Renters don't have to renovate apartments — German court
August 22, 2018
To paint, or not to paint? For renters who are moving out of an old apartment in Germany, the question has been a contentious and legally tricky one to answer. A new court ruling gives tenants and landlords more clarity.
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Germany's Federal Court of Justice (BGH) strengthened the rights of renters when it comes to renovations in their old apartments in a ruling on Wednesday.
Tenants who are moving out of their apartments are not required to carry out cosmetic repairs — such as painting the walls, ceilings or heaters, or hanging up wallpaper — even if they made an agreement with the previous tenant to do so, the court found. (Note: This part of the ruling pertained to a common practice among renters in Germany, that tenants leaving homes earlier than scheduled are often obliged to find their own replacement on the property owner's behalf.)
There was one catch — the apartment had to be unrenovated with no repairs when the renter initially moved in.
The ruling backs a previous 2015 BGH decision that said renters cannot be forced to take over the costs or renovations without adequate compensation from their landlord if the apartment was unrenovated when they moved in.
Overruling agreements with prior tenants
For many years, there's been confusion among renters and property owners in Germany about who is required to carry out the cosmetic repairs once a tenant moves out.
To circumvent conflict, there are numerous cases where the previous tenant and new tenant cut a deal about who should take over responsibility to paint, typically without involving the landlord or landlady.
The court on Wednesday ruled that an agreement between the two tenants does not have an influence on the responsibilities outlined in the renter's contract with their landlord. The contract with the property owner takes precedence over the agreement with the previous tenant.
This means that future cases where it is unclear whether the new or old tenant is required to carry out such repairs will be, in theory, easier to solve — as long as there's a painting clause in the rental contract.
What to know before renting an apartment in Germany
In Germany, renting is more common than in most other European countries, with 48 percent of residents living in rental accommodations. Here are some particularities about renting in Germany.
Image: picture-alliance/Wolfram Steinberg
Rental barracks
Berlin's endless rows of tenements were once horribly overcrowded, with large families often living in one- or two-room flats. But in recent years, these so-called Altbau, or old buildings, have enjoyed a rapid renaissance. These blocks in the Prenzlauer Berg district of Berlin were, until the early 1990s, often empty and in a state of severe disrepair. Now everyone wants to rent an Altbau.
Image: picture alliance/ZB
Plattenbau
In former East Germany, where nearly all accommodation was rented from the government, prefab concrete housing blocks known as Plattenbau rose up across the communist nation. Not only were they cheap, but they were often preferred to Altbau apartments because they offered all modern conveniences like new plumbing that didn't leak, reliable electricity and hot water.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/A. Burgi
Balconies
According to the most recent statistics from Statista (2015), 48 percent of Germans rent and 52 percent are home-owners. Most renters live in apartments - and make the most of their balconies. Some barbeque or lounge, while others grow overflowing gardens that utilize every last inch of precious outdoor space. Balconies can be veritable ecosystems that become rather bleak in the winter months.
In some Germans cities, particularly Berlin, rental houses are made up of front and back buildings separated by an inner courtyard through which the life of these rental communities ebb and flow. They are unique communal spaces across which people view each other's lives, and where they interact as they park their bicycles or access their numerous garbage bins.
Image: picture-alliance/ZB/M. Krause
Names instead of numbers
Only the names of residents are used to identify the flats inside a building in Germany. These names on the intercom of a Hamburg apartment building typically have no corresponding flat number. That means you have to address letters to Germany clearly because the mail carrier only has the name to go by.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Scholz
Flat sharing
Known as WGs, or Wohngemeinschaften, shared apartments are popular in big cities where apartment prices are rising and availability is shrinking. People who share flats often also rent out the living area to bring prices down as much as possible. This is especially so in Berlin, a city full of artists, students and people on low budgets.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/J. Kalaene
Paint when you leave
Painting the apartment before you leave is another German rental tradition. Leaving the walls shiny white for the next residents isn't such a bad thing - but it means you have to spend days preparing walls and climbing ladders before you move out. Not all rental contracts force tenants to paint the apartment - however they are obliged to leave it as they found it.
Image: picture alliance/Denkou Images
BYO kitchen
In some German cities, kitchens and appliances are not included in rental properties. That means the tenant has to purchase their own and have it installed at their expense. Alternatively, some people buy the previous tenant's kitchen at a discount if they aren't planning on taking it with them to their next living space.
Image: DW/S. Braun
Small bathrooms in old rental buildings
Among the quirks of Altbau apartments is that many didn't use to include facilities, which were sometimes shared communally. That means that you'll find bathrooms today that are wedged into the smallest - and oddest - spaces. Or, in some cases, they might be huge and replace an entire former room. This shower in a Berlin flat was built in the kitchen cupboard.
Image: DW/S. Braun
Not all rooms are bedrooms
When scanning apartment listings in Germany, you'll generally find the sizes given in square meters and the number of rooms. The latter includes not just bedrooms, but also living space. The kitchen and bathroom(s) are listed separately. Apartments are most expensive in Munich, Frankfurt and Stuttgart, where new tentants pay on average 16.55, 13.37 and 12.95 euros per square meter respectively.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
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Court case over bad paint job
Wednesday's case concerned a renter in the northern German town of Celle whose allegedly lackluster paint-job sparked a lengthy court battle.
The man painted his apartment before moving out, but the property owner was dissatisfied with the quality of the work. She called in professional painters to redo the apartment and wanted the new tenant to foot the nearly €800 (more than $900) bill.
The landlady argued in court that the man had an agreement with the previous tenant that he would take over certain items in the apartment in exchange for assuming all renovation responsibilities.
The renter pushed back, saying that since the apartment was unrenovated when he moved in, he was not legally responsible for assuming the painting costs.
Initially, a state court in the northern city of Lüneburg ruled in favor of the landlady. The BGH reversed the state court ruling, pointing to its 2015 decision concerning cosmetic repairs and saying that contracts between tenants and property owners override agreements between tenants.