germany tenant children slander tenancy-rules
How to manage landlord/landlady&#39;s aggression towards a child?
<p>Our landlord/landlady (an elderly couple) came to us to demand that our 3 year old daughter stops playing at home because it disturbs the neighbours living on the floor below.</p>

<p>Kindergartens are currently closed in Germany, and this mean our daughter spends more time at home with us. When she's excited, she's more likely to run than walk as she moves from one room to another. Sometimes she jumps, because she's dancing to a song.</p>

<p>The noise is exaggerated since the floor is made of wooding material and the build is quite old. However, we never had any complains about our business at home, until recently. The complaining neighbours moved in only recently.</p>

<p>We are quite sensitive to the complaints, and advised our daughter as reasonably as we usually communicate with her. But we expected it would take days or weeks for her to adjust to this new request. After all, she is a child and not a robot.</p>

<p>However, the landlord/landlady came back a second time to relay the neighbour's complaints. They additional made comments like: <strong><em>we think your daughter is troublesome, and the administrator at her kindergarten (who is now recently retired and a friend of theirs) mentioned to us that she is difficult</em></strong>. That comment was a shock to us, as the minders at the kindergarten have so far given us excellent and sweet feedbacks regarding our daughter's conduct. We are also aware that she assumes a quite courteous attitude at her kindergarten compared to home where she expresses her emotions without a reservation.</p>

<p>As we continued to attempt managing the situation, they became even more aggressive stating <em><strong>your child is not normal and she lacks education</strong></em>. I finally told the woman to <em><strong>mind your business</strong></em>, as she was the last person I spoke to on the phone.</p>

<p>We can ignore their attempt to be disrespectful to us. But we are immensely unhappy about the comments the couple made about my daughter. We are utterly shocked. And my wife now feels uncomfortable about home.</p>

<p>We strongly doubt that our landlord/landlady were telling the truth. But we want to understand what makes them feel that they can make such statement to us. We are considering legal actions but we are not sure how to proceed without damaging relationships at our daughter's kindergarten as she appears to be happy there and has many friends already there.</p>

<p>Does it make sense to take action against the kindergarten in order to force the landlord/landlady to divulge their source of information which they claim to have about our daughter? Or directly against the landlord/landlady since we basically want them to <em><strong>"behave"</strong></em>?</p>

<p>See related question: <a href="https://law.stackexchange.com/q/50435/27377">Can a phone conversation be summoned from telecom operator as evidence in court of law</a>.</p>

<h2>The landlady is entitled to her opinions</h2>

<p><strong>You don't have to listen to her about them.</strong></p>

<p>It's your home. Your landlady can only enter with your permission or by strictly following the requirements of the lease and the law. These are unlikely to require you to listen to her personal opinions.</p>

<p>Make it clear that she is no longer welcome in your home and that if she needs to communicate with you she is to do it in writing.</p>
