Hi Juliane,

Sometimes regies advertise people's private landline numbers and even mobile to prospective candidates. If I were you, I would:

Notify the regie (or have the original owners of the lease contact them) that they musn't give out your personal information, including phone numbers. Explain you travel a lot, have kids who need to go to bed early, etc... (anything to show you don't have much time and don't fany playing real estate agent) and then give them 2 or 3 dates with a 30 minute window for group visits (I'd offer one fairly soon and then the other one or 2 at least a few weeks before the end of the lease - mybe after the 1st round they'll have accepted someone). Normally, if they're advertising on their own website or a site like Homegate, they'll list the date(s) of the group visit, the time, and possibly the name of the leaseholder so people will know where to ring when they arrive for the visit. They'll have plenty of candidates and you'll appear to be cooperating, but without being hassled by constant calls.

To answer your questions:

Am I right to be upset that the regie has given someone the phone number before receiving the form? Yes Is it ok to say we don't want people viewing the apartment before the beginning of May? Not necessarily. Was I right to tell the person that called that we are not ready for viewings, and that she should call back in a month? Could be seen by the regie as uncooperative Do the people put forward to the regie by the current lease owners get priority in their applications? Not always - if the owner or regie have anyone in mind already, they will get first priority, then any solvable candidates from the exiting tenant. What are your thoughts about this?

Good luck!

Juliane, you might want to get someone lined up sooner rather than later. I had a problem once with some guy who was Swiss (showed me his passport) and said the apartment I would be assigning into his name was perfect as he worked locally. I passed his details on to the regie. Two days before I was due to move out they called me to tell me he was unemployed and they had just got round to checking his details - six weeks after I gave them to the regie - and that I'd need to keep the apartment on. I managed to get out of this but it wasn't a fun experience.

Good luck.

I very much agree with Rich - if you can get someone sorted now and the contract with the regie in plac, then do it! The sooner the better, as people may pull out or mess you around. 

If someone is serious about viewing now, let them - heopfully they will put in an application, it'll be accpted, and you'll save yourselves the hassle of dozens of viewings later on when all you want is peace and quiet to pack. 

If the move in date is a ways off, there could be a few complications with proposing people early on and thinking you're off the hook. The regie or owner isn't necessarily pressed to make a decision. Without knowing the exact details in this case, we don't know if there is going to be painting and/or renovations done, which could adjust the price. Most regies/owners wait to make decisions until they know exactly what the new conditions will be, which is normally after the pre move-out inspection (at the earliest). 

I've had several friends propose people early on only to have the regie/owner take 3+ weeks to make a decision. In the meantime, the proposed candidates got tired of waiting and accepted other offers, so they had to start over again. Proposing candidates does not release a tenant from their lease - the candidate has to be solvable and either sign the lease or get rejected by the owner/regie (which happens when the regie/owner has their own candidate or they jack the price up so much they don't accept anyone who put in an application at the old price and prefer only to consider new candidates at the new price).

I would try and clarify (if possible) with the regie when they want to make a decision and schedule visits around this timetable. People too often rush into proposing candidates and sit back playing the waiting game, which can give a false sense of security. Also, you might not find many candidates at the moment who are looking to apply for something that isn's available until July 1st (at the earliest if there are no renovations...). 

Thanks everyone for the advice. I appreciate your input.

The regie has already done the pre move-out inspection. No work needs to be done.

Ultimately it's not really our problem, as we are only sub-leasing and the original tenants are coming back to clean/prepare the apartment for vacancy - except that we will be the ones inconvenineced by the viewing times!