I filed an Anfechtung sometime ago against the rent increase of the apartment where I live, which is being handled by the Schlichtungsbehörde Zürich.

The Behörde has not arranged an appointment yet, but they wrote to me in a letter saying that "Während der Dauer des Schlichtungsverfahrens gilt der bisherige Mietvertrag/Pachtvertrag weiter (Art. 270e OR).'

Does that mean I can & should keep paying the old rent, until the matter is decided at the arbitration authority?

Or can the landlord force me to already start paying the new, higher rent that they have set, even though no decision has been made yet by the Schlichtungsbehörde?

I looked at the Art. 270e OR. It talks about "der bestehende Mietvertrag" it does not explicitly say anything about the Mietzins.

I am thinking that because the Mietzins is stated explicitly as a certain number in my current Mietvertrag, it is therefore part of the Mietvertrag which should then "weiter gelten". So I didn't pay the new higher amount yet.

But my landlord has now sent me a Mahnung and I'm second-guessing whether I've understood correctly.

I would have called the Mieterverband, but the landlord's letter was delivered only today (in my mailbox after I got back from work) and they want the payment by Monday. It's too late for MV office hours.

Am I the one in error here? Thanks for your help!