I have a dispute with my landlord/tenant! How can I resolve it?

It is common for problems to arise or for disputes between landlords and tenants to need resolving. However, it is not always easy to know how to manage or avoid them. Here are some tips.

The most common causes of disputes

Before explaining how to manage a dispute with your tenant or landlord effectively, we will look at the main causes.

• Late payment of rent
• Uncompensated or unrepaired damage to the property
• Recovering the deposit from landlords
• One or more breaches of privacy
• Disturbances to neighbours resulting in complaints (noise, odours, unsanitary conditions, etc.)
• Problems relating to water, heating or other services where included in the price
• Eviction notices

Although these are the most common causes, this does not mean that there are no others. However, these are likely to be specific cases. Nevertheless, the following advice on managing a dispute applies to most situations. It may therefore still prove useful.

Managing a dispute effectively

Knowing how to resolve a dispute is essential. It is important to take the right approach, behave appropriately and, above all, act rationally. You should not allow impulsiveness or anger to take over.
Here are a few tips:

• Remain calm: getting angry in a dispute is pointless. It will only inflame the situation, which could work against you. Remaining calm will allow you to organise your thoughts and comments so that they are relevant.  
  
  
• Communicate: Do so face to face. This will allow you to see whether the other person is open to communication. When communicating by telephone, text message or email, you cannot benefit from the other person’s tone or body language. You therefore lose more than three quarters of the information. This can lead to misunderstandings caused by misinterpretation. 
  
  
• Find a compromise: An agreement will help you avoid resorting to overly extreme measures. To do this, begin by identifying the precise cause of the dispute, then discuss it. If you cannot reach an agreement, you will need to find another solution.
  
  
• Know your rights: whether you are a tenant or landlord, find out about your rights so that you know what you can and cannot do and what remedies are available to you.
  
  
• Mediation: this type of dispute can be settled amicably with the assistance of a mediator. The mediator will then ask you to sign a mediation agreement. If an agreement is reached, you can submit it to a justice of the peace for approval.

Despite everything, a dispute may sometimes remain unresolved. In that case, you should know that, as a last resort, you can take the matter to court for review.