Minor repairs
A minor repair is the repair of minor damage to equipment or fixtures in a rented apartment .
General
A contractual stipulation as to which contracting party has to bear the costs for minor repairs in the rented residential property is known as a minor repair clause . Such a clause is included in most rental contracts in Germany .
It has long been the practice in Germany for tenants to undertake minor repairs at their own expense (e.g. replacing light bulbs, replacing fuses or replacing seals). Nevertheless, there is no customary law with which the landlord can demand this takeover, but the tenant only makes such an obligation if he has entered into it in the rental agreement.
Legal issues
A responsibility of the tenant for the condition of the rental property would not correspond to the legal model: German tenancy law imposes the obligation to maintain the "rental property [...] in a condition suitable for contractual use" ( Section 535 (1) sentence 2 BGB ), exclusively to the landlord. The case law considers this legal regulation for living space to be mandatory (contractually not changeable), but allows two exceptions: Only
- Cosmetic repairs and
- Minor repairs
can be passed on to the tenant by an effective contractual clause within very narrow limits prescribed by the case law, but other work cannot. Such a minor repair clause only extends to parts of the rented property (e.g. apartment) that are subject to “frequent” access by the tenant (e.g. door handles, taps, roller shutter belts, light switches, etc.). In the clause, certain maximum limits must be defined for the individual case as well as for the total amount to be raised by the tenant in the year, the amount of which must not be exceeded.
What amount falls under the term minor repairs is not generally regulated by a legal regulation. However, there are country-specific regulations that define the term for company housing. According to this, minor repairs include “repairing minor damage in particular
- on the installation items for electricity, water and gas,
- on the heating and cooking devices,
- on the window and door locks,
- on the straps or cords of roller shutters and blinds as well
- to closing devices of shutters, provided that the costs for the individual repair are 80 euros and the expenses incurred by the company apartment owner are 240 euros per year, but no more than 8 percent. H. of the basic annual rent of the apartment, and the equipment and devices are exposed to direct and frequent access by the owner of the service apartment. "(Section I, Item 1.2 SchönKBek)
Based on court rulings, the following amounts can currently be considered appropriate:
- In individual cases, an amount of 75.00 to 100.00 euros.
- A maximum of 6 to 10 percent of the annual basic rent per year .
If the repair costs exceed the amount specified in the contract, they must be borne in full by the landlord.
Austria
The landlord's maintenance obligation is described in more detail in the Austrian Tenancy Law (Sections 3 and 6 MRG). Accordingly, there is generally no maintenance obligation on the part of the landlord for the interior of the rental property (unless there is substantial damage to the house). The lessor of properties located in Austria can therefore impose the obligation to maintain the interior of the rental property on the tenant without restriction and, unlike a rental property in Germany, is not obliged to carry out such work.
Web links
- Small repair clause in the lexicon of tenancy law
- Stiftung Warentest: When tenants have to pay for small repairs in the apartment In: test.de from November 13, 2018.
- A judgment on the tenant's participation in repair costs
literature
- Hans R. Neuhäuser: The rental agreement - landlord's manual for drafting contracts. 2nd Edition. Fachverlag online rental agreement, 2010, ISBN 978-3-00-026555-6 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b For example in the Free State of Bavaria the cosmetic repairs announcement of June 18, 2014 ( FMBl No. 9/2014 p. 142 of August 8, 2014)
