/couleur]

Also, I have a point not to respond to them on emails, write only registered paper letter and respond only to paper letters, to avoid dealing with never ending email thread , copying the whole world who I don't even know.

Although they are split, One tenant sends an email signing with both names(you know what I mean, just write both names end of email, not a real signature). So unless what BOTH of them want, I don't see a purpose wasting spending 10 euros for each time.

I have already wrote them in a letter that I won't be responding to emails as, IMHO, they are not counted legally anywhere, to avoid never ending thread, edited to their convenience.

So,
(a)is it really necessary to scan 50 pages of invoices on email (which is practically not possible as attachment will go beyond 10Mb)?
(b) Did I interpret link below correctly (that giving them option to view original bill at building premises is more than sufficient) or do I still need to send a copy of all bills?
(c) Is it illegal not responding to emails?

I have just received an email from my tenants, a Bruxelles lawyer has been copied in the email.

Do I need to respond while I give them an option to meet me and see all invoices and talk it out, with the presence of their parents or a third-party mediator, if necessary?

(1) How can I send a bunch of invoices by post?
-(2)In case if they want to file a standard requette, who bears this cost?
-(3) I have other reasons to become non-resident. If I become a non-resident,can they still open a standard requette with justice de paix with a person who is not residing in Belgium anymore?
(4)-I am a Belgian. What other legal recourses can they take, say engaginga lawayer like what they do now, if I am a non-resident and living in a NON-EU country?

I intend to send the folloing letter to both tenants and leave a copy of this letter with Justice de Piax requesting them to cancel the foreseen conciliation next week

I honestly can't attend the conciliation on Thursdays due to
work scheduling.

I know judge may see me if tenant opens a "requette" but will this letter work against me?

Yes, that's right. I indeed meant "Conciliation"

I feel like visiting the judge de paix office this week and let them know that I won't be able to attend the Conciliation due to following reason

One expert quoted 85 euro (with/without VAT?) per hour
Entry survey was done in French, and I took teh help of those kids who occupy the place.

I am a moron

Apart from entry survey, I have some photos in CD which is annex to entry survey

Thanks a bunch for patiently answering my questions. Much appreciated.

Yes, Surprisingly, They have paid the rent for June and pending charges of May plus June in time. Looks like the registered letter I have sent on26th of May, after 3 weeks of delay in payment,  seems to have worked. I just stated that I may consider approaching Judge de paix and file a standard requette if they don't pay in time.

One last question. I let them install a dish washer in the kitchen by dismantling part of the furnished kitchen, on a condition that, they will revert it back to the same state as it was before, when they handover.

We have photos attached to etat de lieux showing the sate of kitchen before they dismantled it.

We didn't invite a professional expert to save cost of expert for entry and exit now I am stuck ;(

The actual on etat de lieux condition is:

After they moved in, I know for sure they cut open the wooden kitchen table top to bring the electric plug/power-cord from the dishwasher.
My expectation was, they remove detachable pieces from bottom of the kitchen to slide in the dishwasher , save the pieces, restore it back when they leave.Didn't expect them there would be a need to make a hole in the kitchen top.They didn't specifically check with me to see if they can make a hole in the kitchen top.

[color=#0000E0]I believe this is an ikea kitchen , could be more than 10 years old, history not known as I bought this apartment last July.I can still dig to look into documents to see how old the kitchen is. Nowadays, new kitchens are more than 10,000 euro
[/couleur]

I am sure, they won't be able to restore it back the state it was before, as they cut the wood to make this hole, size more 2 euro, in square shape..

Although I believed them that bottom pieces are detachable, I don't know for sure if they cut some pieces underneath as well. If so, the structural strength of the kitchen is gone too.

[color=#0000E0]
For me, "restoring back to same state" implies solid wood and no structural damage-Not a synthetic filler on kitchen table top.

(a)What are my right and what (amount of money)can I claim back if they fail to restore the kitchen to same state as it was before?
(b) In case if I decide to install a new kitchen in the event that, if they couldn't restore it back to the state as it was before, what are their obligations? Would they be required to pay a part of a cost of installing a new kitchen? If yes, any specific percentage of cost of new kitchen?
(c) What is the legal recourse in case if we both don't agree on compensation for the kitchen damage?

They also seem to have made some damage on a common wall during the move but there is no proof, other than that nobody moved in or out since the time this damage was seen. This damage was only seen after their arrival, result of moving heavy machinery in the winding narrow stairs.

I wrote a letter twice if they were responsible for the damage in common wall , if so, repair it themselves-but they never responded to it. 
the wall is special with some mosaic plaster and doesn't need any painting. So, filling is one story and matching that mosaic plaster would be a challenge.

(d)What could I claim as damage towards filling a 1/2 teh size of golf ball gash in the common wall in basement?
[/couleur]